By INU Staff
INU - A firm stance, demanding that Islamic Republic of
Iran’s human rights abuses, aggressive military expansionism, sponsorship of
terrorism, and cyber warfare be halted and replaced with a “constructive
dialogue” as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, referred to when he endeavored
Iran to act like “a normal country”.
According
to Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, Harvard-educated Iranian-American political
scientist, and leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, businessman and
president of the International American Council believes that “certain
journalists are all too willing to naively, or perhaps maliciously, lap up
every shred of misinformation about the Iranian opposition and augment every iota
of pro-regime propaganda. These ‘useful idiots’ crop up in newspapers and on
radio and television in Europe and the US.”
The propaganda has increased and a well-funded, highly
organized misinformation campaign is working to demonize the the Mujahedin-e Khalq
(MEK), by
likening them to a terrorist cult. The MEK is only viable alternative to
Tehran’s rulers. For four decades they have opposed the theocratic regime.
The final phase of tough new US sanctions on Iran, which
target oil exports, shipping and financial transactions has gone into effect.
In Iran, protests are spreading nationwide, and the clerical
regime is floundering. As usual, the government has responded with repression
at home. The economy is collapsing, with massive unemployment especially among
the young and well-educated Iranian population. The Iranian people are angry
because Iran’s vast oil resources have been systematically misused to enrich
the mullahs and to finance proxy wars across the Middle East. Protests have
become a common, if not daily, occurrence.
As Iran Human Rights Monitor has reported, executions have
been on the increase, including 22 hangings in two weeks. Arbitrary murders,
deaths in custody, inhuman treatment, cruel punishments, and appalling prison
conditions have also been reported.
However, protesters are still willing to push back against
the repression to make their voices heard. Dr. Rafizadeh explains, “Unable to
crush the unfolding uprising at home, the Iranian regime is striking overseas.
Terrorist plots targeting the MEK in Albania, France, the US and Denmark have
been foiled this year. One Iranian diplomat is jailed in Belgium, three have
been expelled from France and the Netherlands, and the terrorist arrested in
Denmark has been exposed as closely linked to the regime’s ambassador in
Norway. Thankfully, those attacks have been to no avail.”
He also enlightens us about the misinformation campaign
regarding the MEK, whom Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has described as the “foot
soldiers” of the uprising. “Tehran is desperately seeking Western journalists
and media outlets that can be persuaded to smear the MEK, in conjunction with a
widespread campaign to manipulate Facebook and Twitter. Tehran is also employing
the services of Iranian nationals posing as journalists to do the bidding of
the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS),” says Dr. Rafizadeh.
In fact, Facebook closed 652 accounts and Twitter shut 770
accounts, last August — identifying them as the Iranian government
disseminating fake news and lies. Many accounts were used to smear the Iranian
opposition. Articles demonizing the MEK began appearing in the US and Europe at
the same time, mostly written by pseudo-journalists and experts affiliated with
Tehran. The “sources” who they quote in their articles as “former members of
the MEK” seem to have a documented history of collaboration with Iran’s MOIS.
The lies are readily accessible to fact-checking in numerous independent
sources. That publications in Europe and the US would give them any attention
is deeply disturbing.
Recently, Iranian agents in Europe and America were arrested.
Assassinations and terror attacks on members of the Iranian opposition were
being planned, as evidenced by last summer’s failed bomb plot against the Iran
Freedom Rally in Paris, which many independent scholars and personalities from
all political parties and from differing religious and ethnic backgrounds who
annually attend.
A significant majority of the Iranian people are demanding
change, despite the risks of dire reprisals. “The MEK and its parent coalition,
the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), led by the charismatic
Maryam Rajavi, offers a viable democratic alternative,” claims Dr. Rafizadeh.
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