Time to squeeze and isolate Iran’s regime
On June 25, 1990, Nelson Mandela met with then U.S. President George Bush in Washington and asked him to maintain sanctions on the apartheid regime of South Africa, adding “it is because of sanctions that such enormous progress has been made in the attempt to address the problems of our country.”
Nelson Mandella, while for years maintained on a terrorist watch list, and the African National Congress long designated as a foreign terrorist organization, are now both recognized for their efforts in the liberation of their country.
As the world is witnessing around three months of unprecedented protests in Iran, which the Iranian people are describing as a “revolution”, history is repeating itself. The Biden administration and the European Union continue to believe that the best method of tacking the Iranian regime’s nuclear [weapons] program is through diplomacy, meaning providing Tehran sanctions relief and more billions of dollars in return for a highly flawed nuclear deal that the regime has been cheating since day one from back in the Obama years of 2015.
And the irony is all this is coming at a time when the Biden administration claims their priority on Iran is to support the country’s brave protesters. To the Biden administration: you can’t have it both ways. You’re either with the Iranian people or you’re against them. There is no middle ground when a regime is killing women such as Mahsa Amini for “improperly covering their hair” or executing young men such Mohsen Shekari “for blocking a road in Tehran and wounding a member of the Basij (the regime’s paramilitary units).” And more recently, the horrific public execution of Majidreza Rahnavard using a crane in the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran early Monday morning, December 12.
For the record, this piece does not aim to argue that the international community should enter a new war in the Middle East. Far from it. There are no needs for boots on the ground, nor a single bullet shot, nor a single weapon sent, nor a single dollar sent to the Iranian people.
If the mullahs’ regime is squeezed and isolated properly with meaningful sanctions that are implemented to prevent money from flowing into the regime’s coffers, the Iranian people will be strengthened and truly feel that the world is behind them. The brave protesters in Iran’s streets have shown their motivation and determination to take down this regime. They’ll take it from there.
"It is time for the international community to go beyond words and symbolic sanctions, and take concrete steps, including the severance of diplomatic ties, the expulsion of the regime’s envoys, and the recognition of the Iranian people’s right to defend themselves," said Ali Safavi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. "A misogynous, child-killing regime has no place in the community of civilized nations. Its leaders, including Ali Khamenei and Ebrahim Raisi must be held to account."
Let’s break this down:
- Severance of diplomatic ties means the West should recall their ambassadors from Tehran as the European Union did in 1989 following a fatwa issued by then regime Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini calling for the killing of novelist Salman Rushdie.
- Expelling the regime’s envoy is a must. Albania banished Iran’s ambassador and shut down the regime’s embassy in September following a major cyberattack by Tehran against the Balkan state’s infrastructure. Iran has a history of terrorist attacks and plots throughout the Green Continent and the U.S., among other regions across the globe. Shutting down Tehran’s embassies—used mainly by the regime as forward operating bases of their Intelligence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)—is long overdue.
- Recognizing the Iranian people’s right to defend themselves is obvious in and of itself as it sends a crystal-clear message to the ruling elite in Tehran and pushes them further in the global isolation corner.
Thus, it goes without saying that the Biden administration and European Union continuing to believe diplomacy has a chance with the murderous regime in Iran is a flawed blueprint. Furthermore, this is no time to repeat this belief in public, as the Iranian people protesting in the streets consider it as not only a lifeline for the oppressive mullahs, but a dagger in their backs when they should be supported.
On a final note, some food for thought to those calling on the Iranian people to practice restraint and distance themselves from violence. No one wants bloodshed and the ideal scenario would be a peaceful transition in Iran from the mullahs’ dictatorship to a true democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people. Unfortunately, the mullahs, the IRGC, and Basij are going the distance to prevent just that.
Nelson Mandela put it very well in an interview with PBS on February 16, 1990: “The methods of political action which are used by the oppressed are determined by the oppressor. In South Africa, the methods which the people are using to oppose apartheid and racial discrimination are determined by the government. Where the government that talks peacefully, wants to solve problems by peaceful means, and talks to the oppressed, it would be very difficult for them to turn to violence.
“But when the government bans political organizations, bans political activities, paralyzes individuals by imposing bans on them, intensifies oppression and carries on a brutal suppression of all political activities, what do you expect us to do? We must resort to violence in order to defend ourselves. But many people, especially in the West, seem to be blind to this reality that we should not embark violence. We should not embark on violence when we are negotiating. We know better because we are the people who are responsible for this negotiating process. And we should be telling the world what methods of actions should be abandoned and at what time. It is not for the international community to try to lecture us to as what methods of actions we should use.”
Thank you Heshmat. The article and its argument within were excellent.
Great piece.👏
Thank you Heshmat Alavi🙏
💯"It is time for the international community to go beyond words and symbolic sanctions, and take concrete steps, including the severance of diplomatic ties, the expulsion of the regime’s envoys, and the recognition of the Iranian people’s right to defend themselves,"