The Iran Opportunity Before the Arab World

A new US president has symbolized a new foreign policy, particularly when it comes to dealing with Iran. The US is resetting the table, both militarily and diplomatically.

During the election campaign, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged to focus his second term on lifting non-nuclear sanctions. Whether he will be successful is something yet to be seen, considering it was the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who green-lighted the nuclear talks back in 2012, before Rouhani’s term, and his blessing was needed in the entire process.

Having non-nuclear sanctions lifted is conditioned on Khamenei willing to endure major setbacks, as he did in the nuclear deal. However, the international community will be raising major demands from Iran to bring an end to its support for terrorism and exporting warmongering, put a lid on its ballistic missile program and begin respecting human rights by ending executions and torture. London, 13 Jun – The US House of Representatives has passed a bill condemning the 1988 Iranian massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.

Resolution 188, officially titled: The condemnation of the Iranian government for the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and the invitation to call for justice for the victims, is a rare example of a bill that receives bipartisan support in an increasingly partisan Congress.

While these conditions are obvious, the signs seen from Iran and the region are signaling noteworthy developments and changes.

“We will test our missiles whenever needed, waiting for no one’s permission,” Rouhani said in response to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Riyadh, saying Iran must end its ballistic missile tests. Rouhani’s remarks are a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231.

“In the region, Iran has been able to stand in the face of terrorism… sending its diplomats and military advisors to Iraq, Syria and other nations…,” Rouhani said in response to both US President Donald Trump and his top diplomat as they both demanded Tehran bring an end to its terrorism in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and end its financial support for the Lebanese Hezbollah and other proxy groups checkered in the region.

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Digging deeper, the very nature of the mullahs’ regime, with Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards – IRGC – calling all the serious shots, will make such developments impossible.

Just one day prior to Iran’s recent presidential “election”, in Syria, the IRGC dispatched a column of proxy forces to take over a base near the town of Tanef, near the Syria-Iraq-Jordan border. Syrian opposition and US Special Forces are stationed on this site. In response, marking a major development, the US launched an airstrike targeting the incoming force and sending very important signals across the region.

Further steps were taken when international coalition warplanes struck a Hezbollah base in Syria’s Deir Ezzur. This marked the second incident in a week when the US targeted positions associated with Iran’s militias in Syria, including Hezbollah.

While Iran enjoyed the ability to harass US Navy ships in international waters during Obama’s tenure, recent episodes have been a wake-up call for Tehran. A US Navy warship fired warning shots towards an approaching IRGC boat. US Navy 5th Fleet spokesman said the warship transmitted numerous messages to the boat and was forced to resort to warning shots.

In the meantime, a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis, another Iranian proxy, was shot down by Saudi missile air defense systems. And despite numerous failures, Iran has raised the level of its support for the Houthis, as troubling reports show Tehran is smuggling chemical weapons to Yemen.

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This is exactly why Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir emphasized the Arab World will judge Iran by its actions, not words. “Iran is planning terrorist networks in Arab countries, supplying arms to militias seeking to disrupt our security,” he said, adding “Tehran has been refusing al-Qaeda leaders for more than 15 years and facilitate their measures.”

Decades of experience have proven Iran’s mullahs only understand the language of force. As the Arabic Islamic American summit came to its finale, reports indicated the establishment of a 34,000-strong military force aimed at confronting terrorism, set to begin operations in early 2018.

Iranian opposition Maryam Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), welcomed the new initiatives and called on the international community to specifically end all relations with the mullahs’ regime, expel its representatives from international organizations, blacklist the IRGC and the slate of its associated paramilitary, and have them evicted from the entire region.

Rajavi also welcomed the approval of a sanctions resolution against the Iranian regime by the US Senate in unison with the House of Representatives. She described the move as an imperative and significant step to prevent the medieval regime from obtaining nuclear weapons. She expressed hope that the US government would immediately implement the resolution.

The status quo has provided the international community – particularly the US – the opportunity to stand on the right side of history, alongside the Iranian people in their struggle against the mullahs’ regime.

About Shahriar Kia  5 Articles

Shahriar Kia is a human rights activist and a political analyst writing on Iran and the MIdlle East. As a member of the Iranian opposition, he dedicated his life for the freedom of his people in Iran. He graduated from University of North Texas (USA).https://practicalpoliticking.com/2017/06/15/the-iran-opportunity-before-the-arab-world/

https://practicalpoliticking.com/2017/06/15/the-iran-opportunity-before-the-arab-world/

MUSLIM SUPPORTERS OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY MUST BE PART OF EUROPE’S RESPONSE TO TERRORISM

by Antonio Stango*

With the United Kingdom still recovering from terrorist attacks in both Manchester and London, the rest of Europe has a responsibility to support the British people and also to remain vigilant against other incidents that might occur in the UK or on the continent. 

Solidarity can be a valuable tool if it leads to a unified response to shared threats. And that is especially important in the present situation because there are factions within the UK and all the nations of Europe that would promote a counterproductive response to terrorism if their voices weren’t outweighed by the rest of Western democratic society.

The more misguided among us generally strive to demonize all Muslims in the wake of attacks by religious extremists. But our unified response to terrorism must include the voices of moderate Muslims in our midst, who are the people with the best chance of turning disturbed people away from fundamentalism and convincing them of the inherent compatibility of moderate Islam and modern democracy.

When Europe speaks with one voice, it must be to say that all peoples are welcome throughout this region of the globe, provided that they respect their neighbors’ freedom to live as they will and to believe what they will, without posing a threat to others who would do the same. We must also make it known that violent extremism will not be tolerated or ignored, and that we will find the would-be perpetrators of terrorism, and hold them to account.

Islamic extremists would try and have the rest of the world’s Muslim community believe that Europe wants to be rid of them, that there is no place for Muslims in the Western world, and that their religion is incompatible with a democratic society. We can undermine the actions of those people with police action, but we can undermine their message much more effectively by pointing to the millions of Muslims who coexist with Europeans of every faith every day.

We must always make sure that those mainstream Muslims are given a voice with which to explain that they are happy living under the protection of a liberal democracy, and that the people of Muslim majority nations could be similarly happy if they would help their own countries to realize democratic transformations of their own.

Many Muslims have already clearly demonstrated their eagerness to stand up and call for the creation of a world wherein Muslim majority nations can be democratic ones. This message will be put on display in Paris on July 1 when the National Council of Resistance of Iran holds its annual Iran Freedom rally. Expected to be attended by upwards of 100,000 people, the event will reiterate the call for regime change and the fact that the NCRI, whose members are overwhelmingly Muslims, is appalled by the theocratic system in Tehran and the global surge of terrorism that that system has helped to create.

Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s president, has laid out a 10-point plan for the future of Iran, and it could very well be a model plan for the future of all Muslim majority countries. It demands free and fair elections, separation of religion and state, and generally speaking, the complete alignment of Muslim societies with the essential principles of free democratic countries.

Extremists aside, this alignment is of course something that many Muslims have already achieved throughout Europe, eagerly making themselves a part of our societies, participating in our structures of secular government, and working to counteract the poisonous messages that would seek to undermine those things.

This speaks to the other part of the unified message that Europe must present, and to how it is aided by the inclusion of Muslim voices. When we promise that the terrorist element will be rooted out, that promise also is made more credible by the support of cooperative, local Muslims who routinely deny a public platform to the advocates of extremism. With support from the rest Europe, they can wield great influence to prevent radicalism worming its way into the minds of young Muslims, who will in turn have an opportunity to shape the future of their local communities and of their ancestral homes.




The NCRI rally drives home this point, as well, insofar as the tens of thousands of Iranian expatriates in attendance will have traveled there from all across Europe and all throughout the world. In so doing, they represent a moderate, socially active Muslim community that will speak with one voice while advocating for the freedom of their homeland, and then go back to their local communities and continue defending freedom there as well.

Voices such as these are of great value to all of Europe, and they show that despite our differences, we will all stand together in condemning wicked ideologies and denying them the means to harm us any further.

*Antonio Stango is President of the Italian League of Human Rights

http://www.vocaleurope.eu/muslim-supporters-of-freedom-and-democracy/