EU Reporter, 5, 6, 2017– Since the nuclear agreement, officially known as the JCPOA, was signed between world powers and Tehran, the world has witnessed Iran’s malign intervention in the Middle East grow despite a purported “moderate”, President Hassan Rouhani, holding office, writes Hamid Bahrami.
Although the US confirms that Iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear deal, the terms of the JCPOA provides Tehran access to billions of dollars, which it uses to foment a sectarian war in the Middle East. In this regard, the question of who is the next president in Iran becomes less relevant because Iran’s regional policy is based on fomenting crises in order to advance its “vision of Shi’ite Crescent”. This is why the Iranian regime is considered the leading state sponsor of terrorism by the US.
Another reason that shows negotiation with Iran has failed is Tehran continuing its secret nuclear weapons programme despite agreeing to the JCPOA. This was exposed by Iran’s main opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), at a conference on 21 April in Washington DC.
At the press conference, the NCRI revealed that the Iranian regime has “fully maintained the structure for designing a nuclear bomb and in some aspects has expanded its activities”. The Iranian opposition also provided new detailed information on the “latest status of the regime’s nuclear bomb-making apparatus”. As a result, any negotiations with Iran will only allow the regime to buy more time in order to continue its secret nuclear activities, advance its missiles programme and mobilize terrorist groups in the region.
One crucial part of achieving its sectarian vision is Tehran’s financial and military support to keep Bashar Al-Assad in power in Syria, which has even encouraged him to use chemical weapons. Negotiation with Iran about future of Syria means to rubber stamp all of Iran’s destabiliszng actions, which will only embolden the regime to increase its meddling in order to gain more concessions from the West.
Islamic fundamentalism has grown exponentially since the mullahs usurp power in Iran while before the 1979 revolution, there was no concerns for threats from fundamentalists.
If Iran would be allowed to secure a safe land corridor to its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, it will not take long before the Iranian regime starts a domestic war to consolidate Hezbollah’s power over the country and its politics. It is worth noting that the Iranian regime has already taken the first step when it encouraged Hezbollah to assassinate the former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.
The first step in finding a solution to the problems caused by the Iranian regime worldwide is to limit its sources of finance in a way that it is unable to advance its nuclear and missile programmes and continue support terrorist groups like Hezbollah and dictators like Assad in Syria. The second step is for the western governments to contemplate ways to undermine the existence of the ruling theocracy. Western governments have to decide between being silent against Iran’s destabilising actions or support peace in the region.
The experience of the nuclear deal illustrates that tolerating regimes such as the theocracy in Iran will make peace impossible. A historical remainder is the appeasement of Nazism in Germany which led to the World War II and total destruction of Europe.
Freelance journalist Hamid Bahrami is a former political prisoner in Iran. He is a human rights and political activist.
