Iran - Don’t empower Iran’s tyrants

Don’t empower Iran’s tyrants - GEN. HUGH SHELTON

Hugh Shelton

Immediately after the nuclear deal with Iran was concluded, the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, declared that Tehran’s policies would remain “180 degrees” opposed to those of the United States. Even Secretary of State John Kerry, the deal’s handmaiden, described the ayatollah's latest remarks as “deeply troubling”.

The administration ignored the voices of its Middle East allies, a large swath of American citizens, and even Ayatollah Khamenei, who gave many ominous warnings in advance of the deal that the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism would not simply defang in exchange for economic and political concessions. But the most important voices the administration chose to sideline are of the Iranian people.

The educated and well-organized Iranian opposition says the deal will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon. In fact, prior to the final announcement, more than 100,000 Iranian expatriates gathered in Paris, joined by hundreds of prominent international dignitaries, to express their opposition to the emerging deal.

The Iranian people know better. It was the Iranian opposition after all that provided key intelligence to the world that identified previously unknown Iranian nuclear facilities and programs, starting in 2002. It was the opposition that supplied U.S. battle commanders with key information about Iran’s political and military meddling in Iraq.

The Iranian people — and the people of the region and beyond — do not have the luxury to kick the can down the road and hope for a later solution. After all, virtually every Iranian exile who attended the Paris rally still have friends and family members living under the thumb of the clerical regime. Virtually every one of them has lost friends and relatives as a result of the regime’s criminalization of dissent, torture of political prisoners, mass public executions and its extrajudicial killings and sponsorship of terrorism.