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The Middle East is engulfed in turmoil, with the international community scrambling for a solution. Amidst this chaos, a potential remedy may be closer than we think. Since the conflict erupted in Gaza, various theories have surfaced regarding its origins and possible resolutions. Despite sincere efforts to end the war, many politicians propose a more direct approach to ending terrorism: targeting the source.
For decades, the world has suffered from Islamic fundamentalism. Millions have fallen victim to what first started in Iran in 1979 when fanatics, headed by Ruhollah Khomeini, hijacked a truly democratic revolution that aimed for “independence, freedom, and a republic.”
Soon after taking power in Iran, the religious tyranny began its killing spree under the banner of “Islam.” Tens of thousands of innocent civilians and dissidents, mostly Shiite Muslims, were sent to the gallows by the rulers of the so-called “Islamic World’s Pole.”
Yet, western countries turned a blind eye to the Iranian people’s suffering and their struggle for freedom and democracy. To please the ayatollahs more, Western democracies shackled the Iranian Resistance movement for years through many means, thus hindering the process of regime change in Iran by its people and opposition.
In tandem with human rights abuses, the Iranian theocracy exported terrorism, using it as a tool to suppress dissent. The infamous quote “The road to Jerusalem passes through Karbala” ignited the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, serving as a smokescreen for domestic crises. Even after a cease-fire, Tehran continued its aggressive stance through various means, directly and indirectly supporting terrorism in the region.
#Iranian Regime’s Fourfold Objectives in the #GazaCrisishttps://t.co/UXfRouGv2b
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) November 9, 2023
Tehran was forced to accept a cease-fire with Iraq, due to both domestic and international pressure, but it never yielded its adventurism. Loyal to Khomeini’s heritage, his successors continued the export of terrorism both directly through the Revolutionary Guards and its extraterritorial forces, the Quds Force, and indirectly, through many proxy groups in the region.
While the Iranian regime has so far dodged the consequences of its involvement in the current war in the region and tried to reject any responsibility whatsoever, some officials have acknowledged their role as the epicenter of terrorism.
A few days before the anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani, the eliminated Quds Force commander, the IRGC’s spokesperson Ramezan Sharif claimed that the October 7 attack was “one of the retaliations of the Axis of Resistance” for the so-called “martyrdom of Qasem Soleimani.” On January 4, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the representative of the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Khorasan province, claimed that “Soleimani planned and oversaw the construction of underground tunnels in Gaza.”
There is no need to peer into the gloom to see that the “head of the snake” is in Tehran. Facing an explosive society, Iran’s crisis-riddled regime needs blood and crises to hold its grip on power. In 1988, when Khomeini accepted the ceasefire with Iraq, or what he considered the “chalice of poison,” he ordered the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, who were mostly members and supporters of Iran’s principal opposition group, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).
Congruent with its terrorist activities in the region, Tehran has yet again increased its human rights violations. According to reports tallied by the Iranian Resistance, there have been at least 864 executions in Iran in 2023. What else is expected from a regime that has Ebrahim Raisi, one of the key perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, as its president?
Making Sense of #Iranian Officials’ Ambiguous Assertions about #October7 Attackshttps://t.co/s7v6R0Q2ue
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 7, 2024
An effective strategy to end the bloodshed is to target the head of the snake in Iran and deter the warmongering mullahs. To achieve this, the world community must:
- Blacklist the IRGC entirely and increase sanctions on the regime for its terrorist activities.
- Support the Iranian people’s aspiration for a secular, non-nuclear republic.
- Hold the regime accountable for four decades of crimes against humanity, prosecuting key figures like Raisi and Khamenei for their roles in the 1988 massacre and subsequent executions.
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident, put it, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
