http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reza-pahlavi/have-we-heard-this-song-b_b_3977490.html
The new face of the clerical regime ruling my homeland, Hassan Rouhani, sought to speak directly to the American people through a recent opinion piece in The Washington Post.
Rouhani's op-ed was less pointed and arguably more subtle than some
others that have made waves in recent weeks because - unlike Russia's
Vladimir Putin writing recently in The New York Times - the
smiling cleric who succeeded the much-vilified Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cares
intensely what Americans think about him. Rouhani's proposed
"constructive interaction" depends on it.
Rouhani argues for the need to constrain the U.S. from launching the
military strikes against Syria that President Obama indicated Washington
would consider as punishment for that country's use of chemical weapons
against its own citizenry. Equally important, though not mentioned by
Rouhani, is the clerical regime's desire to end the sanctions that have
crippled Iran's economy.
The Iranian regime has been Syria's Bashar al-Assad's foremost backer
-- militarily, financially and otherwise. For the clerics in Iran,
Syria is a useful hedge against their immediate neighbors, allowing them
to perpetrate much mischief without being formally charged. Removing
that hedge not only exposes the darker side of the clerics' foreign
policy, it removes their insulation against regional and Western
adversaries. That is precisely why now, during the U.N. General
Assembly, it is the right moment for Rouhani to try a new tactic for his
regime by offering an olive branch.
The trouble is that the words and actions of the Islamist cleric
couldn't be further apart. Each of the challenges Rouhani cites at the
outset of his piece: "terrorism, extremism, foreign military
interference, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and cultural encroachment"
sound like a list of grievances, when in fact the clerical regime
currently ruling Iran has been credibly and repeatedly charged with
perpetrating each of these misdeeds over the past three decades. By
attributing these misdeeds to "others" as well, Rouhani seeks to
neutralize his regime's record of being anything but a "constructive"
actor internationally.
By seeking to link the situation in Syria with that in Bahrain,
however, the new Iranian president reveals himself to be more concerned
with winning rhetorical points than with plainly discussing real issues.
Presently, Bahrain's government is in a national dialogue with the
opposition to resolve balance-of-power issues in a nation that is
primarily Shi'a by population. Some have questioned whether that
process is moving fast enough; nevertheless, the situation in Bahrain is
a far cry from that in Syria, where more than 110,000 innocent
civilians have been killed in a fratricidal war - and where the Syrian
regime is benefiting from generously staunch sponsorship by Tehran and
Moscow.
Rouhani's second strained comparison is drawn between international
powers' positions on Syria and Iran's own nuclear program. In
statesman-like terms, Rouhani asserts "to move beyond impasses, whether
in relation to Syria, my country's nuclear program or its relations with
the United States, we need to aim higher." As with his stated
commitment to constructive engagement, the words are laudable even if
the underlying substantial basis is flawed. Is Rouhani suggesting a
deal here - legitimization of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for
cooperation in ending bloodshed in Syria as well as Tehran's regional
mischief - or is this yet another rhetorical flourish?
The trouble with reading Rouhani's op-ed is that it seems you can
never really tell. As much as I would like believing the Islamist
regime is on a moderating course that seeks to resolve its challenges
diplomatically, as opposed to using proxy violence, regionally and
against its own citizenry, history teaches us that this is not the real
case. We have seen this movie before: Mohamad Khatami promised "overdue
reforms" during his eight year tenure but was undercut by powers that
really rule Iran - the Supreme Council, headed by Ayatollah Khamenei.
The same was true in the 1990s under the "pragmatic cleric" the world
was promised in Hashemi Rafsanjani. Yet this spring Mr. Rafsanjani was
embarrassingly disqualified as a presidential candidate while Mr.
Khatami was firmly discouraged from even considering a run.
What Rouhani fails acknowledge in his piece is the economic toll the
international sanctions are taking on my compatriots in Iran - citizens
that are rightfully disappointed with the clerical leadership it has had
for 34 years. With inflation exceeding 40 percent and unemployment
beyond measure, a rising generation is demanding more of life than the
ruling clerics have proven capable to offer.
As ordinary Iranians witness billions from their public funds
channeled externally to prop up the Hezbollah and Bashar Assad,
domestically they watch with disgust as news of billion dollar
corruption cases against the regime's most favored actors become harder
to suppress. Today, Iranians have every reason to demand an accounting
of their national revenues and that will be the clerical regime's real
challenge the moment its tactics of fear and oppression are peeled back
for the world to see. If indeed Rouhani's pledge for reform is real:
even if the regime can afford to project power -- hard or soft - abroad,
the last thing it can afford today is real transparency at home.
"Expressing what one wants requires ... courage" Rouhani writes. I
agree; indeed millions of Iranians today agree. We want an Iran that
respects the will and the interests of all its people, and also an Iran
that is a constructive actor in resolving the searing conflicts of the
Mideast - not an Iran that underwrites, instigates and causes them.
