Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
Huffington Post, April 4, 2017 – A new documentary sheds light on the political establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It includes interviews with former US officials such as former US ambassador to Bahrain, Joseph Adam Ereli, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, James B Smith, and former assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
It explores the pillars of Iran’s policies including its geopolitical, strategic, and revolutionary principles.
More fundamentally, this highlights the intersection between Iran and terrorism in the Middle East and beyond in nearly four decades, which has also significantly and negatively impacted US national security and lives of many Americans.
As U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis recently stated that Iran continues to be the primary threat to the United States, primary exporter of terrorism, sponsor of militias, and top threat to the stability in the Middle East. Since the nuclear agreement, Iran has been more empowered and emboldened.
Examining Iran’s politics closely makes it evident that, in nearly four decades the Islamic Republic has not altered the core pillars of its foreign policy and revolutionary ideals such as anti-Americanism and death to the “Great Satan” and the “Little Satan”.
The State Department has repeatedly ranked the Islamic Republic of Iran as top state sponsor of terrorism in its annual report on global terrorist activity.
In its latest report, the State Department pointed out the that Iran “remained the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015, providing a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world.”
The report added that Iran continues to arm, and financially support, groups which are designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations such as Hezbollah and Iraqi Shia militias including Kata’ib Hizballah (KH).
Furthermore, on another occasion last month, the US Defense Secretary James Mattis called Iran the world’s “biggest state sponsor of terrorism”. He added “As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world…We have seen their [Iran’s] misconduct, their misbehaviour, from Lebanon and Syria to Bahrain and to Yemen and it’s got to be addressed at some point,”. Previoulsy he stated “The Iranian regime, in my mind, is the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East,”
Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, also called Iran one of the biggest threat to the region. He told the Senate Armed Services committee “We are dealing … with the range of malign activities perpetrated by Iran and its proxies operating in the region…It is my view that Iran poses the greatest long-term threat to stability for this part of the world.”
In an unprecedented move, a 23 member bi-partisan group of senior former US officials signed a critical letter and delivered it to President Donald Trump in early January. The letter suggested new policy options regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran and the need for the US to open up a meaningful channel of communication with Iran opposition.
This is something that has never been done under any other administration. The letter was signed by senior former US officials including Rudy Giuliani, Joseph Lieberman, Patrick Kennedy, General Hugh Shelton (a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Bill Clinton) to name a few. It explains that revised policies toward Iran are needed because Iran has used every opportunity since its establishment to scuttle US foreign policy objectives and damage US national, geopolitical, economic and strategic interests with the assistance of its proxies.
Harvard-educated, Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a businessman, an American political scientist, president of the International American Council on the Middle East, and best-selling author. He serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review