Iran Mullahs’ Diplomacy: Bullying Others Into Making Concessions
By US Alliance for Democratic Iran (07/08/04)
It can reasonably be argued that the arrest of eight British servicemen by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway last month has striking similarities with the clerical regime taking 52 Americans hostage in 1979. Parading them on TV blindfolded, forcing them to “apologize” and to say they now “understand Islam better” certainly ring familiar. It also seems that Tehran is trying to reap domestic and diplomatic political benefit as it did in 1979.
There is, however, a big difference. In 1979, the mullahs’ were on the ascendance and the hostage situation helped them consolidate power faster. They purged the liberal wing of the post-revolution government and cracked down on the democratic opposition by calling them pro-American.
In 2004, however, the theocratic regime is isolated at home as never before and faces the rising opposition of majority of Iranians, led by students and women. It is also scorned internationally for its dismal human rights record, support of terrorism, secret nuclear weapons program, and the campaign to push Iraq toward a Khomeini-style Islamic republic.
The rising presence of former and current commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the political centers of power including the rubber-stamp Parliament, state broadcasting, and the Supreme National Security Council underscored the need to confront domestic dissent and international pressure by making the ruling apparatus unipolar. By relying on the most terrorist members of the regime, the mullahs believe they can suppress disillusioned citizens more efficiently, advance their nuclear weapons program, and more importantly, expand their campaign in Iraq.
There are many indications Tehran is not at all happy with the way its campaign in Iraq is going. The first clue came immediately after the new interim government of Iraq took office in June. Iran’s leaders had nothing but scorn for the new regime, calling it an “American lackey.”
The fact that the images of the British sailors were first shown in Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam TV, which broadcasts into Iraq, is significant. Tehran was trying to send a message to the Coalition forces that it was still a major player.
The seizure had the markings of an operation planned well in advance by the mullahs’ regime. As soon the British servicemen were detained; Iranian TV crews along with several Tehran-based high commanders of the Revolutionary Guards quickly showed up at the scene.
Since Iran’s diplomacy is essentially based on bullying, terror and blackmail, it resorts to now familiar rogue ways to advance its political objectives. Earlier in June, it mobilized battalions of suicide bombers bound for Iraq and last week it fomented a diplomatic stand off over British servicemen.
The London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported late June that the real reason for the detention of the sailors was to swap them with about 40 suicide bomber volunteers dispatched from Iran to Iraq but were apprehended at a border crossing by the Ukrainian forces subsequently handed over to British forces in southern Iraq earlier in the month..
This episode has made one thing clear: bullying has been and remains the mullahs’ method of diplomacy and dialogue. Last month, in a blatant rejection of the recent IAEA demand, Iran officially announced that it would resume the uranium enrichment (as if they were not doing it all along) despite the commitment it had made to Britain, France, and Germany last autumn.
It is therefore imperative to respond with utmost firmness to the mullahs’ mischief and not let them get away with it. Displaying weakness at this very crucial juncture has dire consequences for stability and democracy in Iraq and beyond. It will also send the wrong message to Iran’s ruling tyrants and to the democratic movement there working to unseat them. Instead of coddling the mullahs, leader of the free world should join together in developing an action plan to support Iran’s democratic opposition.
The US Alliance for Democratic Iran (www.usadiran.org), is a US-based, independent, non-profit policy advocacy organization, which aims to advance a US policy in support of Iranian people’s aspirations for a democratic, secular, and peaceful government. The USADI is not affiliated with any government agencies, political groups or parties.
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