Iran Focus
London, 25 Apr – Iran could soon achieve real positive change, if the US re-aligns itself with the Iranian Resistance forces, according to the political director of a non-profit that works to promote human rights and democracy in Iran.
Dr Majid Sadeghpour, from the Organization of Iranian-American Communities (OIACUS), wrote an op-ed for The Hill arguing that the Trump administration has made the right decision on holding the Iranian Regime to account for its use of ballistic weapons but pleaded with them to go further.
Supporting the Iranian Resistance already has bipartisan support inside Congress and from former national security experts. Last year the Obama administration helped to relocate thousands of Iranian dissidents, mainly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), from Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty in Iraq, where they were subject to constant attacks, to safety in Albania.
Those dissidents were recently visited by Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain(R-Ariz.), who met with Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a resistance group that serves as a government in exile.
Sadeghpour wrote: “Senator McCain’s visit represents a turning point in the plight of the Iranian dissidents now in Albania, but more importantly, marks a significant milestone in their struggle to bring about democratic change in Iran.”
The Regime, which is terrified of the organised, democratic, resistance forces, has criticised McCain’s visit and threatened the US with retribution. They do not want the world to see the Resistance, which enjoys wide support among ordinary Iranians, as a viable replacement to the Iranian Regime.
The Regime previously criticised the relocation of the dissidents because it helped the Resistance to establish a stable base of operations where they could prepare to fight back against the brutal Regime in relative safety.
Sadeghpour wrote: “McCain’s visit actually highlights two important steps with policy implications. First, the significant steps that President Obama’s administration and former Secretary of State John Kerry took to safeguard the Iranian resistance. Second, that the Trump administration is now taking active steps to compel the Iranian regime to play a less destructive role in the region and the world at large.”
There are those who will argue that this may risk war between the US and Iran but Sadeghpour argued that Iran poses no military threat to the US.
Sadeghpour wrote: “Obviously, there are more tools available to the U.S. that do not require military action. The latter was underscored by McCain’s trip and the increased political strength of the Iranian Resistance. Given the suffocating and oppressive political environment within Iran, the people of Iran, who are overwhelmingly opposed to the ruling theocracy, stand ready to overthrow the existing regime as soon as its repressive apparatus is sufficiently weakened.”
Sadeghpour also advised the US to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation and expand sanctions against the Regime.
