HANGING JUDGE AS PRESIDENT OF IRAN(updated)

BY K P PASWAN

It happened long ago in Iran, in 1979/1980, when Raja Shah Pahlavi, the autocrat king, with progressive mind, succumbed to the pressure and uprising of religious fanatics and the Islamic Republic of Iran was borne. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who spend long period in Paris, returned to Iran to impose the decrees of an unproven GOD. He was an insulin diabetic patient.

 In the bloody French revolution, Robespierre, a revolutionary, played an important role in inciting violence against the supporters of executed king and his family. Under his order hundreds of Frenchmen were executed, and when he failed in his mission to end the anarchy, he was captured and executed. Robespierre, known for his cruelty, was afraid of his death and tried to save his life by hiding in a room, but he had to meet his destiny. Ruhollah Khomeini was an exact replica of Robespierre.

Ayatollahs Rohilla Khomeini received the best treatment of Diabetic in France, but his God failed to save or cure him from the deadly disease, for which there was no potential drugs, which are available today. Credit goes to the late Shah of Iran, for not playing the villainous role of Robespierre, by executing Ayatollahs in France, who enjoyed the luxury of western life, which was not available to majority of Iranians.

After dethroning the king, it was the turn of neglected Ayatollahs and Mullahs, who formed some sort of Jacobin’s club, founded, during revolution in France, and started executing those people, who were loyal to the deposed King. Iranians believed that Ayatollah Khomeini was the Imam, who disappeared more the eight hundred years ago and has resurfaced to enlighten them. Along with Rohilla Khomeini,also emerged, Ayatollahs Ibrahim Raisi and one Ayatollahs Khalkhali, who became famous as Hanging Judges. One Aryana. who happened to be an ardent devotee of Ruhollah Khamenei, was executed by the order of Ayatollah Khalkhali, simply because Aryana was foreign minister of the deposed king of per-revolution Iran. In 1983 Ibrahim Raisi alone ordered the execution of more then 5000 innocent Iranians for which US, sanctioned him.

Iran is one of the richest countries of the world, it is also a Shiite majority nation, with rich cultural and political history. During the autocratic rule of the late king, there was much progress in education of men and women. King of Iran neglected the religious leaders, which ultimately led to his downfall. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamenei, in a way, inherited an Iran, which was economically prosperous, and to some extent, free from the economic exploitation by Western countries.

 All the Ayatollahs of Iran are  hated by educated Iranian, who are addicted to satellite phones, internet and modern system of communication. Being a Shiite nation, it has no Wahhabi or Salafi to export and  poison the world, so modern Iran is supporting small Sheikdoms predominated by Shias. Iran is also exporting  its own brand of terrorism, to neighboring countries, but especially to Palestine, who are Shias and opposed to the formation of Jewish state. It proposed a separate statehood for the Palestine, but the proposal has lost gravity among Muslims states, who are mostly Sunnis, and perhaps for this reason, Israel will not allow the formation of a Palestine state, which will be hated by Jordon, Iraq and small Emirates, whose very existence would be threatened by Iranian backed Hamas and Hezbollah.

After painful death of Ruhollah Khomeini, there followed the rule by Supreme Religious Leader Ayatollahs Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini. Supreme Leader is elected for life by a council of lunatics, numbering less than 100. These lunatics are religious preachers, opposed to western culture including freedom, given to women.

 This is a unique feature of modern Iranian political system. Anyone aspiring to contest for the presidency must be cleared by a Guardian Council, another body of religious fanatics. A president is democratically elected, and he is certainly not a ceremonial head, but a puppet of Supreme Leader, who is ultimate authority in political and religious matters.

What is more surprising is that after death of  Ruholla Khomeini, his son and grand son, become reformists and were deprived of political power. But Iran is a politically conscious country without any rigid religious ideology like Wahhabi and Salafi, which are flourishing in Saudi Arabia. Iran elected two liberal and tolerant presidents Khatami and Rafsanjani, who tried to cultivate friendship  with the West, but US remained hostile to Iran and covered Saudi Arabia against imaginary Iranian invasion of oil rich Saudi kingdom.

Ahmadinejad was an Iranian president with waired political ideology. He was hell bent on destroying Israel and aspired to make Iran a nuclear power. But it is doubtful if Ahmadinejad ever talked of wiping off Israel from the face of the earth His hard-headed religious thinking failed to reduce the Iranian’s love for modern education.He underplayed Holocaust and funded the terrorists of Palestine, supported the Shiite revolution in Iraq, Houthi of Yemen and idolized the president of Syria who is a devout Shia of Alwite sect.

HOLOCAUST. The old Middle Eastern view that the Jews exaggerated the Holocaust to rationalize formation of Israel and subsequent brutalities against the Palestine, has long underlain the Islamic Republic’s hostility to Israel’s presence in the region. But it took Ibrahim Raisi openly describes holocaust as myth and  questioned the fitness of such countries like Germany, France and Austria, where holocaust denial is a crime, to lecture Iran on freedom of Speech.

   Now Raisi is an elected president of Iran, but his influence and actions over strategic decisions, especially in foreign affairs and nuclear deal is constrained by the untrammeled power of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

BIDEN & RAISI. Strange it may sound, but there are reasons to believe that Biden and Raisi may reach some kind of political understanding. US has a long history of maintaining friendly relationship with autocrats and dictators of the world. The Democrats in US are generally anti-Semitic. An independent Palestinian state will be only hostile state, which Israel will have to deal with.  US is committed to defend Israel in case of attack by enemy, but that is not going to happen even in distant future. Israel would never concede to an independent Palestinian state, unless its sovereignty is guaranteed by Palestinians and that is not going to happen. Israeli PM, Naftali Bennett has already called Ibrahim Raisi, a butcher of Tehran.

 US’s aim is to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state, and that is going to materlise with conditions,favorable to the Shiite majority nation. Ibrahim Raisi is also successor of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is in a position to know that Israel would destroy Iranian Nuclear reactors even without US help. In the early decade of this century, preemptive strike to knock out Iranian nuclear reactors was not possible. 

Recently, Israel attacked NANANTZ, an Iranian city, known for enriching Uranium and demonstrated that the Mossad, can cross one thousand kilometers to reach Iran, even without the help of US, and cause mayhem. Iran has good diplomatic relations with France and Germany, so Ibrahim Raisi, already sanctioned by US for human rights violations, may not face hostility while dealing with US.

HAMAS. It is difficult to create a united Palestinian state without the cooperation of Hamas, an organization, flourishing on drug trafficking, smuggling and above all funding by Iran. Most of the Palestinians are Shias by faith and there is no love lost between Sunnis and Shias. Palestinians are divided into two groups, one section faithful to a discredited Mahmud Abbas, who enjoys friendship of US, Egypt, and Jordon, while Hamas has the backing of only Iran. So besides funding terrorists’ organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran under Raisi may tilt more and more towards Syria and Iraq and Yemen. Iran is not in a position to lead the Islamic nations, consisting  mainly of Sunnis. Iran’s traditional rival Saudi Arabia is no more a sworn enemy of Israel and credit goes to former PM Netanyahu to bring more and more Sunni majority states closer to Israel.

 There are sufficient reasons to believe that Ayatollah Khamenie is fed up with economic sanctions and is afraid of Israel's capacity to strike Iranian nuclear reactors.  With change in political landscape in Central Asia, a willy but certainly not mad Ayatollah Ali Khamenie has realized that Iran cannot lead the entire Islamic world. US wants safety of Israel, but unlike Donald Trump, Joe Biden is following the policy of appeasement to Saudi Arabia, and almost all the leading Islamic countries are helping Israel secretly as these Islamic states are reluctant to accept the supremacy of Shias in political affairs of Middle east. Ayatollah Ali Khamenie in his early 80s may find deal with Joe Biden, no so difficult to achieve.

An economically prosperous Iran is necessary to neutralize Saudi Arabia in economic  and military development. There is practically no manufacturing activities in Saudi Arabia and its economy is dependent on earning from oil. It is also seen that Iranian migrants in US and Canada are not terrorists, they are opposed to Saudi Arabia, known for glorifying Wahhabi, which has no place in Iran. Iranians women in US and Canada do not observe strict Islamic code of conduct, and Iranian women are progressive. Immigrants from Saudi Arabia and other Sunnis majority states are seen as potential terrorists by FBI and  they are not trusted.

Ibrahim Raisi  is trying to prove, that by heart he is anti US and anti Israel. But he also knows that with Russian and China's help, it would be suicidal for Iran to wage a war against  US or the Jewish state. Iran wants nuclear arsenal to frighten its traditional rival Saudi Arabia, and certainly not to cause mayhem in Central Asia.Iran has tested the fruits of economic prosperity and democracy. Most of the neighbors of Iran are Sunnis dominated states ruled by autocrats with limited freedoms to women and common people.                 

LAST THOUGHT.Iran is a great country, eager to modernize its society.Former presidents Khatami and Rafsanjani were reformists, eager to cultivate friendship with West, but failed as Saudi Arabia created strong firewall to prevent US from coming closer to IRAN. A nuclear deal with Iran does not risk isolation of Saudi Arabia and other Sunnis dominated countries, but instead may bring peace and tranquillity in  the middle east, that will be a big achievement in a bi polar international politics.