By Amir Basiri
In October, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian regime’s
president, reiterated that Tehran will continue to develop ballistic missiles,
defying the latest round of Congress-approved sanctions against Iran’s
ballistic missile program and a U.N. resolution calling on Iran “not to
undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of
delivering nuclear weapons.”
This bit of news might come as a disappointment to those
who view Rouhani as the “moderate” leader the U.S. and the international
community should back against “hardliners” in Iran. But it won’t surprise those
who know the true nature that governs all the factions that compete within the
theocratic regime ruling Iran.
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Rouhani made deceptive claims and promises before May's
presidential elections to strengthen his bid and portray himself as being at
odds with the Revolutionary Guards. The IRGC, the notorious military body that
only reports to Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s unelected Supreme Leader, was
designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration last month.
However, after securing his second mandate, Rouhani
retraced his steps and re-established his ties with what he previously called
the “government with a gun.” Last month, Rouhani praised the IRGC as the
"beloved" of the Iranian people despite the evident fact that it is
the main player behind Iran’s terrorist forays, ballistic missile program, and
human rights violations.
Rouhani further proved where his loyalties lie when the
IRGC orchestrated a widespread campaign of suppression and crackdown against
Iranians who wished to congregate on the day that is named after Cyrus the
Great, the ancient ruler of the Persian empire.
Last year, thousands attended the ceremony, which takes
place at Pasargadae, 500 miles south of Tehran, where Cyrus' tomb is located.
Fearing that under the current tense state of the Iranian society, a similar
gathering would evolve into mass protests, the IRGC blocked all roads that led
to the area. IRGC motorcades and helicopters patrolled the area and threatened
to arrest anyone who would try to join the rally.
Rouhani refrained from making the slightest criticism of
IRGC’s repressive measures and defend the rights of the Iranian people, as he
had pledged to do during this campaign trail. Again, this should not come as
surprise from someone who has been part and parcel of the regime since its
founding and whose first term as president has been marked by 3,000 executions.
Undaunted by the Guards’ attempt to block the ceremony,
Iranians from across the country made their way to the area and found alternate
routes to attend the ceremony. This overt defiance of the regime’s apparatus of
suppression takes place against the background of a growing trend of social and
political protests and a gradual decrease of security forces’ ability in
stifling them.
In the declaration of his new strategy toward Iran,
President Trump drew a clear line between the Iranian people and the ruling
regime. "We stand in total solidarity with the Iranian regime’s longest
suffering victims: its own people," he said. "The citizens of Iran
have paid a heavy price for the violence and extremism of their leaders. The
Iranian people long to, and they just are longing, to reclaim their country's
proud history, its culture, its civilization, its cooperation with its
neighbors."
According to opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, “The
ultimate solution is the overthrow of the regime and establishment of freedom
and democracy in Iran by the Iranian people and resistance.”
While proponents of rapprochement with the Iranian regime
will continue to hope against hope that some form of moderation will emerge
from within the regime, the Iranian people know better than to rely on the
hollow promises of duplicitous figures such as Rouhani.
This article was first published by washingtonexaminer.
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