NCRI Staff
NCRI – The Iranian Regime is so much more dangerous than North Korea and the world must recognise this, according to a political scientist who specialises in the Regime.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh wrote an op-ed for Arab News, entitled Iran is not the Middle East’s North Korea — it is worse, in which he laid out that analogies between the two rogue regimes often fail to account for the destructive role that Iran plays in the Middle East as well as other incredible differences.
Rafizadeh highlights that Iran is much more destructive to the Middle East than North Korea is to East Asia and they are desperate to involve themselves in the affairs of other nation states, whether that is plowing troops into Syria to prop up the Assad dictatorship or supporting terrorist groups in Lebanon and Yemen or covertly controlling political leaders in Iraq.
But why is Iran doing this? Well, their long-term goal is to ensure Iranian domination of the Middle East, through destabilising the rest of the region until they emerge victorious with a Shiite Crescent that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
Rafizadeh wrote: “Iran’s military activities stretch beyond the boundaries of its neighbouring countries…Does North Korea play the same role in East Asia? Does North Korea have military forces on the ground in China, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines or Russia who are fighting to topple those governments? Does North Korea have militias and proxies battling and killing people in Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Moscow, Manila or Taipei in order to preserve the interests of Pyongyang? The answers to these questions are no. North Korea mostly resorts to heated rhetoric from time to time that causes heightened tensions. These tensions normally subside immediately after the rhetoric is removed.”
Indeed, despite the heated rhetoric between the US and North Kore there has been little change to the North Korean military posture, as assessed by General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
Rafizadeh wrote: “Arguing that the Iranian regime’s actions in the Middle East are similar to North Korea’s actions in East Asia is an inaccurate analogy due to the fact that it fails to depict the full picture, including the political and military agendas of these two regimes. North Korea is nowhere near as destabilizing in East Asia as Iran is in the Middle East. North Korea mostly resorts to rhetoric that heightens tensions. But Iran forcibly and actively takes military and political measures to destabilize the region through various paths, including financing and arming its militias, as well as dispatching its military and paramilitary forces to other nations.”
He concluded: “The Iranian regime actively intervenes in other countries and employs belligerent and imperialistic policies to achieve its regional hegemonic ambitions by dominating and controlling the political, security and intelligence systems of other countries. North Korea talks, but the Iranian regime acts.”
