There is a Mazandarani (Caspian sea province) saying: When a Mullah gets on a donkey he will not come off it until either he dies or the donkey.
The deadline that the UN Security Council Resolution 1737 imposed on Iran for suspending its nuclear program has now passed with Iran defiant. Is there a path to peaceful resolution of the looming conflict between Iran and the international community?
Firstly, there is a terrorist element in the Islamic regime. This dreadful element will continue to operate even when not in the government. It has its own power base in the revolutionary guards and the Basijis, which are formed by ill-educated simple Iranians who are easily brainwashed by the terrorists loyal to Khomeini and Khamenei. This is where the support for the Hezbullah, Qods and other terrorist organisations comes from. The leaders of these forces have carte blanche power to act independently of all state institutions except the leadership. The terrorist element of the regime at the moment is under direct leadership of Khamenei but will not relinquish by his death. Khamenei is only a flag bearer. He follows the guidelines that Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic left behind and the next leader will have to do the same. It is incorrect to believe that the next leader might divert from some Khomeini’s principles and guidelines. The guidelines are pretty much in place and straight forward. There are still many of Khomeini’s followers still alive and loyal to him. As for how important Khomeini is to the regime just take a trip to his shrine near the Behesht Zahrah cemetery, south of Tehran. There is no realistic hope of a reformist spiritual leader until all the Khomeini loyalists have vanished and the gradual softening of his policies has taken place. This may take many years. The terrorist element has destroyed and will continue to do so any hopes of reform of the regime. This terrorist element, until completely annihilated, will continue to terrorise Iranians and the world. The world cannot afford to wait for a slow and gradual annihilation of the terrorist elements of the Islamic regime.
Secondly, the proximity of fundamentalists to the nuclear technology and the bomb is indeed scary. Should the regime through negotiations be allowed to pursue its nuclear activities even under the watchful eyes of the IAEA and thereby make leaps and bounds in this respect, the terrorist element of the regime would get their hands on and abuse the mastered technology and deliver it to the terrorist groups they support and train. Past experience has proved that it is possible to fool the IAEA. There is a mutual trust and confidence between IAEA and the nuclear country and the success of IAEA’s monitoring the nuclear activities hugely depends on full cooperation from the state and on the very mutual trust and confidence term. I am not at all confident that the Islamic regime would be capable of complying with this term. Therefore, the international community’s insistence on the regime’s halting all nuclear activities before any negotiations take place is reasonable and wise.
Thirdly, the regime insists on its nuclear technology program and has made it crystal clear that it would not make an iota of concession on that front. In fact, any concession on that front would be considered as a defeat by the regime and thus it would be futile to build on any strategies on the basis that there is a chance the regime might suspend its nuclear program. In fact, it would give the regime more time to get closer to the bomb.
Fourthly, it is clear that the regime would not be interested in using its nuclear program as a bargaining tool to get something else unlike the North Koreans. The regime does not need money and in fact, has enough of it to supply the Hezbullah, Hamas, Qods and others all at the same time; it has managed to enlist, through previous bargaining with the West, some of its opposition as terrorists and zero coverage of the opposition by the Western mainstream media; is in total control of the country with an iron fist; is manufacturing its own military arsenal and recently, space rockets; and is confident in itself as a growing regional power. What concessions could the international community possibly make to entice the Islamic regime to suspend its nuclear program?
So here we have a terrorist regime that wants to obtain nuclear technology. This is not a simple matter of a small terrorist group fighting for certain regional rights: the terrorist regime’s list of demands includes the annihilation of certain states and imposition of medieval and backward ideology worldwide. Khamenei and Ahmadinejad and their ilk are not only the enemies of the West and democracy but also the enemies of the Iranians and our rich civilised culture. Negotiations with terrorists are never considered to be a wise move. In this case, negotiations without preconditions with a tyrannical regime that violates its own people’s basic human rights and with such demands as the annihilation of another state namely Israel is foolish.
