Trevor Kavanagh WebLog
Sun Blog – MY column in Monday’s Sun has sparked a reaction from readers.
It described the extraordinary decision by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to support and impose a ban on the Iranian resistance movement which is brutally crushed by the Ayatollahs’ secret police.
MPs and peers of all parties are behind a campaign to find a “third way” to stop Iran obtaining and potentially using nuclear weapons.
They don’t want America or Israel to strike against the bunkers where work is in progress enriching uranium to weapons-use quality.
And they don’t think the UN has the will or the unity to impose effective sanctions.
The alternative is to back an already potent and courageous resistance movement among the millions who oppose the extremist regime in Teheran.
The movement is already up and running. Unsurprisingly, the mullahs have declared its members “terrorists” – even they have renounced terrorism for several years.
Worse, the West joined in, banning the PMOI (People’s Mujahedin of Iran) from the respectable councils of nations.
This grotesque form of appeasement has been accepted in return for “negotiations” with Teheran by Britain, France and Germany (the so-called E3).
In return, religious fascist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is allowing them to continue pleading with him to abandon his nuclear ambitions.
That futile process wasted three years in which time Iran has brought its plan for nukes to the point of completion – posing a threat to Israel, the Middle East and ultimately world peace.
Readers react
Dear Trevor,
I read your wonderful article, it was magnificent, and made my bank holiday one not to forget.
I translated it to Persian and sent it to people all over the world, and I am sure they have enjoyed it as much as I did.
With the help of people like you and our other friends in Parliament and elswhere I am sure that justice will be done and the name of PMOI will be removed and the long suffering people of Iran will soon be seeing the back of this regime.
Kind regards.
NASSER
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Dear Trevor,
I just saw the piece you had in the Sun about Jack Straw’s disgraceful Iran policy.
It was a great piece. I especially liked the cartoon. A great job.
My roomate is Iranian and his older brother was executed by the regime.
His father, a judge for 30 years, was jailed and tortured.
I wonder what Mr Straw will say if and when the mullahs’ are toppled and the gates to Iran’s dungeons are opened?
Keep up the good work.
ALEX
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2/05/06 11:00
Dear Mr Kavanagh,
Thanks for the wonderful column in Monday’s newspaper highlighting the threat of the Iranian regime and the threat they pose.
As you so rightly said the deproscription of the Iranian opposition, the PMOI is the only means by which we can bring about peaceful change in Iran.
Our troops are facing daily dangers posed by the Iranian regime in Iraq who will do anything to spread their Islamic fundamentalism and it is vital that we stop them immediately.
Many thanks.
AZADEH
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02/05/06 10:00
Dear Mr Kavanagh,
At last we can smell a breath of fresh air. The notion of journalistic integrity seems to bear fruit!
In excess of 18 long years ago, before we knew that politicians could be as corrupt as we are witnessing them to be, deals were made with the Mullah’s regime in Iran.
However, the price was paid mainly by Iranians, in torture chambers and before the firing squads.
Now we have come to realise that the whole world is having to pay for the short term and expedient deals that our politicians have struck with the Tehran regime.
Yes, the "gullible trio" E3 (Britain, France and Germany) have labelled the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, ‘terrorists’, just as the Mullahs wanted them to.
As you so rightly said, these people are rounded up and then having gone through "unimaginable brutality", are murdered by the theocratic regime in Iran.
Their only crime is that they have held public protests against oppression.
They are asking to be free to hold true elections and have a democratic system of government.
As the Chair of the Women’s Association for Peace of Justice, I have interviewed many families and individuals over the past 25 years.
Many of these have had to flee their own country (Iran) to come to Britain and have since found that they are held at a disadvantage by the British governmental authorities because they support the PMOI.
People are finding themselves frustrated by the simple fact that their protests and voices are not heard beyond the borders of Iran.
Is it not our social responsibility to take the terror tag off the PMOI, the back bone of the NCRI (the main opposition to the Mullahs), and the one who informed the international community of the Mullahs’ nuclear ambitions?
Now, this snake is spitting poison into our face at our own doorsteps (internationally).
It is fair to suggest that the terror tag be lifted from the name of the main opposition to the Mullahs regime, as our members of parliament have been asking for.
It is only right to hold governmental authorities responsible for dealing with such rulers as the mullahs. After all they have been dealing with Mullahs in our name.
In 1997 we were promised transparency by the labour government.
What is become of that? It is also our international social responsibility to stop the regime from acquiring nuclear bomb.
The masses of oppressed Iranians deserve our support to bring about a democratic change in Iran. These theocratic rulers who systematically brutalise Iranians and have a wish list of countries off the face of the earth must not be allowed to reach their nuclear ambitions.
People of Iran do not think war should be an option. They oppose appeasement policy which has given the regime 18 year of opportunity to build up their nuclear installations.
All of which was done through so called moderate presidents who were allowed to deceive the world, but were exposed to the international community by NCRI.
The Iranians are appealing to the world though the likes of yourself (Mr. T Kavanagh) such brave journalists to bring their voices out to the world arena and ask for help and support to rid themselves and the world of Mullahs.
With my thanks and appreciation for your responsible consideration.
MAHI STOKES
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1/05/06 18:00
Dear Mr Trevor Kavanagh,
Regarding your article today in The Sun newspaper about Iranian opposition, I as an Iranian wanted to take this opportunity to thank you very much.
First for exposing the atrocities of the mullahs in Iran and secondly for supporting the people’s option and that of their Resistance.
LADAN ALIJANI
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1/05/06 19:12
Dear Mr. Kavanagh,
Your article “Iran ‘terrorists’ can stop mullahs’ nukes” today, May 1, was precisely to the point, justly conveying the aspiration of millions of Iranians for freedom and democracy, which I, along with thousands of Iranian expatriates, wholeheartedly support.
It is ironic that the West, in particular the “gullible trio” ‘E3’, have bet on the wrong horse for a long time, depriving a nation from materialising their just cause by politically and financially assisting one of the most brutal and savage religious dictatorships in contemporary history.
As you have eloquently put it, the world is facing a dangerous dilemma.
Addressing the meeting of the Liberal Group at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on Monday April 10, 2006, Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian resistance expressed her 10-point vision for the future of Iran.
There is no doubt that the mullahs seek to acquire atomic weapons as a lever to preserve the religious dictatorship. Nuclear weapons are effective tools to the export of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism.
The call by the “young, bright and ambitious” population for the removal of the terrorist label from the PMOI, is a legitimate demand and the litmus test of abandoning the policy of appeasing the mullahs.
Once again I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your article along with the remarkable work of your cartoonist colleague.
I would like to express a quotation from Mrs Rajavi in the aforesaid meeting.
She said: “We believe freedom is the greatest human attribute. Profound faith in freedom gives us the power to confront the hardships in the struggle against a religious dictatorship. We do not aim to assume power at all costs. Our goal is to guarantee freedom and the democracy no matter what the cost. Thus, the National Council of Resistance of Iran is committed to hold free elections for a constituent and national legislative assembly within six months of the current regime’s overthrow and hand over the affairs of the country to their elected representatives.”
SAEID SAADATI
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1/05/06
Dear Mr. Kavanagh,
Thank you very much for an excellent article in support of the third option of aiding the Iranian people and opposition in particular the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) to make the change in Iran.
The argument was made with extreme clarity and the third option seems to be the only sensible way to achieve peace and stability in the region and the world and avoid war at the same time.
SUSAN BAGHDACHI
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1/05/06 16:22
Dear Mr Kavanagh,
After reading your wonderful article in The Sun today, I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to you for writing such a meaningful column which will no doubt give me and many Iranians in my community in Barnet the hope and aspiration in continuing our struggle to achieve freedom and democracy in Iran through the effortless work of NCRI and it’s President-elect, Mrs Maryam Rajavi.
I am sure your article will bring us a step closer in convincing the British government to change their policy of appeasing the Mullah’s regime by removing the terror tag from the PMOI and support the only option possible, put forward by Mrs Rajavi, to achieve democratic change in Iran through Iranian people and their resistance force. My best to you.
MAHMOUD TABRIZI
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1/05/06 15:26
Dear Mr. Kavanagh,
It was an absolute delight to see your article putting forward a realistic solution to end the mullahs’ nukes problem.
Indeed the urgency of the mullahs’ threat must not be underestimated and the people of Iran and their main opposition movement the PMOI should be an ally and supported as opposed to being hindered.
DR MANDANA ALIJANI
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1/05/06 15:16
Dear Trevor,
You have really made my Bank Holiday Monday!
I was very pleased to read your piece in The Sun this morning.
You have so well understood the real issues concerning Iran’s tyrants and their main opponents, the PMOI.
As you say, the policy adopted by the West towards the mullahs and in particular the blacklisting of the PMOI has caused immense harm to the Iranian people.
However, ultimately it has also caused harm to Britain and the rest of the free world, because the mullahs’ Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism and pursuit of nuclear weapons now represent the greatest threat to world peace and stability.
Once the mullahs have their nuclear bombs, they will be ready for what Ahmadinejad has described as the "final war" between the Islamic world led by Tehran’s mullahs and "global arrogance".
I wanted to tell you a little about the Iranians of whom you wrote.
My uncle and his wife were shot dead in their house, because they opposed the mullahs and instead supported the PMOI’s call for a secular democracy in Iran.
Dozens of other relatives of mine have spent many years under the most gruesome forms of torture in the mullahs’ prisons.
My aunt was arrested and tortured whilst pregnant, resulting in the premature birth of her daughter in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, where she spent seven years of her life.
Yet these same relatives continue to resist in Iran and will not stop doing so until they can enjoy the same freedoms that we enjoy here.
They watch the satellite television station, which supports the Iranian Resistance and spreads the news about the Resistance’s activities.
They also take part in protests and use every opportunity to express their total opposition to the mullahs.
All of their hopes are in the Iranian Resistance.
They telephone me regularly from Iran, openly cursing the mullahs and asking me when the PMOI are coming.
Regrettably, they also curse Western governments for what they feel has been their support for the mullahs and for placing obstacles in the path of those who have sacrificed so much to struggle for the liberation of the Iranian people.
In my view, you have been able, in a limited number of words, to express, for the benefit of your readers, the views of many Iranians.
Therefore, for me at least, your work is just as important as those MPs and Peers of whom you wrote, who work tirelessly to convince the Foreign Office of the error of their ways.
I have no doubt that the Iranian Resistance will soon throw the mullahs into the dustbin of history, thereby liberating the Iranian people and ridding the world of a real threat.
It would just be nice if our government would do less to slow down this inevitability.
By the way, please thank the cartoonist at The Sun.
The cartoon spoke a thousand words!
Best wishes.
MASOUD ZABETI
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1/05/06 14:14
Hi,
I was reading your column on Iran and Jack Straw.
What does Straw think he is on about? Hasn’t he heard the old British saying fight fire with fire?
He better wake up before the local elections and find out what its like for the people to turn on the goverment because that’s what is in store for ours.
So why not use the Iranian people to bring down Iran’s version of Hitler before they get their hands on a mobile nuke bomb?
Slso on the NHS, Patricia Hewitt says that it is doing well.
Well I know how a week ago Wednesday I had a card in my mail saying there was a letter that could not be delivered as there was no postage on it .
I could not get it until the Saturday and when I picked it up it cost me ã1.23.
This letter was from a Nottingham hospital asking me to return it by the following Monday and asking if I still wanted my op on my knee!
JIMMY ROY
