There are two Irans: the mullahs and those who love freedom.
By ALI SAFAVI
Source: Orange Country Register, March 31,2009
President Barack Obama used the occasion of the Persian New Year to reach out last week to the Iranian government, offering in a video message a new era of "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect."
Change in America's Iran policy is much-needed and is long overdue. Yet, that change is not conceivable without understanding the dynamics of Iranian politics. Every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter has sought a coherent Iran policy and has been interested in negotiations with this regime. But all have failed for one reason or another.
Every Iran observer acknowledges that there are two Irans: the one of octogenarian mullahs and the one in vibrant cities. And these two Irans are worlds apart.
As long as Iran remains synonymous with the fundamentalist regime that rules it, U.S. policy options are very limited: More concessions or military action, both of which are doomed to failure.
But how can the U.S. reach out to the Iranian people? In dealing with tyrannies, it always is prudent to reach out to the organized opposition – and that is where Obama really should think outside the box. The key to such change is the administration's approach to the mullahs and their main opposition, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK).
In 1997, the Clinton administration proposed direct dialogue with Tehran. To set the stage, Secretary of State Madeline Albright designated the MEK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
One senior Clinton official acknowledged at the time that the "inclusion of the People's Mojahedin was intended as a goodwill gesture to Tehran and its newly elected moderate president Mohammed Khatami."
The Bush administration not only continued with the same policy, but went even further by bombing MEK's camps in Iraq during the 2003 invasion as part of a quid pro quo with Tehran.
It is evident that making concessions to Tehran is counterproductive. Constraining the PMOI was a gift to the mullahs, who perceived the move as a sign of weakness and became even more brazen in their dealings with the West.
Last Jan. 26, a reluctant European Union finally agreed to abide by seven judgments of courts in the United Kingdom and the EU, and removed the MEK's terrorist designation – the first time a group was removed from such a list. In 2008, UK courts came to the conclusion that designating the MEK as terrorist was "perverse."
If President Obama is serious about change in the U.S. Iran policy, he should take the bold initiative of revoking the MEK's terrorist designation as the most vivid hallmark of that policy change. Such a move would even make talks with Tehran more effective since it sends the mullahs a message of strength. This indeed is the change which is not only overdue, but one which puts the United States on the right side of history.
Ali Safavi is member of the National Council of Resistance (Iran's Parliament in exile), President of Near East Policy Research in Washington, D.C.
