Iran Should Be Restrained – OpEd

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Not long after the upcoming New Year Eve the United States will enter a new political scene with the inauguration of its new president, Donald Trump. This, along with the changes across the globe, may turn the page into a new chapter.

One existing problem that is mounting global concern for the coming year is Iran’s continuous disrespect for international laws. Last year’s nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), may have contained Iran’s weapons program, and yet has failed to stop its flagrant misconducts. The ayatollahs’ thirst for weapons of mass destruction is not curbed, meddling in other states continue and domestic human rights violations have skyrocketed.

Likewise, innocent civilians have been harmed by terrorists in Europe and United States. Is there any means to prevent such miseries in the future? What measures Trump administration and his European counterparts can take to contain Iran’s aggressiveness and to correct the past mistakes?

Speaking to leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in Bahrain, British Prime Minister Theresa May was “clear-eyed” about Iran’s destabilizing role in the region. She emphasized her country wanted to “make a more permanent and more enduring commitment to the long-term security of the Gulf”.

The 37th GCC Supreme Council meeting, concluding in Manama on December 7th, stressed the need for Iran to change its policy in the region, so as to abide by international conventions and treaties and not to embrace and harbor terrorist groups on its territory, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, or support terrorist militias and ignite sectarian strife in region.

Meanwhile, Tehran’s ayatollahs seem not willing to retreat from their warmongering policies. On December 2nd, Iranian General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri told a crowd of Iranian naval commanders that they needed distant bases on the shores of other foreign countries, such as Syria and Yemen, or even “floating” bases. Iran is a close ally of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and sponsors Hezbollah in Lebanon, parallel to state-sanctioned Iraqi Shiite militias. Iran’s paramilitary forces resent to Syria are behind the massacre of innocent civilians in Aleppo and other Syrian cities.

While the people in the Middle East are frustrated with Iran’s proxy terrorist groups, Iranian officials deceitfully pose as friends. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani delivered a speech at a recent security conference, saying Iran, along with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, should join together to promote “regional peace based on Islam, defending the Palestinian people, fighting terrorism and economic interests.”

This repetitive hoax does not alter regional attitudes regarding Iran’s rulers.
“The entire world knows that is working to destabilize our region. Iran must respect principles of good neighborliness if it wishes to normalize ties,” said Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir at a joint press conference in December, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Earlier in July, former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal made a statement while attending a gathering in Paris organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a coalition containing Iranian organizations, including People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), struggling to bring about peace and democracy in Iran. Faisal accused Iran of destabilizing the region and “spreading chaos” through its support for militant organizations.

NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, president elect of the National Council of Resistance (NCRI), said in a recent visit to the European Parliament: “Under the rule of Iranian regime, every single article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been violated. The right to life, the right to freedom, the right to security, the right to protection from torture and arbitrary arrests, the right of freedom of religion and faith .”

Ret. General David Petraeus believes a global deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions contains elements “of great concern. “ He told Fox News TV channel, “The Iranians have virtually dictated our Middle East policy,” he said to Fox News TV.

When the Obama administration turned its back to the people of Iran back in 2009 and with, it encouraged Iran to be more unrestrained in its breach of human rights in and out of the country.

The defeat of Obama’s doctrine, namely “appeasement policy toward the fundamentalist regime of Iran,”expanded extremism and state sponsor terrorism.
History cannot give us a roadmap for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of the past, so that we face the future better prepared.

Iran change is the final solution.

*Hassan Mahmoudi is a  human rights advocate and Social Media journalist seeking democracy for Iran and peace for the region.

Hassan Mahmoudi

Hassan Mahmoudi is a human rights advocate and Social Media journalist seeking democracy for Iran and peace for the region.

2 thoughts on “Iran Should Be Restrained – OpEd

  • December 27, 2016 at 11:54 am
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    what about restraining the mad zionist regime as well surely ?!

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  • December 27, 2016 at 5:24 pm
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    Using a Saudi official’s statement to slam Iran on their conduct discredits this entire article. Saudi Arabia is the worst of the worst when it comes to human rights violations and their war crimes committed in Yemen, while the world turns a blind eye, shows how this author clearly has an agenda and does not actually care about human rights.

    Reply

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