The world does not trust Iran anymore and will not tolerate Iran’s deceptive time-buying tactics any longer.
On May 8th, while the U.N. Security Council was trying to arrive at a consensus on Iran’s nuclear issues, the news of a letter from Iran’s President Ahmadinejad to President Bush rattled the world. Secretary Rice immediately dismissed the letter as 17-18 pages on history, philosophy and religion:
This letter isn't it. This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort. It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way.
Secretary Rice’s clear statement shows that the world can no longer trust the Iranian mullahs. After being given so many incentives for years, the Iranian regime still pursued its nuclear ambitions and fueled the insurgency in Iraq. Secretary Rice’s statement demonstrates that the world does not trust Iran anymore and will not tolerate Iran’s deceptive time-buying tactics any longer.
As the world gets prepared to confront the would-be nuclear mullahs, the unequivocal threat of the Iranian regime is spreading deeper into every city and community in the Middle East, especially in Iraq. The mullahs have invested the resources of Iran’s future generations into a psychotic ambition of becoming a member of the nuclear club and thus ruling the Middle East and beyond.
Dealing with this 21st century’s menace and being able to neutralize its threat and finally ridding the world of it, is something that has challenged the West for more than 25 years. The war which is upon the international community is a war of ideology, and not simply a war about economics between one nation set against the free world. It has to be dealt with ideologically. The ideology of the Iranian mullahs is Islamic Fundamentalism; it aims to rule the world. This will enable the mullahs to maintain their tyranny in Iran. They claim themselves as the true Muslims, and their war is a battle of Islam against non-believers. They portray the West and free world as the enemy of Islam that has to be blown up and eliminated by any means. They take advantage of poverty and inhumane living conditions of people and their naive religious beliefs throughout the Middle East, Africa and even Europe to establish their recruitment centers. They go to those places with money to help the deprived. They build schools, clinics, roads, and infrastructure, and pretend to help people for “just cause.” However, in reality they use them as human weapons to be launched against civilian targets all around the world.
Islamic fundamentalism can only be properly dealt with by secular Islamic movements. Only a modern and humanistic interpretation of Islam can disarm the mullahs. Looking for such movements and regrouping them globally should be the West’s first priority. The very first democratic and modern Islamic movement was founded in Iran about four decades ago.
In 1965, three young educated Muslims founded an organization to fight against the Shah’s regime in Iran. Their interpretation of Islam was completely opposite of what Khomeini and the mullahs suggested. They believed in secularism, democracy and equal rights for everyone, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity or political belief. Khomeini and the clerics behind him denounced the group and called them non-Muslims and even Islamic Marxists. After the 1979 revolution, their interpretation of Islam attracted masses to their organization, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI). They demanded that the newly-formed mullahs’ government stop executions, stop oppressing women and ethnic groups in Iran and observe basic human rights. Between 1979 and 1981, the mullahs’ regime killed about 50 PMOI members and supporters. In 1981, the regime opened fire on about 500,000 protesters in Tehran and executed more than 30 people in one night, among them many youngsters. Since then, the regime has executed more than 120,000 of the PMOI’s members and followers.
There are many Muslims in Iran and around the world who oppose the fundamentalist ideology of the mullahs and thus have found the PMOI’s modern interpretation of Islam very appealing. Despite the regime’s conspiracies, misinformation campaigns, assassinations and mass executions of PMOI members and supporters, and even despite being placed on the FTO list since 1997 at the Mullah’s request, the PMOI has grown and become the most organized and active movement against the fundamentalists ruling Iran. The PMOI educated the Iranian people and the world about the deadly ideology of the mullahs. After Iraq’s invasion by the coalition forces, the group's main camp, Ashraf, became the safest city in Iraq, where thousands of Iraqi people from all ethnicities and religious groups gather for one purpose: to stop the fundamentalist mullahs in Iraq.
The era of appeasement is over. Now is the time to decide on a strategic policy for dealing with the Iranian threat. Obviously war is not an option. Sanctions and isolation will not be enough either. The National Council of Resistance of Iran’s President-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, has our answer: “No war, no appeasement, instead regime change by the Iranian people and their resistance movement.” Mrs. Rajavi laid out her policy at the meeting of the European Union Parliament in December 2004. The first step is to remove the PMOI from the FTO list. The world cannot be serious in its war against terrorism and fundamentalism if it insists on paralyzing the strongest opponent and antithesis of the Iranian mullahs. The next step is to impose sanctions on Iranian oil, suspend political and economical relations with Iran and recognize the Iranian resistance as Iran’s representative in the United Nations and other international organizations, instead of the Iranian regime.
Imposing war, or permitting a nuclear Iran in the world, instead of looking to an Iranian-led solution, would be a grave mistake that in the end will only benefit the mullahs. It is possible to bring peace to the Middle East and the world without engaging in another war. The mullahs claim to be the true believers in Islam and try very hard to bring the West to another “crusade” that would fuel further Moslem hatred towards the West. The Iranian resistance is armed with the most powerful weapon to neutralize this dangerous plot: “a secular, egalitarian Islam.” The clock for a nuclear Iran is ticking. What is the world waiting for?
I THINK THIS IS A RIGHT POLICY TOWAREDS IRAN THAT MRS RAJAVI SAID WE MUST MOVE FORWARD AND GET RID OF IRANIAN REJIM
I am extremely supportive of this article about Iran by Hedayat Mostowfi, Time clock is ticking, let’s not waste time. This marriage or (matting) of 1) religious fascism fanatics & 2) nuclear treat of atomic bomb that is taking place soon in Iran is danger to whole world and peace and stabilty and a Regime that broadcasts only hatert and death and killing…….how can it shine & bring love & peace & life.
While I was reading this article, I flashed back to my personal experiences with this brutal, fundamentalist and barbaric regime. I started to feel pain all over my body again – the pain which I have been carrying with me for the past 25 years, pain due to torture at the hands of this regime and people like “Ahmedi Nejad, the regime’s president”.
In my opinion this article not only identified the problems and dangers that the Iranian people and the rest of the world are facing, but it has also offered solution to these problems.
It is the time for us “Iranian” and the Western world to start listening to the one and only organized and democratic opposition that we have at our disposal to deal with this regime. NCR and its leader Mrs. Mryam Rajavi has set forward a solution called “The Third Option”.
I speak based on my personal experience with this regime and people like “Ahmedi Nejad”. I speak based on years of torture that I have been subjected to and the killings that I have witnessed and the disaster that was imposed on me and all of my family members.
So, I commend you and extend my appreciation to you for this article. I believe that you have meticulously identified the problems we Iranian are facing, and have offered solution to those problems too.
I look forward to seeing more educational articles like this one from you in future.
My warm regards,
Mieem Ahlef
It was very refreshing to read an article that not only state the objective of Iranian regime which is to kill time and pursue nuclear weapon, but also provide an Iranian solution.
Thanks for the enlightening article. This article correctly points to the only solution to the problem of Islamic fundamentalism and its spread throughtout the world by its premier propagator, the Iranian regime. The only people who can stand up to the mullahs and their ideology are the secular moslems such as the PMOI. We should remove them from the FTO list and support them to rid the world of the mullahs’ menace.
Thank you for great article. I am 200 % with you Mr mostofi again Thank you
I strongly agree with the comments written here. From a standpoint of humanitarian beleifs and the thought that violence begets more violence, I see the only option; change from within. To use outside forces to overturn a government in such a nationalistic society would only cause more blood shed and I completely agree with what you have written. Allow the countries true citizens to have the freedom and support to make right what has been so wrong for far to many years.
I Thank you for bringing much light on a very dark matter. I am in agreement with the need for something to be done before this madman is allowed nuclear weapons.
As I have been told time and time again, Fix the problem before it becomes a BIG PROBLEM.
-NY
I like to see more article likes this and have a solution before 9/11 not after 9/11 .
I believe this time is not 3000 or 4000 .
Will be 30 million or more .
Mr Mostowfi’s article was right on the money.Untie the Iranian people and their resistance’s hand and let them finish the cleric and terrorist regime in Iran .The world will be a better place to live. So be it.
This article says it all. This regime must go so we can have peace and democracy throughout the
Middle East.
I too have extensively researched the Iranian resistance and found many of the allegations against them to be untrue or pure misconception. In fact very often, if one traces the root of a particular allegation, he/she will eventually note that it originated from the Iranian government sources. The same goes for misconceptions: facts are distorted, often 180 degrees, and the distorted version widely disseminated by the Iranian government and its lobbies.
With respect to the Persian Gulf region, there are two core problems: (1) the Iranian regime’s increasingly meddling in Iraq and (2) its destabilizing nuclear threats. If these two problems are effectively addressed, other issues, e.g., the democratic process in Iraq and the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, will
more easily and effectively addressed.
There is only one plausible solution for the above two problems: recognize and support the Iranian resistance. They have the resources and a powerful network inside Iran to bring about democracy in Iran.
This shows how Mullah,s of Iran are using poor people to be a suicide bomber throughout the whole world, it is time for U.S. Government
to wake up and smell the coffee and realize the only sulution to Mullah,s problem is MOK.
I agree with this article too, if you can get it to work. But… I don’t think it’s going to happen. Too much depends on U.N. action, which is something the U.N. isn’t very good at. France seems to want to balk anything the U.S. is behind, so they won’t be any help. Russia doesn’t really see Iran as a threat to Russia (nuclear or non-nuclear), so I’m not sure how much help they are going to be. China doesn’t feel threatened at all and they will balk because they want Iranian oil. What I’m getting at is that you need a united U.N. to get this stuff done, and frankly I don’t see it happening.
As for U.S. support…I would think that if we endorsed the PMOI (openly), we would probably hurt it’s cause more than help it. “American puppets!” would probably be the propaganda slogan for the mullahs. Judging by recent events, it would probably be a very effective one. And it would hurt the movement very much.
Even with all that accomplished, the question remains “How many Iranian people would back this ‘coup’?” How many are actually willing to die to make their country free? Personally, I don’t know. Unfortunately, these questions are vital to whether or not the mullahs will ever be ousted.
As I wrote at the outset, I agree with the ideas outlined in Mr. Mostowfi’s article. I believe in world peace, too, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. I just pray that someone will prove me wrong on both counts.
Thanks for the graet Article,Iranian people will pray for you and love you,may god help us to get rid of Evil Terrorist Mullahs government.
Thanks
Mohammad
Thank you, Mr. Mostowfi, for an excellent, concise review of the situation and our options. The comments by Ron S. (#13) need some rejoinder. His first paragraph about the U.N is on target; the chances of getting the U.N. Security Council members to act in concert is indeed slim.
As regards his second paragraph, the mullah regime already accuses the PMOI of being an agent of the “great Satan” (U.S.A.) and of the “little Satan” (Israel). So U.S. support will not change the PMOI’s image in side Iran. This brings us to his third paragraph which questions the support among Iranians for a coup. 92 % 0f Iranians boycotted the elections last year. 69% rejected the regime’s nuclear program in a recent poll. 80% live below the poverty line. There have been over 4000 incidents of protest just since Ahmadinejad took office in August, from riots, to sit-ins, to strikes, to armed rebellion and assasination of IRGC (Revolutionary Guards) officers. The Iranian people as a group are very tired of this regime. If the peopole know that the PMOI is able to come to their aid in an armed struggle, there are very good chances that they will arise as they did in 1999 and 2003 when the PMOI was unable to come to their aid. The key to regime change is de-listing the PMOI and the NCRI, which is the reason that the mullah regime has always demanded that these two democratic resistance groups be kept on the FTO list. De-listing will allow them to lead the struggle, and send a powerful message to the mullahs that the U.S and her allies now mean business.
Good rebuttal, Professor Zucker (#15). The statistical examples were especially helpful.
I would like to clarify one of my points, however. By “questioning” the Iranians commitment to a coup, it was simply that. A question. I did not want to appear to cast doubt on their resolve, I truly didn’t know the answer to the question. The statistical examples you shared helped with that.
One part of your response was puzzling to me. “De-listing will allow them to lead the struggle, and send a powerful message to the mullahs that the U.S and her allies now mean business.”
Does this mean that being on the FTO list is keeping the PMOI and the NCRI from leading? I’m nowhere near a foreign policy expert, so this statemen is rather confusing to me. I don’t see whether being on the list or not helps or hinders their efforts. It’s the people of Iran that need to make this fight and I don’t understand how being on this list hinders their efforts.
If the mullahs don’t take us seriously while they see what’s happening in Iraq, the only way they would take us seriously is military intervention. I believe, in this instance, that military intervention would be the worst possible option, even if it could be done successfully. Too many bad repercussions.
Dear Ron: Thank you for your questions. In 2003, the allied forces attacked the PMOI bases in Iraq as a quid pro quo to Iran for Iran’s co-operation in “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. In return for the attack, Iran promised to return any allied pilots that crashed in Iranian territory. The PMOI did not fire even one bullet back at the allied forces as it regards only the regime as its targetable enemy, and a cease fire and disarmament was negotiated by JAG Captain Vivian Gembara in May 2003. PMOI personnel are now gathered in Camp Ashraf in NE Iraq, protected by the U.S. Army under Geneva Conventions Article Four. De-listing the PMOI and NCRI would allow the PMOI to be rearmed with its former equipment, to have its fiscal assets unfrozen, and for the NCRI to raise funds from Iranian expatriats living in the U. S.
As long as these two groups remain on the FTO list, they are “handcuffed” and cannot do anything to physically assist their countrymen inside Iran.
As long as the NCRI and PMOI remain on the FTO list, the mullahs know that we are simply “blowing smoke”. De-listing is the first thing that we need to do in order for the regime to realize that we really are prepared to do what it takes to solve the problem. As long as we keep the only viable opposition groups disarmed, the Iranian regime knows that we aren’t really serious in our efforts to it them back down.
The treat of military intervention should remain on the table, but like you, I see it as a very last resort, with too many bad repercussions, as you aptly put it.
TEXT CORRECTION: My 2nd to last sentence should read: “As long as we keep the only viable opposition groups disarmed, the Iranian regime knows that we aren’t really serious in our efforts to make it back down on its nuclear weaponry program.”
Professor, thank you for the information. I was unaware of the frozen assets that you mentioned.
I have to stick with my earlier views on the likelyhood of this happening (for now), but I do see a coup as more than a pipe-dream and more of a possiblity than I did before you posted.
Thank you.
I believe the US government knows that listing of PMOI was a mistake. The evidence presented in the State Department’s website for PMOI listing is unbelievably ridicules. Many Iranians compare listing PMOI and NCRI, the two most serious groups fighting the Mullahs in Iran, to the coup against Mossadeq in 1953, in the sense that both actions blocked the advancement of democracy in Iran.
The West clearly sees the misery of Iranian people (and now the whole world), but tries to paralyze Iran’s opposition forces, simply because wants to be in charge, no matter what. Iranians are sick and tired of the Mullahs., but we don’t even give a chance to Iranians to fight them!
I think the US administration and Europe are not yet convinced that a regime change and democracy are necessary in Iran. I hope they make up their minds before it is too late.
Nasim, as far as the rest of the world “seeing” anything, I have to say that this (unfortunately) is NOT the case in the US. The major media outlets prefer to tout their “polls” about W, throw stones at Rove, publish Joe Wilson, make amnesty claims for all illegals…. you get the picture. All of the negative imagery and information that helps to buttress all of the (excellent) points in the article and the comments are filtered out by the liberal news media for the most part. The questions by Ron S. were ones that I needed answered and the stats that the Prof gave were excellent… why can’t I ever get them (or anything remotely like them) on the evening news?!? Sorry if this rant is off topic and rambling, but having to go to the web for excellent info on such a major topic set me off!!! (great stuff all)
Hey Andy B., you’re asking the difference between vapid reporting (the evening news) and the actual intellectual discourse. Still wondering why you can’t get this stuff on the evening news? :-)
I don’t pretend at being an intellectual, but I do have my fair share of common sense, which I find works almost as well.