In his sermon, on 19 June, Khamenei, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, accused the West, especially Britain, of meddling in the domestic affairs of Iran (whatever that means!) He was particularly hard on Britain. The sermon was still in process, when the political analysts at Iran’s desk of international media began to analyse this “special relationship.” They referred to the historical relation, i.e. the British government’s coup plots in Iran. Some argued that the US used to be the great Satan, but now since the Islamic Republic does not want to spoil its chances with Barak Obama, Britain is getting all the blame.
Khamenei’s bluster was just a diversionary rhetoric. The Islamic Republic did not stop at this. It went further and arrested the staff at the British embassy in Tehran. Once again, the regime is using its 'infamous' and 'classic' tactic of ambush in order to give the image of an anti-imperialist force in the region. Islamic regime is known for such thuggish behaviour. Such acts have at times saved regime’s face vis a vis the “anti-imperialist” naïve left in Iran. Occupying the American embassy and keeping its staff as hostages gave a great ideological boost to this regime and disarmed a big bulk of the “anti-imperialist” left of the time, when the left was gaining strength among the workers, students and in Kurdistan and was becoming a real threat to this newly formed state.
Arresting the British embassy’s staff was supposed to have a similar effect. It was also supposed to show the people that the Islamic regime is still in top shape to wrestle with imperialist powers, in order to recreate the image of “past glory” and fear among the people. The leaders of this brutal regime are very tactic-savvy. Repeatedly they have succeeded to pull out tactical tricks that have saved the regime’s face in most difficult situations. This time however, nothing seems to help. The Islamic regime is at a stage where any tactics turn against it.
However, the Islamic Republic fell short of a total show down. This time the Islamic regime has only kept the Iranian nationals among the embassy’s staff. Arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution of Iranian nationals do not usually incur much cost on this regime. One Western hostage can create havoc, millions Iranian hostages can be ignored. It has been ignored historically. Why should this time be any different?
The question is, why Britain? Why has Britain been honoured with this special relation? The Islamic Republic’s claims that Britain has been provoking unrest in Iran are baseless. Reality has nothing to do with it. In fact, among the weighty western media, BBC carried out the most conservative coverage of the events in Iran.
It has nothing to do with history, either. This is only pretentious nonsense. Money is the source of this cavalier-like action of the Islamic republic. Recently the British government, under pressure, froze approximately GBR 976,110,000” ($1.6 billion) worth of Iranian assets.
The British government has not given any information about this account. However, news has been circulating among the Iranian opposition that this account belongs to Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Khamenei, a successor hopeful to the supreme leader. After weeks of rumour in Iranian opposition circles and weblogs, it has also been referred to by the BBC and the Farsi section of the German Radio. This is the source of “supreme leader’s” anger against Britain; simple and straightforward.
To give in to the Islamic Republic’s bully tactics is the most erroneous response on the part of the international community. To appease this regime is wrong and must be stopped once and for all. To defend the imprisoned staff must definitely be on the agenda as the defence of all those who have been arrested in past weeks and brutally tortured. Indeed all Western governments, including the Swiss government, must follow suit and freeze the assets of all of the Islamic Republic’s officials and their families. All this money and these assets belong to the people of Iran. They have plundered the wealth belonging to the people by means of brutal exploitation, embezzlement and corruption. This is a just demand of the people of Iran.
Another action to pressurize this bully state is to terminate any political ties with this regime. People have shown with their brave actions that this regime does not represent them, and should not be regarded as such in the international community. The closing down of the Islamic Republic’s embassies must be top on the agenda.
Last but not least, the people of Iran want to see justice. Deep in their hearts, they want nothing more than to try these murderers. All those who have helped this regime to consolidate by resorting to brutal clamping down on the opposition in the past thirty years must be tried for crimes against humanity. The Islamic Republic’s leaders are serial killers. If there were any justice in the world, millions would find the chance to sit in the witness box to tell the world of the horror and the crimes this regime inflicted upon them. If there were any justice in the world, theses criminals would be locked up.
These are three demands of the people of Iran for which they seek international support and solidarity. As conscious human beings, as freedom loving individuals, we owe it to ourselves as well as to humanity to help materialize these demands. An international solidarity movement must be built to put pressure on governments worldwide to bow down to the demands of the Iranian people. We need to build solidarity committees with the struggle of the Iranian people for freedom, equality, justice and prosperity.
As a first act, please sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/mk072009/petition.html
