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Is Iran a problem, or part of the solution?

by Andre Vltchek

Why should I care whether Iran has nukes? It most likely doesn’t, but even if it does… it never attacked anyone, never overthrew any government, and never performed experiments on human beings. It had not committed a single genocide, and never dreamed about conquering the world.

So why should I even bother to think much about Iran’s nuclear program, big or small, “peaceful” or defensive?

If Iran is capable of defending itself – then excellent; I am only happy! At least it will not be wiped out from the face of the Earth, as happened to its unfortunate neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan or to a bit more distant but not more fortunate countries like Libya.

Do I want this great, ancient Iranian culture to become defenseless and to eventually disappear, to be destroyed, or to get replaced by aggressive Western consumerism, arrogance and pathological lack of compassion? Or more concretely: Do I want Iran to turn into yet another Western colony? I don’t! I want it to survive and to thrive. As I want great Chinese and great Arab cultures to survive and flourish. As I want all cultures on Earth to survive and flourish.

But it seems that, as the Empire is on its final bellicose and ideological crusade, unless a truly independent nation begins to roar, unless it shows both its teeth and its missiles, it has almost no chance to survive.

Iran is roaring and it is also logically explaining where it stands. It has both guts and big heart.

Iran is ordered to prove its innocence

Iran is ordered to prove its “innocence”, all of the time. There are entire “international” (sponsored and handled by the West) organizations and commissions challenging its course, sticking their muzzles into Iran’s internal affairs.

Iran is told to comply, “or else”. Its tormentors insist on “transparency”, while themselves staying in total murkiness. They are above the law; in fact they are the law. In the world they created, they themselves don’t have to prove absolutely anything, while their victims are routinely challenged, scrutinized, cornered, bullied and humiliated.

After suffering, after bleeding incessantly, it appears that Iran had finally enough. It is no longer willing to play this neo-colonialist game. It is now going public with its grievances.

Photo-Andre-and-President-Iran-Hassan-Rouhani-510x258

At the opening of the “2nd International Congress on 17.000 Iranian Martyrs”, (held in Teheran on August 31 – September 1st, 2015) I was allowed to speak right after the President of Iran, Mr. Hassan Rouhani.

President Rouhani gave a powerful speech about the terrorism in the region: “Maybe for many people it is something new, but not for us… Today there are powers in Europe and the United States – they are silent about some terrorist groups, while supportive of others. Can we really win against the terrorism like this?”

“You are being targeted because you are taking care of your people”, I said after him, in my discourse, as I was designated a keynote speaker of the Conference. “Iran suffers similar attacks as Latin America. The Western imperialism tries to destroy virtually every revolutionary, socialist country. But the world is changing and you are not alone. As Latin America is not alone.”

17.000 Iranian victims; 17.000 human lives lost. And almost no one in the West seems to know! How convenient. How cowardly. How servile!

The West supports the Saudis, Qataris and other Wahhabi extremists. It had been arming ISIL (Dash). It already destroyed almost every socially oriented, moderate and secular nation in the Muslim world, from Yemen to Syria, from Egypt to Indonesia. Little surprise that independent-minded and proud Iran is now at the very top of the Empire’s hit list.

After all, Iran is standing by Syria and it is supportive of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hezbollah is the only true social force in that otherwise collapsing country; the only social force that incorporates several religious and ethnic groups. And it is locked in a dogfight with ISIL, and it fights Israel whenever Israel decides to invade Lebanon. That is why Hezbollah is also on that hit list (or call it “terrorist list”) of the West. The fact that Teheran is backing Hezbollah is yet another reason why Iran is ostracized by Washington, London and Paris.

Teheran is simply spoiling some of the most outrageous colonialist plans of both North America and Europe.

Time for the western public to wake up

It is time for the Western public to wake up and pay attention to the fact that thousands of common Iranian people are dying, have been murdered, for absolutely no reasons… both common people, as well as prominent figures, including some of the country’s top scientists.

I saw mothers and wives holding photos of their murdered loved ones, in terrible grief. I saw men without legs. I saw archive photos depicting aftermaths of countless horrific terrorist explosions, executed by The Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization (MKO), an anti-Iran terrorist group, and by other pro-Western groups.

To me, all this was not new, but it is shocking nevertheless. I saw how the Empire has been murdering thousands, even millions of those who have been reluctant to succumb to its dictate – in the Middle East, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

But here, in Iran, the West has been behaving with almost absolute ludicrousness. While torturing the country, it was shamelessly insisting that the entire world should actually fear it and despise it. Its propaganda against Iran reached crescendo.

And while murdering Iranian people directly or through vicious sanctions, the West has been demanding from Teheran ever newer proves of its “guiltlessness”.

The entire situation would be grotesque, truly laughable, if those thousands of innocent people would not be dying.

When I spoke in Teheran, my voice was shaking. I addressed the Iranian government and the academia: “We are all brothers”, I said, old images of Chavez and Ahmadinejad embracing, appearing in my mind. Then I recalled the US-sponsored coups in Venezuela, and few moments later, those thousands of innocent, slaughtered Iranian civilians.

I spoke about resistance to imperialism, about new powerful media outlets in Latin America, Russia, and China as well as in Iran itself.

I told them about my 1.000-page book “Exposing Lies of the Empire”, depicting virtually all corners of the globe that have already been ravished by the West. I spoke about those fascist, fundamentalist doctrines behind such attacks. I told them what I saw, how devastated I have been, but also how determined to resist! And I concluded:

Why is Iran one of the main targets of the terrorists who are supported by the West? It is obviously because Iran is doing many of the right things, for its own people and for the world!

Iran is one of the most peaceful countries on earth

Iran, one of the most criticized and scrutinized nations, is in reality one of the most peaceful and long-suffering countries on earth.

The West has been tormenting the Iranian people sadistically, continuously and relentlessly.

Since the ancient Greek Empire, Iran (Persia) was continuously invaded and partitioned, although never fully colonized.

In 1953 the US and Britain overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh, a socialist leader dedicated to social changes. During his government, the Iranian people were enjoying subsidized housing, good education and medical care. He also launched a comprehensive land reform. In order to improve life of Iranian people, he nationalized Iran’s oil industry. The Brits and the North Americans, of course, considered such behavior as unacceptable. Mosaddegh was ousted, and a tyrant monarch, Shah, put on the throne. Cheap oil began to flow to the West, while thousands of Iranian people were savagely tortured and killed. The Empire later committed the same crimes in Indonesia (1965) and in Chile (1973), to name just two places.

After the Shah was forced to leave, the West armed and encouraged Iraq to invade its neighbor, Iran. In 1980, a terrible war erupted. As a result, around one million people died.

When Iran decided to develop its peaceful nuclear program, brutal sanctions were imposed, destroying lives of millions, including women and children.

Then the extremist terrorist groups were “put to work” by both the West and Israel. Their goal was to spread fear and devastation, and to murder Iran’s prominent scientists.

Attempts to destabilize Iran are constant but had proven to be futile.

Shaken, injured but determined, Iran is facing vicious attacks calmly and with dignity. The more self-respect it radiates, the more vicious propaganda and loud barking are coming from the West, and the more chilling are the threats.

The position of Washington, Paris and London is obvious (and it has been for centuries): non-Western countries have no right to defend themselves. They only exist in order to supply North America and Europe with cheap raw materials and labor. They cannot decide their fate.

And there is no compromise on the table. Either a country fully submits to the Western dictate, or it is destroyed.

But Iran refused to accept such “arrangement” of the world. Too mighty to be out rightly attacked, it rose against Western global dictatorship. Of course Russia did, too. And so did China. Most of Latin American countries did as well. And now several African and Asian countries are also determined to join those who are refusing to kneel.

The West trembles: its dogmas are being challenged! And it does what it has been doing for many terrible centuries: it is trying to murder, to deceive and to trick. It is desperately fighting for being able to maintain its iron grip on the World.

The West has been supporting extreme Wahabbism

At the Conference, ideas were exchanged, and concepts erected. Several speakers described how the West has been supporting extreme, ultra-conservative Islamic teaching -Wahabbism – and used it against the socialist Islam, against countries like Turkey, against several Arab states, against the Soviet Union, China and now against Iran. Ahmadinejad called Wahhabism “a cancer that made the entire Middle East sick.” I also argued that it is also making sick entire Indonesia.

One of the speakers, Professor Azizi, declared from the stage of Shahid Beheshti University Conference Center:

Americans intend to establish their own religion, their own version of Islam… They created DAESH (ISIL) in order to support such version, such “new religion”… They do it this way, covertly, because they would not dare to fight Islam openly, fearing a great backlash.

I heard terms like “social terrorism”.

Finian Cunningham, renowned columnist from Northern Ireland, compared the operations of British death squads in his country to other acts of terror that the Empire has been spreading all over the world, including places like Yemen and Iran: “Illegal war of aggression against sovereign nations.”

I was told by several Iranian participants, repeatedly, that one hidden “secret” which the Western media has been keeping away from the public, is that both Ahmadinejad and Chavez were actually building two respective socialist countries, two states with different history and cultures, but with very similar, socialist principles.

Western propaganda is depicting Iran as some brutal religious dogmatic state, not as an enormous 80-million inhabitants country that is re-inventing itself on the values of the socialist Islam.

High above the city, at the viewing platform of the magnificent Milad Tower, I listened to a passionate discourse of my new friend, Soraya Sebahpour-Ulrich, a great Iranian thinker, and a stepdaughter of a former cabinet minister who also happened to be the Shah’s ghostwriter:

The world sees Iran not as it is, but as it is projected by Western media. It pains me. I see the kindness and beauty, and then I am told that it is being ugly. And this destructed image is stabbing me in the heart. I just want to say: ‘I am Iran and Iran is me… I want people to see me as I am, and I want them to see real Iran.

Soraya also believes that Iran is a socialist country, and she wants it to stay this way: “This is Iran that I love and appreciate much more than that Iran, where I had a very privileged life.”

A great socialist city

I report that I saw great socialist city – Teheran – standing tall, proud and determined.

Teheran with its old bazaars and mosques, palaces and mountains, but above all with thousands of projects designed to provide welfare for its people.

In Teheran, like in Caracas, I witnessed a breathtaking struggle for a better world. Sanctions or not, Teheran is impressive, with its modern public transportation system, huge public parks, wide sidewalks, vast cultural institutions, free medical facilities and schools.

I did not see slums. I did not see people begging. I did not witness frustration or rage. Instead, I felt kindness at each and every corner, and I also felt great confidence of the nation with tremendous culture and 5 thousand years of recorded history.

At one point, I was driven to the studios of Press TV and asked to comment on the diplomatic conflict between the USA and Russia. There was absolute trust. Few minutes later, IRINN TV interviewed me on the West–Iran relationship. Radio stations, including IRIB, were lining up, microphones ready. Some interviews were live. No one was asking those ‘BBC screening question’: “What are you going to say, Mr. Vltchek?”

It was like interacting with other progressive channels – like TeleSUR or RT.

Iran was not scared of me, as I was not scared of Iran.

What I said in Teheran, I have been saying again and again in Caracas, Quito, Beijing and Pretoria: “If we are united, we will never be defeated! Venezuela may appear far away on the world map, but in reality it is standing right here, shoulder to shoulder with you.”

The powerful specter of a united, internationalist, and anti-imperialist block horrifies the West. That is why Iran is now under attack. That is why fascist gangsters are hitting Venezuela. That is why the imperialists are encircling Russia and China. That is why Western propaganda is demonizing all proud and noble countries around the world.

17.000 Iranian victims of terrorism sponsored by the West. More than one million victims since the West overthrew the progressive government in 1953. What a tremendous toll! But true freedom is priceless.

I report that Iran is standing! And it will not succumb to vicious and senseless attacks. It will never kneel, because it knows – surrendering would lead directly to slavery.

How much is too much?

One is of course tempted to ask: how much is too much? How many people have to die, before the patience of the oppressed of the world runs out?

I interacted with many Iranian people. Their peaceful nuclear program does not scare me. And it does not scare people of Western and Central Asia. Iranian culture is thousands of years old and it is deep and tolerant. It gained the trust of the world; of people who are not blinded by toxic propaganda.

But I have to admit that the Western Empire increasingly disgusts me, as it terrifies billions of people all over the world. It already lost all breaks, all sense of decency. It already ruined and finished billons of lives, by spreading and forcing its fundamentalist dogmas, its greed and incomparable brutality. I don’t want more lives to be destroyed. I don’t want more countries, more nations, to be shattered.

That is why I feel that as long as Iran and countries like Iran are standing, so are we!

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism. Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania – a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.

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Filed under: featured, Iran, Middle East, multipolar world
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socialinform
socialinform
Sep 19, 2015 8:43 PM

Reblogged this on 100words.

socialinform
socialinform
Sep 19, 2015 3:58 PM

Thank you for this great article. I have collected some interesting articles about USA-Iran on my blog, that could be interesting for you:
http://theotheriran.com/category/usa/

I hope you enjoy my posts as much as I enjoyed this article.

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 20, 2015 11:42 AM
Reply to  socialinform

I am really thrilled to know. I have seen you register on multiple persian speaking forums offering your blog right and left trying to hide you real agenda. You lie to those people on those forums and agree to them when they highlight the murderous actions of the islamic republic but you come up on sites like this and call an absolutely propaganda article written by someone who went to iran and sat next to them and is now beating their drums a “great article”. Now whats your real intention? Whats all the tries to highlight iran as a great country while you exactly know what kind of government people are dealing with? I mean people here are clueless, they support Iran because they think Iran is a great allies of Syria and anti american. We both know islamic republic doesnt give a fuck about Syria,nor about Iraq, they are a shia religious bunch who just need Syria as a corridor to supply their shia hezbollah brothers in lebanon with weapons. People here are fed up with america and western lies so they seem to fall into traps of anyone who play acts the opposition to west, no matter what they do to their own people but they are not to blame, they dont know iran and whats going on there, they rely on such nonsense articles written by clueless people with clear agendas but you as an iranian know exactly what that regime is doing to people. Now lets talk about one thing. What exactly has been so great about that article. Pick one issue and lets talk about it. Islamic republic has been a major reason as for why the ME is in such a horrible situation as they have been the hidden arm of the west in our region deepening the hate between shia and suni by their support of all shia militants in neighbouring countries, supplying weapon and logistics to anyone who are ready to fight the sunnis. They played a major role in destruction of Iraq, they hated saddam so they actively supproted the US invasion of Iraq because now the shia mullahs are controling the whole south of iraq and islamic republic controls those shia mullahs in iraq. The destruction of Iraq has been one of the priority goals of not only Israel and US but also the islamic republic of iran. US, Israel and islamic republic have been natural allies in a lot of ways. Only after destruction of Iraq the interests of Iran and Israel started to go in different direction because Iran needs Syria to have a clear path to hezbolla in lebanon and Israel needs to destroy that path to dry out Hezbollah.

socialinform
socialinform
Sep 20, 2015 2:33 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

Stop with the conspiracy theories. Your opinion has not to be white or black. I agree that the regime is bad inside (to the Iranian people), but outside (foreign policy) it is way better than Saudi Arabia, Israel and US. The problems of the US with Iran are not that Iran is violating human rights or is not a democracy but that it acts independently and not as a slave state (How the US expects every 3rd world country with resources to be).
The mess that the ME is in is mostly because of US involvement, that messed up Iraq, and the gulf states, Turkey and the green light from the US to mess up Syria. That are the problems that led to rise of ISIS, and are now the reason why people have no stable countries in Syria (indeed a dictatorship) and in Iraq, and why they are fleeing to Europe. The Iranian regime is bad, and as I write in the one and only political statement on my non-political blog (in the welcome page) it is indeed a clerical dictatorship. I myself have suffered under this dictatorship and lost almost everything. Still blaming a regime that is in power for 35 years for things that accelerated with Bush’s policies and the support of “moderate” forces in Syria is a ridiculous distraction by the US.
The worst thing in the ME now is the hate between Sunni and Shia I agree, but claiming Iran is Anti Sunni when Iran has all its problems with Israel because of its support of Sunni palestinians is nonsense. Also Assad was called out as Anti Sunni, even though Syria was the country that hosted the biggest chunk of Sunni Palestinians. Let me tell you one thing: Saudi Arabia is clearly Anti-Shia, you cannot say in the same sense that Iran or Syria (most of Assads Army are still Sunnis) are Anti-Sunni. Radical Sunnis use suppression by Shia as excuse for their doings which are totally independent and only because of their facist world views. They see Shia as heretics that deserve to die, no matter if kid or woman, no matter how innocent they are. That is why 99% of the attacks in Iraq target market places (not military/governement facilities) in Shia districts. This is not revenge for something, or because sunnis feel oppressed this is because there are fascist radicals who think the killing of every Shia is a good thing.

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06DAMASCUS5399_a.html
Read this part:
— Possible action: — PLAY ON SUNNI FEARS OF IRANIAN INFLUENCE:

by Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh in 2007!
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/05/the-redirection

And look who is sectarian:

This is Al Jazeera, can you think of a normal TV station host sitting there with a tie speak like this anywhere else?

All this Sunni Shia conflict was started as a means to do divide and conquer by the US to divert Sunni and Shia resistance to fight each other instead of fighting the US.

Sorry for my unstructured reply I am low on battery and time currently, but let me summarize here:
I am against what the regime is doing to Iranian people. I find the allegations of Iran’s meddling in other countries extremely exaggerated , thinking about the sources of these statements (Saudi Arabia who is bombing Yemen but still bullshitting about Iranian meddling).

Iran’s internal policies are a disaster but it’s foreign policies at least under Rohani are way better than the foreign policies of those who criticize Iran. BTW Iran did not only support Shia militants but also Sunni Kurds.
( http://news.yahoo.com/iran-provided-weapons-iraqs-kurds-barzani-135743780.html# )
Also Shia in Iraq fight with Sunni tribesmen. Of course the numbers of those Sunnis are way lower, but all this shows that Iran is not the sectarian force here. Would Saudi Arabia provide help to any even tiny Shia group or would they let them be massacred?

I am against The Iranian Regime, against Saudi Arabia, Israel, the US’s foreign policy. I am against radical sectarian groups that see everyone but themselves as heretics that deserve to die. These are ISIS, Al Qaida/Nusra, lots of other groups in Syria that would massacre any non Wahhabi/Salafi person once Assad falls.
Who am I for?
For the innocent Iranian people, that suffer under the regime and are misrepresented through the world. Hence my blog shows the complementary picture that is missing in the media, it shows Iranians and that they are humans just like any one else.

I and a lot of other Iranians are day in day out hearing US politicians singing “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran …”, “The military option is on the table” or US and Israeli politicians discussing about using nukes on Iran, and their voters thinking that this is ok. They seem to not consider that Iranians are just humans that themselves are suffering under a regime, but also try to keep going their lives. This stresses me a lot, and yes I post in any group that I find to distribute the message about the people of Iran in order to work against the constant propagnda that is trying to dehumanize them. No one of these groups is completely wrong, they all see one part of the truth and I am agreeing with them on that part, and not on others where I disagree with them.

I have to admit that I did not read this article, but just quickly skimmed through it. I want to share my posts about Iranian people with everyone who has interest in the people of Iran, and would probably propagate my message.

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 20, 2015 5:37 PM
Reply to  socialinform

Well thanks for the long reply but you did cut into some different issues aswell which are not part of the discussion here. My problem with your post has been the part how you called a very unfounded, superficial and ignorant article of Mr. V, “great”. Now you say the islamic iranian regime has been a disaster to iranian people. So at best, you are contradicting yourself. If you are iranian and you know exactly that this regime has been poison to iranian people and their struggle for freedom, for very basic rights to express themselves, then how is that absolutely pro-islamic republic article a “great” article?

I mean i could understand someone like him to be ignorant because he simply doesnt know anything about real iran. These guys need any source of support against the US hegemonial tries which to be frank is killing the world and specially the ME. These guys dont give a damn about iranian people, these guys would even call the majority of iranian people all kinds of names if they rose against the islamic regime. In these guys opinion in iran everything is rosy, because it fits their agenda. They want to have a united russian, syrian, chinese iranian front against the US and the West and they wouldnt accept anything that damages this rosy picture. Iranian peoples blood is not inferior to syrian and iraqi blood though. the Islamic regime is killing, beating, suppressing and stealing in iran for over 36 years and everyone goes mute. Really in that regard iranian people are even poorer than syrians as the world is atleast hearing their cries while the iranian people cries are getting suppressed by both sides, the pro and anti US fractions. Nobody is talking about the crimes of the islamic republic. The US is paling with them and the anti-US fraction is making them to heros so the only voice that is getting muted is the voice of the majority of iranian people who are getting robbed of very basic human rights under these religious blood suckers. I know we iranians tend to showcase ourselves from our best side, this is in our blood but its always come with lies and sugar coatings. The islamic regime in Iran is not giving a damn to syrian people, nor to iraqis. They want to stay at power and to achieve this, they do everything in their power. I have posted a speech of Ahmadinejad, you can very well understand what he said. islamic republic iran has actively cooperated with the US in their destructive attack on Iraq because you aswell as me we both know iran always hated saddam and iraq. Islamic republic has gained a lot of power among shia majority in iraq and they have gained this power after Iraq was attacked and made disable to collect itself and secure their borders. Islamic republic is one of the sneakiest and most dishonest forces in the region. Iran as a US ally is guilty for creating this mess in Iraq provoking the anti shia sentiments among sunni arabs. US and the Israelies just exploited this new situation and made use of it. They just armed those unhappy sunni people in iraq and used their hate towards shias (backed by the iranians) as their own proxy army to create further chaos and disintegration.

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 20, 2015 5:48 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

To sum things up: As an iranian i would like to see iranian people first get rid of these shia islamist regime in iran, install a secular regime and THEN start supporting the secular government of Assad and make friends with other forces and elements who are ready to do something against the US hegemonial tries. We iranians cant tolerate these blood sucking mullahs to rule our people and start acting as if everything was fine in our own country on international stages just in order to put iran in a good light. That wouldnt be honest. That wouldnt serve the iranian peoples interests either.

socialinform
socialinform
Sep 20, 2015 9:02 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

A lot of the things you say are right, and also not doubted by me. I want to be honest, I did not read the article but only the first part that was flattering to me, and also correct. The article starts like :”Iran has not attacked anyone, nor comitted any genocide and has the right to be strong, to not end up like Libya.” I also read the second headline that Iran has always to prove innocence when other villains never have to explain about their weapons programs, wars, ….
I did not read further, but I was very much ok with what I read so far (I have to take my time and read it thoroughly), and … I am always happy to hear something else than FOX News nonsense from a westerner.

Now about the other topics.
About Iraq: Yes the Iranian regime collaborated with the US in Iraq and in Afghanistan, but I have to say this is not shocking: there was no way for Iran to stop the US to do this invasions, and thus have their troops next to Iran. For the Iranian regime it could not have been a great scenario having US troops near by, but when you cannot stop them, it is clever politics to not stand in the way of such a superpower and help if they ask for help. It was clear that the outcome would be bad (US troops nearby) and good for Iran (Iran would win time – not being the first to be attacked, the removal of the hated Taliban in Afghanistan, and the removal of the biggest threat for Iran (Iraq under the yes for good reasons hated Saddam). Any other regime would have acted in the same manner.
Anti Shia or at least Anti Iran sentiments were always there. Sunni Arab Gulf countries supported Iraq with billions when Saddam attacked Iran at a time the regime had not even had time to provoke. They did not care that Iraq was the attacker and was heavily using chemical weapons. Anti Shia sentiment was present in all those Persian Gulf monarchies either because they have a suppressed Shia minority (Saudi) or even majority (Bahrain). In Iraq the Shia were OK for the radical Sunnis as long as they were not in power even though they were in the majority. When after Saddam they got into power because they were the majority and because Sunni parties boycotted elections not seeing the need to compete with Shia parties because they found it in acceptable to lose against a Shia party.
On top of these general Anti Shia sentiments the Saud family that sees itself as the leaders of Islam and other Arab monarchs were pissed off by the popularity of Shia Lebanese Hizbollah during the 2006 standoff with Israel in the Arab public. Arab polls of that year showed that Nasrallah, Assad and even crazy Ahmadinejad were more popular among Arabs than the monarchs. (this is partly described in the great article by Hersh) and also still true in 2008:
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/events/2008/4/14%20middle%20east/0414_middle_east_telhami.pdf
At this time Saudi and Qatari leaders, and also Erdogan were still very much fine with Assad, Erdogan called him his brother and made vacation with him. Qatari leaders met with him and tried to convince him to build a pipeline through that would bring Qatari gas to Europe. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/milad-jokar/war-in-syria-geopolitics-_b_2378683.html)
Assad declined and so began his problems.
The monarchs started with strengthening their efforts to create Paranoia about Iran and Shias (play the religion card – just like our regime in Iran). They started with Bullshitting about Shia crescent and claiming that every unrest in their countries would be backed by Iran. As if Shias in Saudi, Bahrain would have no rights to be unhappy and peacefully go to the streets. When the arab “spring” started they had to use it against Assad who suddenly also became a Sunni hating Shia (or Alawite the same thing for them), and the monarchs used Syria to divert their extremist who could be a threat to the Saudi and Qatari monarchy to go to Syria to fight with the Shias. Iran BTW came much much later into the Syria game when it became evident that Saudi and Qatar are openly supporting the most radical forces in Syria and that Assad would lose without external help.
To promote Anti-Shia/Iran sentiments at a time when Iran was not part of the game in Syria and actually right after 2006, Al Jazeera that became famous as a independent Arab broadcaster but that is actually owned by the royal family of Qatar, and Saudi Al Arabia began a hate campaign against Shias that makes the Nazi propaganda against Jews seem like a Joke (I posted one example above). Arab TV/Radio stations would regularly and openly call Shias “dirty dogs”, songs like “Shias to the grave, Christians to Lebanon”would be broadcasted. Hosts would invite the Al Nusra leader and call him his excellency, …
You see Anti-Shia/Iran sentiments do not depend to Iran, they are there because in big parts of the Arab world fascism towards others has never been called something bad. It does not depend what Shias are doing they are messing up with their “beautiful” Islam. Conspiracy theories about Shia and that they have on purpose created wrong translations of the Quran and even that they drink blood were common. The monarchs had just to tap into this, which was not hard for them using their now mighty media (Al Jazeera/Arabia).
So yes you are right Sunni/Shia conflict is the perfect tool to mess up the middle east once for all, but Iran’s part in this has been tiny.
Iranian Shia extremism is bad but nothing against Arab Sunni extremism and blatant racism towards every one else (just ask east Asian migrant workers in Qatar or Saudi Arabia)

Now back to the Iranian regime. There is no one important in this world who does not know that the Iranian regime is evil towards Iranians. Also partners in Russia and China know this.
But as you know no one cares besides us, also not the “freedom loving” Americans. No one will liberate us.
We have to do it ourselves, and we have to learn the lessons from Syria and elsewhere we cannot do this by using violence. I am not one of those Iranians that hope Iran will be bombed. I know that nothing good for us Iranians will come out of that. Iran has resources and crazy neighbors/enemies so we have to stay strong while changing in the inner.
You say “Nobody is talking about the crimes of the islamic republic”. I think yes a lot of people do, and everyone knows, but who would listen to this? Who would care? Who would rescue us? Who would put pressure on the regime for that? No one! So it is not very effective to try to do something there.

But you know what is effective, or at least I hope is effective: doing good publicity for the Iranian people. Because this is what I can do for the people that suffer in Iran. Do you know what their most often question to western travelers is? What they think of Iran now compared to before the trip.
Just in order to criticize the regime we Iranians throw a lot of dirt at Iran. We throw at the regime but it sticks on the country and even its people. Netanyahu, GOP, the Saudis also throw dirt at Iran and they don’t care about people or regime, what they want to do is to prepare the public that a war against Iran (with tens of thousands innocent civilian deaths) is a just thing, just like fighting ISIS. For this case they really try to dehumanize Iranians, they go so far with lies about Anti Jewish Iranians and even distorting Iranian history, that I as a Phd from a western elite university had to explain even other academics that this is not true.
Academics can really not distinguish between the regime and the Iranian people. I come to the conclusion that they do not even understand that the basic thing of a dictatorship is that a minority suppresses a majority.
Look closely at these international poll results: http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/18/irans-global-image-mostly-negative/
The amount of negative sentiment about Iran (and thus Iranians) is incredible and not explainable by anything but constant propaganda.
I do not expect a favorable view of Iran, but if you look closely in western countries that are exposed to a lot Anti Iran propaganda people rarely say I don’t know or I am neutral, they have almost always an opinion (they are confident to know about Iran) and it is mostly negative. In contrary Latin American countries and African countries often say “I don’t know”/”I am neutral”. In a world without constant propaganda this would be the more natural result.

So in my blog I do the only thing with which I can help the people of Iran, making clear that they are humans like people elsewhere, who love sports, arts, science, … and whose lives matter and should not be decided by criminal politicians.

I think this people suffer enough and I don’t want them to live under sanctions, constant threats (that take away my sleep even though I am not in Iran) and I definitely don’t want them bombed.

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Is Iran a problem, or part of the solution? | OffGuardian | lmrh5
Sep 19, 2015 3:41 AM
Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 6:19 PM

Back in 2003 and while millions of iranians were hitting the streets of the country waiting for a little help from outside to topple the islamic dictators ruling iran, the US admin in person of Richard Armitage calls Islamic republic iran a “democracy”. People got stoned and shocked in Iran. They thought the US would atleast give them a moral boost but instead the US admin clearly gives its green light to the iranian regime to keep beating up on people by calling an islamistic religious sharia regime a “democracy”. Now compare it to syria: There is a secular government and some cruel sunni islamists start rasing gun towards governmental forces and the same US admin brands terrorists “freedom fighters”. In Iran though the islamic terrorists are already ruling so the US doesnt have to back secular people who ask for democracy and freedom. In Iran the job got done back in 1979. The syrian job still needs to be done meaning a secular regime has to fall and be replaced by islamists.

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/feb/14/world/fg-usiran14

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 6:04 PM

excerpts of the book “defying the iranian revolution” there you can see how Carter and his european allies simply decided to let shah fall and give the country to the shiite mullahs. It happened during the meetings in french Guadaloupe back in 1979. Read that page and perhaps the page after where you can see BBCs role in helping khomeini who was a mean islamist killer (i am iranian, i know it from first hand) come to power by broadcasting his hate speeches against secularism 24/7 through high frequence senders in bahrain and qatar, provoking people to become more agressive on the shah who was a secular and progressive man and an angel in compare to the backward shiite mullahs ruling iran.

https://books.google.com/books?id=NboVl-CeYs0C&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=guadeloupe+conference+iran&source=bl&ots=J5-Swv-TPs&sig=DhsZlCvyl_Kzjrjy6nE_OYTS1jI&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0CFgQ6AEwB2oVChMIjqeNuYaByAIVAQMaCh3sog_D#v=onepage&q=guadeloupe%20conference%20iran&f=false

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 5:16 PM

Can you read or understand persian? It would be better but if not, i will try to gather a few articles and stuff in english to back things up but i think you know it best: When the US does want to hide something, they do it. They have done it before, they are doing it today but you can still find stuff to understand the puzzle. And dont forget: Mr. V is not backing anything up. He is just speaking some real real baseless stuff without researching. Mr. V did not spend one single minute, researching and informing himself about iran. I mean i am all with you guys when it goes against imperialism and i am all with you guys when it comes to criticizing the US hegemonial tries which is killing the world but lets not lie. Lets not be like the other side. Lets not fool people and feed them things they want to hear just in order to please a certain agenda.

tommytcg
tommytcg
Sep 18, 2015 1:31 PM

Perfect.. Mr V.

Sabine
Sabine
Sep 18, 2015 1:28 PM

Just like all your essays: profound and passionate. And I share your disgust.

Janet B
Janet B
Sep 18, 2015 3:28 PM
Reply to  Sabine

Thank you for this insight. It has encouraged me to read yours and Noam Chomsky’s books. So pleased I visited Off-Guardiian.

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 4:32 PM
Reply to  Sabine

Where do you know its profound? Infact this is one of the most baseless, senseless and actually shameful BS articles i have ever read about Iran. It pretty much sounds as if MR. V is on the islamic republics payroll. And before you even start: Yes i think the US are behind the IS, just like they have been behind Al Qaida and Taliban. What most of you dont know is: The US has been behind the Mullahs in Iran too. Dont waste your time waiting for the US to attack Iran. They wont. The Iranian Mullahs came up with the help of the Carter Administration. Some of the biggest and most famous iranian mullahs have admited themselves. Islamic republic and the US are fooling you for decades. Islamic Republic helped the US army in their attack on Iraq (which initiated the downfall of secularism in Iraq and the creation of IS), the same Iranian regime helped the US army in their attack on Afghanistan. Iran does things under the table, they are masters of hiding their agendas.

OffGuardian
OffGuardian
Sep 18, 2015 5:08 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

That’s an unusual POV Behrooz. Do you have some sources you can quote?

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 5:17 PM
Reply to  OffGuardian

Can you read or understand persian? It would be better but if not, i will try to gather a few articles and stuff in english to back things up but i think you know it best: When the US does want to hide something, they do it. They have done it before, they are doing it today but you can still find stuff to understand the puzzle. And dont forget: Mr. V is not backing anything up. He is just speaking some real real baseless stuff without researching. Mr. V did not spend one single minute, researching and informing himself about iran. I mean i am all with you guys when it goes against imperialism and i am all with you guys when it comes to criticizing the US hegemonial tries which is killing the world but lets not lie. Lets not be like the other side. Lets not fool people and feed them things they want to hear just in order to please a certain agenda.

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 5:32 PM
Reply to  Behrooz


Watch from 01:25. Ahmadinejad former Persident of Iran clearly says: The americans are so shameless, in Afghanistan we cooperated with them, in Iraq we cooperated and helped them, in that nuclear issue we accepted everything they imposed on us and they are still calling us part of axis of evil.

Feel free to show this video to a persian speaking person to confirm. Fact is the US is strenghtening the Mullahs in Iran since day one. They are getting rid of all their natural enemies like the secular baath regime in Iraq. Mr V. also talks about Mujahedine Khalgh who he called pro american!! This is so off, this is such a lie that i dont know do i have to laugh or cry. Mujahedine khalgh were a soft islamist-socialist (!!) opponent of the islamic republic regime who got destroyed and betrayed by the US government infavour of the islamic regime of Iran. US all of a sudden put them on the list of terrorist group with no clear explanation as for why. Members of that group got slaughtered by the regime in thousends and the US agreed. They were the most popular and biggest threat to this islamic reactionaries and with the US help and their international isolation the US helped the islamic republic getting rid of their toughest enemy. So the Mujahedine Khalgh have never been US backed, they got stabbed in the back from the US infavour of the islamic regime.

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 5:41 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

How Carter and Brzezinski played the islamic card
From August 12, 1980. So only one year after the Carter Administration helped getting rid of Shah of Iran and replacing him with Khomeini a shiite islamistic mullah. The US admin even had a name for the shit they had started and it was called “green belt ” plan. Green is the colour of Islam and the US started to back islamistic and backward elements in the ME against progressive secular forces like Shah, Saddam, Assad, Mubarak, Ghaddafi….what we are seeing today is just the continuation of the same old “green belt” plan which is targeting secularism in our region infavor of islamism. In that process, the US just made use of the given situation in thos states. Back in 79, they helped shiite islamists take over Iran because iranians are mostly shiites, and after that they helped sunni extremists in all the neighbouring countries against secular governments. The US doesnt care if its shiite or sunni, aslong as they are religious extremists. What you see in Iraq and Syria are tries to give the sunnis their khalifate, just like they gave iranians their shiite imamat.

http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1980/eirv07n31-19800812/eirv07n31-19800812_043-how_carter_and_brzezinski_played.pdf

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 5:51 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

The Islamic regime in Iran gased the Kurds in Halabja (Iraq) but the US admin blamed it on Iraq and saddam. Prof. Pelletiere was the leading expert of CIA back then and his reports clearly showed it was iranian gas that killed the kurds. The same CIA changed its course and started to hide Prof. Pelletieres early and original reports. The guy was their own man and all of a sudden they didnt even git a damn to their own investigators original reports because they needed something to blame on saddam like the lie about WMD that he never had. The mullahs in Iran once again came away with that crime with the direct help of US admin and CIA
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1148.htm

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 6:20 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

Back in 2003 and while millions of iranians were hitting the streets of the country waiting for a little help from outside to topple the islamic dictators ruling iran, the US admin in person of Richard Armitage calls Islamic republic iran a “democracy”. People got stoned and shocked in Iran. They thought the US would atleast give them a moral boost but instead the US admin clearly gives its green light to the iranian regime to keep beating up on people by calling an islamistic religious sharia regime a “democracy”. Now compare it to syria: There is a secular government and some cruel sunni islamists start rasing gun towards governmental forces and the same US admin brands terrorists “freedom fighters”. In Iran though the islamic terrorists are already ruling so the US doesnt have to back secular people who ask for democracy and freedom. In Iran the job got done back in 1979. The syrian job still needs to be done meaning a secular regime has to fall and be replaced by islamists.
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/feb/14/world/fg-usiran14

OffG
OffG
Sep 18, 2015 5:57 PM
Reply to  Behrooz

We don’t have any Persian speakers I’m afraid. Would appreciate anything you can give us.

You think the current hostility toward Iran is just a bluff? How would the longstanding sanctions and other hostilities toward Iran fit inside this theory? I can see the US is destroying secularism in the ME and how backing the Mullahs might be useful in achieving that. But doesn’t that fall short of an agreed and ongoing mutually beneficial plan? Isn’t it more about the US just backing all sides in a bid to create conflict and chaos?

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 6:05 PM
Reply to  OffG

excerpts of the book “defying the iranian revolution” there you can see how Carter and his european allies simply decided to let shah fall and give the country to the shiite mullahs. It happened during the meetings in french Guadaloupe back in 1979. Read that page and perhaps the page after where you can see BBCs role in helping khomeini who was a mean islamist killer (i am iranian, i know it from first hand) come to power by broadcasting his hate speeches against secularism 24/7 through high frequence senders in bahrain and qatar, provoking people to become more agressive on the shah who was a secular and progressive man and an angel in compare to the backward shiite mullahs ruling iran.
https://books.google.com/books?id=NboVl-CeYs0C&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=guadeloupe+conference+iran&source=bl&ots=J5-Swv-TPs&sig=DhsZlCvyl_Kzjrjy6nE_OYTS1jI&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0CFgQ6AEwB2oVChMIjqeNuYaByAIVAQMaCh3sog_D#v=onepage&q=guadeloupe%20conference%20iran&f=false

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 6:32 PM
Reply to  OffG

Official complaint letter of secular iraqi government under saddam to ronald reagon. They have fed you with the big lie about iran-iraq war. The poor iraqis have complained several times officially and asked the US and even Israel to stop giving weapons to those religious shiite mullahs of iran. they had all the right to ask the US not to ship weapons to Iran because the US declared itself neutral but they werent. They kept sending weapons to the iranian mullahs to weaken the secular iraqi government. Today everybody thinks saddam was backed by the US against iran. The mullahs in iran provoked the war and got helped not even by the americans but also by the israelie througout the whole war. They hoped their newly installed mullahs would be able to weaken the secular and partly socialist baathist ruling Iraq but we iranians couldnt because the iraqis put up a big effective defensive wall at the borders and defended well for the last 6 years of the war. 6 years of war that we iranians clearly forced on them and not the other way around!

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB394/docs/86-11-18%20Saddam%20to%20Reagan.pdf

Behrooz
Behrooz
Sep 18, 2015 6:51 PM
Reply to  OffG

Iranian Antivenoms Treat Snake Bites Of US Forces In Afghanistan. This was part of their support of US army in afghanistan but they never talked about it. When you are enemy then you are enemy, you dont provide your enemy pharmacy and helps them survive. The whole talk about embargo has been a joke anyway. If the americans had put the same kind of embargo on iran as they did on saddams iraq, we iranians couldnt be in the state we are today. Everything is available in iran, you can buy everything, Iran is the nr. 1 importer of the luxus car Porsche, during all those years of so called and fake embargos, luxus skyscrapers went up the air one after another one in iranian cities,a very rich and careless cast that came up out of nothing, who dont even know how to spend all those miliards they have “earned” by cooperating with the regime and be loyal to them. Those were no real embargos, it was like swiss cheese giving the iranian regime all the opportunity to still do what they wanted to do. It was not comparable to the embargo they have put on the poor iraqis where they couldnt even import a bottle of drinkwater without US giving their ok to them. Many iraqi children lost their life because of those harsh embargos while iranian ruling cast and all their supporters became fat during the times of those so called embargos.

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-afghanistan-iran-snakes-antivenom-2012-12?IR=T

Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig
Sep 21, 2015 12:44 AM
Reply to  Behrooz

Are you really as daft as you sound? Or are you just running a disinfo-shop here? I bet you also think the mullahs and the Israelis are BFFs. And maybe it was those evil mullahs who killed their own nuclear scientists too!

If you’re an Iranian, you’re perfectly entitled to hate your government. I sure as shit hate mine. But do not deceive yourself as to the nature of your government’s enemy. If you could only understand the living nightmare Washington & Friends have in store for Iran should the government ever come down, you would cringe every time they go on about how they want nothing other than ‘freedom’ for the Iranian people. Indeed, some possible scenarios are so bad they might even have you looking back whistfully on the police state you have now as a lost golden age of stability, when some semblance of a normal life–however flawed–was still possible.

Anyway, believe whatever you want. But don’t imagine you’re going to fool many people here into believing it.