Iran Focus
London, 29 March – Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has been on a campaign to curb the Iran threat. He has quite rightly identified Iran as the number one threat to peace and security in the Middle East and the number one state sponsor of terrorism.
His administration is in the midst of pursuing a maximum pressure campaign that has the aim of cutting the government off from the extensive revenue that it uses to fund terrorist activities and its militias and proxy groups that are scattered across the region. Some of Iran’s main allies in the region include the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Bashar al Assad of Syria, and the Shiite militias in Iraq.
The pressure on Iran is mainly in the form of economic sanctions that are increasing as time goes on. And in the past few weeks, the U.S. Treasury Department has designated more than a dozen Iranian entities and individuals because of their links with Iran’s program that is working on the development of weapons of mass destruction.
The people of Iran have had enough of the mullahs and they have been holding protests and anti-government demonstrations since the end of 2017. They want the mullahs to stop meddling abroad and instead concentrate on the many domestic issues that are making their lives a misery. They want the mullahs to stop plundering the nation’s wealth on terrorism and terrorist proxy groups and militias. And they want a voice and the respect of human rights – something that they have been cruelly and brutally denied for decades.
In the streets, the people are heard shouting slogans such as “Get out of Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen”, “death to the dictator” and “our enemy is not America, it is right here”.
The people of Iran have the support of the PMOI / MEK – the main opposition to the Iranian clerical dictatorship. The PMOI was once dismissed by the mullahs as an insignificant opposition group that had no support in the country. But these claims were clearly bravado, because why would the mullahs have killed tens of thousands of its members in one single summer in 1988 in what has become known as the 1988 massacre?
The Resistance in Iran has been getting stronger and stronger with every year that passes and the people are sure to be the force behind imminent regime change.
However, they must be supported by the international community because the ruling dictatorship continues to cling to power through the use of absolute repression.
One way that would make a big difference is the support of the U.S. President. Trump has already mentioned the long-suffering people of Iran but he now needs to re-iterate it in a more concrete way.
Furthermore, the people of Iran need practical assistance. One such example would be to enable the people to gather for protests and mass demonstrations.
Another idea would be for the United States to designate the MOIS intelligence agency and the notorious IRGC as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). They are already classed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) but the FTO designation would allow the U.S. to take further action against those that support them.
