Riyadh Daily, 02 December 2017 – Iran’s propaganda machinery is in full swing, trying to portray Maj Gen Qassim Soleimani, commander of the “Quds Force,” as a valiant warrior of the stature of Guevara, Rommel or Cyrus. But the fact remains that Soleimani is merely a leader of a sectarian force that is routinely trampling all over Lebanon, after his country successfully made political and military inroads into Iraq and Syria in the garb of fighting terrorism.
Iran desperately needs a living icon to boast of heroics and deceive the world. And for this, Soleimani has come in handy. He is now being credited for the victory over ISIS, and is being showered with blessings from the Iranian clergy and government. There are even demands from some quarters that Iran push for the Nobel Peace Prize for Soleimani, conveniently forgetting that he is classified as a terrorist under UN Resolution 1747.
After employing mercenaries from Pakistan and Afghanistan to manipulate the situation in Iraq and Syria, Iran is now trying to spread its tentacles even further. These mercenaries, who are even more toxic than ISIS, recently celebrated their self-styled victory with Soleimani, and even pledged to fight alongside any groups that need help.
The Iranian regime has demonstrated that they have a passion for war and bloodshed, at a time when the common people are in need of bread and butter – not bullets and ballistic missiles.
 Throughout the Syrian civil war, and during its eight-year war with Iraq in the ’80s 1980, the Iranian leadership had used the foul tool of misinformation to spread discord on sectarian lines.
During Khomeini’s days, the architects of the Iranian uprising claimed they were fighting imperialism, colonialism and Israel. But they were far from doing anything on these lines. In fact, they were only serving imperialism by attempting to disintegrate neighboring Arab countries by slaughtering the Sunni population and eliminating their critics.
The problem with the Iranian regime is that they do not comprehend the true spirit of Islam, which calls for peace and does not support anyone waging war unless it is done to repulse a foreign invasion.  Just as ISIS and other militant groups misinterpret Jihad, the Iranians try to use violence as the only means to bring about change. They also twist the verses from the Quran and the Prophet’s sayings. Take for example a highly deceptive speech made by Khomeini saying that Islam calls for violence to command obedience. “The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors,” he had said.
Religion here becomes “the opiate of the masses,” as Karl Marx had said. The Iranian regime are using religion to deceive their people and followers, and not to educate and enlighten them.
However, one thing is clear. They may deceive the impoverished Iranian people, but they can never fool the enlightened world. The Iranian clergy is only trying to spread its reactionary ideology, while the strategists are seeking “to control the region from Tehran to the gates of Fatima in southern Lebanon,” as one Syrian writer said.
The consequences of Iran’s designs are grave. Once they are on the coast of the Mediterranean, the world can only expect the floodgates of terror to open wide – wider than one can imagine by ‘conventional’ terrorism.
With such a scenario looming, some big powers, such as Russia, are trying to cozy up to Iran and encourage it to expand its influence at the cost of Arabs. In any case, Iran is now a loose cannon in our midst that needs to be contained in the interest of world peace.