By Osama Mahdi
Ilaf, 23 Oct 2012 ( translated from Arabic) – A senior Iranian opposition official said Bashar Assad is part of Iran’s repression machine, adding that the Iranian opposition supports the Free Syrian Army to overthrow Bashar Assad, describing such a measure as breaking Iran’s back. The mullahs have transformed Syria into an Iranian province and rule over its destiny, the official added, stressing the war against the Syrian people is being commanded and guided politically and militarily by Iran.
In the second part of his interview with Ilaf, Mohammad Mohadessin, Chairman of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s Foreign Affairs Committee said the Iranian people reject the interference by Iran’s rulers in Syria, and almost the entire vast majority of Iran’s population supports the overthrow of Assad and the establishment of democracy in Syria because Iranians view the Assad regime as part of Tehran’s repressive machine. If Assad is overthrown, it will deliver a crushing blow to Iran’s mullahs. He reiterated that the resettlement case of Ashraf and Liberty residents is not easy and needs a long time. That is why they must be recognized as refugees.
“We share their pain and consider ourselves in the same trench in the same war alongside the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian revolutionaries. They have our support and backing because despite the very harsh conditions they are facing, they have never stopped supporting the Iranian people and Resistance,” Mohadessin said stressing on standing alongside the Syrian people and the FSA in their faceoff against a common enemy.
He described Iraq’s remarks on preventing the transfer of Iran’s weapons to Syria as grave lie…

What is the meaning of the protests that recently erupted in Tehran, following the clashes with police and slogans against Iran’s interferences in Syria?

This is very obvious. The Iranian people don’t want nuclear weapons and they don’t agree with this regime’s interferences in Syria. I guarantee if a free opinion poll was possible in Iran, the vast majority of the Iranian people support the overthrow of Bashar Assad and the establishment of democracy in Syria because the Iranian people seek to topple the mullahs’ regime. They consider Bashar Assad as part of this regime’s repression tool. If Bashar Assad falls, it will be a crushing blow to the mullahs’ regime. A slogan the Iranian people are crying with all their might is the Iranian regime’s hand must be cut off from the Syria and also other nations in the region. This is specifically one of the slogans in Tehran’s demonstrations because they told Khamenei enough with demagoguery, let Syria go.

What is the dimension of Iran’s support to Syria?

Without a doubt the price of the Syrian war for Iran is in the billions, all of it being paid for from the pockets of the Iranian people. This fact has led to increasing poverty for the Iranian people. Presenting an exact figure of the volume of Iran’s support to Syria is difficult because all of the country’s energy and assets are being used to fuel this cruel war. In some way you can compare this situation to the Iran-Iraq war and the expenses the regime paid for this war.
In fact, the current war against the Syrian people is being commanded and guided by Iran from two political and military perspectives. Units of the Quds Force are the main forces that are managing this war. Khamenei’s office and the regime’s National Security Council and the Quds Force Command are parties that do the planning and make the decisions. In fact, the mullahs have transferred Syria into an Iranian province and are ruling over its destiny. The Iranian Resistance recently exposed a new phase where Revolutionary Guards units enter Syria, and this presence consists of the highest ranking IRGC intelligence and operations and Quds Force commanders inside Syria to maintain and control Bashar Assad’s intelligence apparatus and military system. Following the rise in the faceoff in Syria, Iran and the IRGC have entered a new phase in supporting the Bashar Assad government. Amongst the most important changes that has been taken into consideration, due to the dangerous nature of the situation, the decision made by the Iranian regime to enter IRGC ground forces commanders – that are now in various Iranian provinces – is to provide support for the Bashar Assad government. To put into effect this new decision, Iran in the past months has dispatched a number of old intelligence commanders along with commanders of operations, logistics and artillery in various groups to Syria. In addition to this, details exist of Quds Force plans to prevent the Bashar Assad downfall:
Closing borders with Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey to prevent the delivery of weapons, especially heavy weapons, to the Free Syria Army.
The Quds Force has handed over the responsibility of controlling the Syria-Lebanon border to the Lebanese Hezbollah; the responsibility of controlling the Syria-Iraq borders to the (Iraqi) Badr Corps; and operational fronts have been distributed among various Iraqi groups, Hezbollah and IRGC forces.
– Exporting crises and terrorism to countries supporting the FSA (Saudi Arabia and Turkey)
– Conspiracy plan against Turkey
– Dispatching terrorists to Saudi Arabia
– Providing military training for Assad’s army
– Establishing units of plainclothes agents in Syria
– Establishing paramilitary forces in Syria’s Shiite areas
– Establishing paramilitary forces amongst Sunnis

Are you convinced the Iraqi government is serious in preventing the passing of Iranian weapons to Syria through Iraqi regions? What is your information on this subject?

– This is a big lie and a devious act that Maliki is performing to ward off international pressure on itself. If the government in Iraq was a nationalistic government, and it had only decided to not permit Iran from transferring forces and weapons to the Bashar Assad regime, I am certain that Bashar Assad would fall quickly. Iran and its puppet government in Iraq understand very well that the direct impacts of the Syrian dictatorship’s downfall will be on Iraq’s conditions and therefore, Iran is supporting this regime with all its might.

Where have UNAMI’s interviews with Camp Liberty residents to resettle in third countries reached? What is the number of the interviews? And what is the information requested from the residents on providing asylum in those countries? And what is the nature of the calls you are making with candidate countries to host PMOI? Which countries are they?

Asylum is the right of Ashraf residents, and this is not a deal between the PMOI and any other party. If PMOI members and Ashraf and Liberty residents are not refugees, then who is credible and competent of being recognized as political refugees?
The truth is that the PMOI and Ashraf and Liberty residents, from the very first day they entered Iraq in the 1980s, were recognized as refugees based on Iraqi laws. They meet all the credentials and necessary conditions of a refugee according to the Geneva Conventions, protocols and regulations. Iran’s political reservations and pressures on the Iraqi government has led to the slow progress, otherwise there was no need for the current trend. However, due to various reason and especially pressures imposed by Iran on hosting countries, the case of Ashraf and Liberty residents is not an easy issue and needs a long time. For this very important reason, I would like to announce here that recognizing the residents as refugees; transforming Camp Liberty into a refugee camp; and recognizing the camp until the PMOI are residing in it, are their minimum rights and the protection they must have. Also, supporting the residents’ rights, including right to ownership over their moveable and immovable assets, is an urgent necessity.

There are reports of the PMOI’s readiness to join the fight alongside the Free Syrian Army against the Bashar Assad regime… how true are these reports?

The PMOI, like the Iranian people, considers itself the friend and ally of the Syrian people. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Syrian people and the Free Syrian Army in their faceoff against our common enemy. We share their pain and are in the same trench in the common struggle alongside the FSA and the Syrian revolutionaries. They have our support and backing because despite the very harsh conditions they are facing, they have never stopped supporting the Iranian people and Resistance. Allow me to cite two paragraphs of a speech delivered by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance in this regard delivered on February 11th, 2012:
“To our brothers and sisters in Syria we say that we are along your side. Your martyrs are our dear martyrs. We share your pain and suffering with all our emotions. And your definite victory is our victory. The cruel forces in their battle against you, against Homs and against Ashraf naturally have nothing but viciousness and carnage. However, we say to them, it is Homs and Ashraf that will change the face of the Middle East in the path to freedom and democracy.”
On the night of solidarity with the Syrian revolution on February 22nd, 2012, she said: “… On behalf of the Iranian people and Resistance, we express our warmest salutations to the members of the Free Syrian Army, and I say to them in these moments, that the people of Iran and all freedom-loving nations in the region stand with you. They share your pain and suffering and pray for your victory in your battle and brave sacrifices.”