The U.S. House of Representatives has debated a package of 10 bills introduced as a "Maximum Pressure" approach to the Iranian regime. The package is aimed at clipping the wings of the Islamic Republic of Iran and may deliver a major blow to he mullahs’ regime.
The package includes: The Maximum Pressure Act, The Iran Waiver Rescissions Bill, No Iranian Energy Act, Iranian Terror Prevention Act, No Sanctions Relief for Terrorists Act, No Hezbollah In Our Hemisphere Act, Free Iraq from Iran Act, and Stop Corrupt Iranian Oligarchs and Entities Act.
Each bill contains invaluable provisions which make the circumstances more difficult for the ruling religious dictatorship, but certain aspects of the proposals in the Maximum Pressure bill may have unintended and unhelpful impacts. While the Iranian people demand a resolute policy against the ruling oppressive dictatorship, and Congress has admirably championed such a stance in the past, the bill, in its current form, unwittingly risks exploitation by the Iranian regime and the remnants of the previous deposed dictatorship of the widely despised Shah. Despite the noble intent of its sponsors, it ignores the desire of the Iranian people for the establishment of a pluralistic, democratic republic, rooted in the separation of religion and state. This must be clarified.
While “nonviolent forms of opposition” against the ruthless Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – the regime’s Gestapo, are always to be preferred, the bill should not offer itself to be interpreted by the mullahs as a reassurance, that no matter their atrocities, the Iranian people cannot defend themselves. As America’s founding fathers knew only too well, when faced with a tyranny that oppresses the people, the people have the right to fight for their freedom. Such counsel would have favored the British during America’s wars of independence. Thomas Jefferson famously said: “Against violence actually offered, in defense of that freedom, which is our birthright, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities have ceased on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed have been removed, and not before.” Nothing written in the Bill should endanger that essential right.
Recommended
The Bill also proposes to offer financial inducements to potential “defectors” and “deserters” from the regime, in particular from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This would amount to complicity in rewarding those who have for decades been involved in crimes against humanity and genocide. It would be akin to the Allies in the 1940s offering financial incentives to the Gestapo and SS to topple the Nazis. There is also a need for further care to be taken when proposing the establishment of a fund for “strikers,” “individuals and entities inside Iran,” or “medical supplies.” Such an initiative is neither feasible nor conducive to change. Indeed, such a fund would ultimately benefit the regime, its agents, and foreign proxies, while being wielded to tarnish the true opposition by linking it to the U.S.
It is interesting to note that the Bill has been enthusiastically endorsed by the son of the deposed Shah of Iran, the self-styled ‘Crown Prince’ Reza Pahlavi and his motley crew of deferential followers. Pahlavi’s father was a vicious tyrant, driven into exile by a nationwide uprising in 1979. He fled the country with looted wealth he and his family had plundered and transferred abroad during his reign. Reports have suggested figures ranging from a few billion dollars to upwards of $20 billion that was stolen. The Shah and his family reportedly had assets in the form of cash, properties, and investments outside Iran. Reza Pahlavi has enjoyed a lifestyle of unparallelled affluence since his father’s death, occasionally surfacing to lay claim to the restoration of the monarchy, which no-one in Iran wants. Indeed, in the many protests against the mullahs’ regime that occur on a regular basis, chants of “No to the shah and No to the sheik” can be heard.
Pahlavi is on record as admitting that he has maintained contacts with elements inside the IRGC as he believes they would be needed to conserve order after the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime. It is little wonder then that he is in favor of the bill’s proposal to pay sums of money to potential IRGC defectors, remunerating them for their years of human rights abuse and crimes against humanity. These people should be indicted before the international courts for their crimes, while Pahlavi himself should be ordered to repay the billions his father looted from the Iranian people.
The people of Iran have sacrificed blood and treasure in their battle against the current repressive regime. They look forward eagerly to the recognition of their struggle by Congress and the U.S. government, especially of the massive movement of young men and women who have joined the active resistance against the IRGC and seek to overthrow the fascist regime.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member