NCRI – The US State Department issues annual statements about countries that flout international law and support terrorism for many decades. Countries who almost always appear on the list are Iran, Syria and North Korea.
Still, the US and other world powers established the nuclear deal with Iran that limits their ability to establish a nuclear military capability for 10 years. However, to reach this deal, the US disregarded the expansion of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) throughout the Middle East, and turned a blind eye to the Syrian people’s revolution and denied any support. The human rights of Iranian and Syrian people were overlooked for the sake of the nuclear deal.
Eyad Abu Shakra discusses Iran in his article for ASHARQ AL-AWSAT, where he is a managing editor. “Two powerful forces form the core of the regime, apart from all the claims related to democracy and public freedoms: The IRGC and its institutions, and the moneyed group that provides the IRGC with the means of subsistence, expansion and domination, and benefits from its activities.”
In response to the 9/11 attacks, US forces rose against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan at the end of 200, because of its close ties with Al-Qaeda. The Iranian leadership did not object to the presence of US and NATO troops on the Muslim lands of Afghanistan. Iran was also silent after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. According to Shakra, this was because Tehran supporters actually benefited from the US occupation. He adds that in Afghanistan, Tehran has moved to re-establish close ties with its “ancient foe,” the Taliban.
“Almost the same thing happened in Iraq,” he writes. “To put pressure on Washington, Tehran gave the Syrian regime the task of exporting Al-Qaeda terrorism to Iraq with operations targeting the remaining US soldiers. That is how Iran forced the US to withdraw, leaving the arena clear for Tehran’s influence.”
The Taliban, Al-Qaeda and now Daesh are takfiri organizations who accuse other Muslims of apostasy, according to Tehran’s followers in the Arab region; however, this charge does not extend to similar organizations that are supported by Tehran. Under the pretext of fighting takfiris, Iran waged war in Syria.
In the media, Tehran’s spokespersons and policy advocates have been attacking countries that they accuse of supporting takfiris for several years, but, when the Qatar crisis began, Tehran made a complete turnabout, and supported that country, which it had just accused of supporting takfiri ideology.
