Australia / Israel Review

In Teheran, the mullahs have blamed the recent protests in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon not on their own repressive regimes and proxies, but on foreign and Zionist interference.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking to his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Basij henchmen, blamed the Iranian people’s protests on foreign interference, thanking the Iranian people for the “hard blow to global arrogance and Zionism, forcing them to retreat.”

How long will the Iranian scapegoating against the West and Zionists work, when their economy is in shambles and the people yearn for freedoms that are anathema to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s revolutionary agenda?

You would think that Europeans, who supposedly learned the lessons of fascism in the 20th century, would be particularly sensitive to a vicious state-controlled secret police – in this case directly controlled by the Iranian mullahs, the IRGC, and the corrupt Iranian government.

Like the Nazis who diverted resources even during militarily challenging times in 1944 when they chose to ramp up their master plan to kill all the Jews of Europe, the Iranian regime today chooses to divert its resources to surround Israel and support its proxies for the destruction of the Jewish state, instead of economically helping their people. You can understand this only if you realise how central a foundational pillar of the Iranian revolution is the destruction of Israel.

Yet Western Europe, including France, Britain, and Germany, which tout their humanitarian records, have supported and treated the Iranian regime as a legitimate government – not as the world’s leading state sponsor of terror – and have even enabled the world’s foremost Jew-haters a path to nuclear weapons.

An additional six EU nations joined the INSTEX bartering system to bypass American sanctions on Iran in early December.

When did it become the policy of European Western democracies to be on the side of suppression, jihadism, and illiberalism, and against the yearning of a people for liberation from their authoritarian suppressors?

Iraqi protesters screaming “Out Iran” burned the Iranian consulate in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq “in an outburst of anger at Iran.”

The best way to support Iranian protesters is not only to support their legitimate protests, but also the protests of the Lebanese and Iraqi people against their governments, who are in large part controlled by Teheran. If the Lebanese and Iraqi people can effectively challenge their Iranian-controlled political parties and governments, then it would encourage the Iranian people to continue to demand a change of their government.

Now is the time to state the obvious – it would be in American and allied interests for the Iranian people to be in charge of their own destiny.

That will not happen until there is a change of regime in Teheran – something that is a dirty word in the international community. But regime change will come not from American boots on the ground, as the critics contend is the real goal, but from the Iranian people themselves, who need and deserve our public and vocal support to take control of their lives both for their benefit and ours.

What will it take for Europe to wake up and realise that no amount of money, accommodation or deference will change the structural DNA of Iran’s leaders, who are bent on the eradication of Israel, and the ascendency of Shi’ism over Sunnis and minority populations living in the Middle East?

Since the 100,000-plus missiles of Iranian-controlled Hezbollah in Lebanon do not threaten Paris, Berlin or London, they rationalise away the true nature of the regime. It helps that they, too, habitually see Israel in a negative light.

Iran is not a rational state actor in the Western sense. It is, however, an Islamist rational actor with a well-thought-out hegemonic agenda to destroy the Jewish state and dominate the Middle East as in the long-ago days of Persian imperialism. 

Once the obvious conclusion is drawn that Iran cannot be changed or turned into a member of the international community in good standing, then strategies to deal with this reality can be created. The Iranian economy is on the ropes, and if only the Europeans would join the American sanction regime, the Iranian people could possibly take control of their destiny.

Dr. Eric R. Mandel is the Director of MEPIN, the Middle East Political Information Network. © JNS.org, reprinted by permission, all rights reserved.