By: Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani is making a tactical
shift once again. This time he is appeasing the hard-liners publicly and
revealing the actual agenda of his administration after achieving the Supreme
Leader’s economic objectives.
Rouhani used the UN pedestal last week to shower praise
on Tehran’s theocracy. His stale slogans smack of desperation and deception.
Isolated and generally regarded as a pariah, the regime and its familiar
figures try to stick to the same plot and project an image of a powerful and
rational player.
Brush aside the forced rhetoric and the ugly truth
reveals itself: A regime that has hanged over 3,100 people under Rouhani alone,
securing the world record for the highest number of executions. Dozens of young
people are among the victims, securing another record; the world’s last
remaining executioner of children.
While the Islamic Republic attempts to portray having a
democratic electoral system, Rouhani does not represent the overwhelming
majority of the Iranian people. He represents the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, and the Revolutionary Guard Corps. His Cabinet consists of veteran
intelligence and security officers with dark pasts. This includes his justice minister,
Alireza Avai, who was involved in the massacre of thousands of political
prisoners in 1988.
Rouhani’s former justice minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi
was on the “death committee” for these executions and recently said he was
proud to have carried out “God’s commandment” in 1988 against these activists
from the Mujahedin-e Khalq, the leading opposition. Many of the relatives of
the victims believe that Rouhani represents a gang of thugs and mass murderers,
rather than the will of the Iranian people.
Tehran’s regional policy is no better, with military and
missile budgets skyrocketing under Rouhani, leading to the regime’s belligerent
agenda in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and other hotspots in the region.
No wonder the Iranian people want a new Iran, free from a
regime that diverts their wealth and scarce resources toward suppression,
missiles and terrorism.
As US President Donald Trump said in his address to the
UN General Assembly last week, the regime’s main victims are the Iranian
people. “The entire world understands that the good people of Iran want
change,” he said.
And “change” was the message echoed by thousands of
Iranian-Americans and their supporters who gathered outside the UN headquarters
in New York to protest against rogue Rouhani’s presence last Wednesday.
A protest against Iran’s president in New York shows that
Iranians yearn for freedom from a regime that diverts their wealth and scarce
resources toward murder, missiles and terrorism.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
They called for democratic change by the Iranian people
and their organized opposition movement, the National Council of Resistance of
Iran (NCRI).
Moreover, the protesters pointed to at least 11,000
recorded protests inside Iran against the regime over the past year as a sign
of the Iranian people’s preparedness to implement democratic change.
A powerful message was delivered by NCRI’s
President-elect Maryam Rajavi, who said: “It is time for the world community,
especially western countries, to end appeasing the mullahs’ regime. Any
diplomatic and commercial relations with the regime must be conditioned on a
halt in torture and executions.”
Among the other speakers were House Foreign Affairs
Committee Ranking Member Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), former senator Joe Lieberman,
former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton, and former senator Robert
Torricelli.
Congressman Engel said: “Change can come from within.
There are many young people in Iran who have only known oppression. I want to
pledge to you that I will work with all my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle, work with all the government officials, keep the pressure on the
regime.”
Senator Lieberman called for investigations into the 1988
massacre: “It’s time for a truth commission in Iran the way there was a truth
commission in South Africa after the end of apartheid.”
John Bolton said the “safest way to guarantee peace
internationally, peace in the Middle East, peace for the people of Iran, is to
overthrow this regime and have a free and fair election.” A memorial for the
victims of the 1988 massacre was also on display at the rally.
Many of the suspected mass graves in Iran as a result of
the massacre remain undiscovered. Tens of thousands of families are demanding
answers. The international community should break its silence over the 1988
massacre.
Washington should lead the way. The first step is to
establish an independent investigation. More broadly, as part of a new policy
that rejects both appeasement and war, America should support the Iranian
people and the organized opposition of Iran toward the ultimate goal of
democratic change. This is the first time since 1979 that the White House,
regional powers and the international community have had the momentum to exert
the needed pressure.
A new Iran shines on the horizon. It shone brightly in New
York. Let us hope it is shining just as bright for the White House.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated
Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US
foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American
Council. Twitter: @Dr_RafizadehRiyadh Daily
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