The Guardian revealed on April 12 that Tehran is secretly smuggling weapons for Russia to aid Putin in his war of occupation in Ukraine. This is in addition to the Iranian regime mounting a propaganda campaign to rally sympathy for Russia.
“An Iranian-made Bavar 373 missile system, similar to the Russian S-300, has also been donated to Moscow by the authorities in Tehran, who also returned an S-300,” the Guardian reported, quoting a source who helped organize the transport.
Clearly, the allegations of atrocities by Russian forces, with civilians found shot in the head with their hands tied behind their back, wouldn’t affect Tehran’s position in supporting Moscow.
It is not surprising that mullahs in Tehran who have Ebrahim Raisi, aka “hanging judge,” as president and are record holders of hangings per capita support crimes against humanity.
What really is a surprise is the Western governments’ eagerness to restore the highly flawed 2015 Iran nuclear deal and offer countless concessions to the regime. Recently, there have been many speculations about the U.S. government poising to remove the name of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) from the FTO list.
Implementing such a foolish notion as Tehran continues its regional adventurism and has now extended its arms to Ukraine, defying the Western governments, would only embolden mullahs in Tehran to continue their lofty ambitions without feeling remorse.
The 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was supposed to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran only paused its nuclear program in exchange for billion dollars in cash and sanction relief.
Now, it seems that the new nuclear deal would shower the terrorist mullahs with over one hundred billion dollars worth of sanction relief, in addition to delisting the terrorist IRGC. Signing any agreement with Iran and offering its regime more concessions would pave the way for it to acquire a nuclear bomb and boost its violence across the world.
The whole world suffers from the effects of war in Ukraine. But we should not forget that the current crisis is the poisonous fruit of appeasement. Before the war in Ukraine, we had the Russian carpet bombing of Aleppo, Syria’s use of chemical weapons against civilians, and Iran’s rampant terrorism through its proxies. Yet, the world leaders did not react, fearing any firmness could result in more chaos.
The world leaders are repeating the same mistake the European leaders made before World War II. When would the lesson be learned? How many more dictators must be wooed and given immense privileges before we learn? Any disagreement with the firmness is an invitation, not a deterrent, to authoritarian regimes.
The world is running out of time to blunt global crises created by rogue states. If Western democracies erroneously continue appeasing the Iranian regime, soon, we will see how a nuclear-armed Iran threatens global peace and security. What will we do when the international order crumbles? We should punish the religious fascism in Iran by imposing harsher sanctions. Any action that is bereft of rigorousness would only help the regime continue wreaking havoc in the world.