Ali Safavi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), published his thoughts on the aftermath of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers last summer. He pointed out that the regime has done at least five provocative ballistic missile tests despite the UN Security Council resolutions.
Top officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the ultimate authority in all matters of Iran’s foreign and domestic policy, have commented on each test. Recently Khamenei said that: “Those who say the future is in negotiations, not missiles, are either ignorant or traitors.”
Safavi points out that their missiles are becoming more and more accurate. The latest missile, according to Gen. Ali Abdollahi, deputy chief of the armed forces’ headquarters, claimed that the latest missile is accurate to eight metres, “without any error”, he said. The commander of the IRGC (the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) said last month: “Our missiles have become more precise and more destructive, and will multiply more than before.”
The tests that the regime are carrying out are essential in “developing the capability to send nuclear warheads over long distances, at targets thousands of miles away”, Safavi explained.
Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, justified their use by saying that the country has the right to defend itself. However, Safavi points out that Zarif neglected to mention that “Israel must be wiped out” was written across the most recently tested missiles.
In the recent parliamentary elections, the Western press talked about the “resounding victory for moderates”. But these “moderates” are the people who are controlling the ballistic missile program. These “moderates” are the ones who are deceiving nuclear inspectors. And these moderates are the ones who are relentless in wreaking havoc across the region.
Safavi said: “Iran has not changed, neither before the nuclear deal, nor since.” General Lloyd Austin, the outgoing Commander of US Central Command, made this point to Congress on 9th March. He said: “Since the nuclear deal, Iran has not yet changed its acts in the region… Iran is the biggest factor of instability in the region.”
Safavi said that this is true in Iraq where the regime sponsors violent sectarian militias, in Syria where the regime “fuels the atrocities of the Assad regime”, and in Yemen “where it instigated a rebellion, catapulting the country into chaos and bloodshed, and continues to arm the Houthi rebels, as evidenced by the recent French and U.S. capture of ships carrying weapons”.
He draws our attention to the so-called moderate Rouhani who bragged on 10th May that the “IRGC is a pioneer for sacrificing and defending the holy shrines in Iraq and Syria and the oppressed people in Palestine, Lebanon and other countries seeking support from Iran. We hope that the IRGC and the victorious Bassij will succeed in all the scenes…”
“If these are the moderates, we’re in deep trouble,” Safavi warned.
Safavi mentioned the use of construction cranes in Iran. In other countries they are symbols of progress and economic growth. In Iran they are symbols of torture and murder.
He said: “Those who advocate genuine change in Iran – and have not been killed for it – must live either under constant threat of violence, or in exile. Every summer, more than 100,000 exiled Iranian political activists assemble near Paris to demonstrate that absolute repression has failed to extinguish the campaign to end to Iran’s religious dictatorship.”
He recommends that the US and its European allies abandon their policy of appeasement. What would be more suitable, he explained, “is quite simply a policy that recognizes the facts: there are no moderates in the Tehran regime; it need not include direct military action against Iran, but it does need to be based on action, not simply harsh words, much less willful ignorance”.
He continued: “The Iranian people want their future democratic government to be secular, nuclear-free and respectful of human rights. They want an Iran reintegrated as a peaceful member of the international community. They do not want a regime that is reviled as the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism.”
Safavi said that Maryam Rajavi, the opposition leader, is the example that women’s role in activism is crucial. She is the leader of a movement that “foresees a transparent, modern Iranian democracy, a vision none of today’s theocratic ‘moderates’ would dare to even mention”.
“America’s next president must confront the true face of the Iranian regime. It is time we told the difference between the friends and foes of freedom.”
