Iran Focus
London, 7 Jun – The leaders of the Iranian Regime have come out in full force against Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia, following Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East, but they are masking weakness according to a human rights activist.
Shahriar Kia, who is also a political analyst specialising in Iran and the Middle East, wrote a strongly worded op-ed for Practical Politicking in which he stated that the public pressure on Iran was having more of an impact on the Regime than they will admit. That is why they lash out at other countries and crack down on their own people.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called the Arab Coalition, who met with Trump, “a tribal and backward system”, called the arms deal between the US and Saudi Arabia a “bribe”, and stood by the lie that the “sham” elections in Iran had a turnout of 40 million voters, in his speech last month, but this just highlights how fragile the Regime is.
Kia wrote: “Despite weeks passing since the presidential election in Iran, the political situation in the country has failed to improve, and has actually deteriorated by the day. Crises have been escalating, signalling a major weakness and an intense power struggle simmering among the regime’s senior ranks.”
He continued: “Without a doubt, if these elections had ended as a success as Khamenei claims, today we should be witnessing a lessening of tensions and crises, and Tehran improving its status quo in regional and international circles.
Iran’s domestic politics should be witnessing unification, while the scene before us is exactly the opposite.”
The Iran lobbies in the West have already prepared the reasons why the “moderate” Rouhani will fail to succeed and fulfil his campaign promises, blaming it on “hardliners” reacting to the Trump administration, rather than that Rouhani is not a moderate and does not want change to come to Iran.
Indeed, Rouhani barely even took the weekend to celebrate his hollow victory before he began to execute prisoners for minor offences like drug possession and criticising the government.
Kia wrote: “Rouhani’s response to these social unrests is, as always, nothing but more executions. During the first few weeks of his second term in office more than 23 people have been executed in Iran.”
If real moderates were allowed to control Iran, the Regime would be gone in an instant. Take the Iranian Resistance forces, led by Maryam Rajavi, for example, who advocate for a secular, non-nuclear Iran, which promotes gender equality and human rights.
They enjoy widespread support from the people of Iran, enough so that if they couldn’t vote for the Resistance many Iranians stayed home on polling day- frankly a deep embarrassment for the Regime.
Kia wrote: “The Iranian people, witnessing the weakness and rifts amongst the most senior ranks of this regime, have taken even more risks of being arrested for staging public protests against the current regime. The West and Middle East countries must use the current opportunity to establish peace and security in the region and adopt a firm policy against Tehran, including designating the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organisation. This will place them alongside the Iranian people and their Resistance in establishing a democratic state that is in line with peaceful coexistence amongst their neighbours and other countries.”
