At the beginning of the month, the Iranian opposition hosted its annual “Free Iran” rally in Paris. As per previous years, there were tens of thousands of Iranian people in attendance as well as hundreds of dignitaries, senators, parliamentarians and politicians from all across the world.
The speakers emphasised that the Iranian regime is incapable of change. After all, it has been given many chances. Any claims that the current government is moderate are unfounded. There has been a long history of actions that are decidedly what can only be described as the opposite of moderate.
For example, Iran is a backer of many sectarian militias. In terms of their brutal practices that they attempt to justify through religion, they are not much different to ISIS.
Furthermore, the leaders of Iran, whether this be the President, the Supreme Leader, government officials or members of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), do very little to hide their extremism. They are brazen about their extremist policies and often provoke other nations openly and unashamedly.
Iran has been seeking regional supremacy for years. Although the concept existed before the 1979 revolution, it came into its own since Supreme Leader Khomeini arrived on the scene (and continuing with Supreme Leader Khamenei).
It looked likely that Iran was put back into its place after the Iran-Iraq war, but it turns out that plans were temporarily put on hold. In fact, Iran had been nurturing relationships with various groups such and Hezbollah and Shiite militias from Iraq.
The Iranian regime has been involved, directly and indirectly, in sectarian cleansing and displacement in Syria since the uprising in 2011. The same can be said of Iran’s actions in Iraq. Its justification for such atrocities is that it is fighting groups such as ISIS, al-Nusra and al-Qaeda.
However, questions about the relationship between Iran and these groups have been raised. Why has al-Qaeda never attacked Iran? Why does ISIS choose to attack the opponents of Assad in Syria such as the “Free Syrian Army” and not Assad’s own forces?
Iran has been benefiting from, and taking advantage of, the destruction caused by ISIS (such as the destruction of several cities in Iraq and Syria). This is proof that the Iranian regime has no place in today’s world. It has no intentions of being a real regional player because it is intent on destroying its neighbours.
Source » ncr-iran