Iran Regime’s Belligerence Must Be Addressed

By Sedighe Shahrokhi

The Iranian regime has been getting away with its belligerent activities for decades. Unfortunately, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or 2015 Iran nuclear deal as it is known, did nothing to address this.

The Obama administration had a great opportunity to address Iran’s hostile behaviour, but it unfortunately decide to ignore some of the most alarming activities that Iran is responsible for. This is one of the reasons why Trump pulled out of the deal – he wants a new deal to be negotiated so that all aspects of the Iran threat can be addressed.

The JCPOA ignored Iran’s ballistic missile activity and it could quite easily argue that the nuclear deal gave the Iranian regime the green light to become more volatile.

President Obama believes that the Iranian regime would become more moderate if it was able to enjoy some concessions. He said that the Iranian regime’s behaviour would become less hostile with the lifting of sanctions. But this did not happen – the reality was the complete opposite.

Yet despite this, there are still leaders that want to appease the Iranian regime. Some are doing it because they want to preserve business and economic ties with Iran. Others are doing it because they are scared of Iran – they do not want to jump into any sort of situation that would open them up to military conflict.

In Europe especially, many are willing to criticise the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign. But more fool them because look how many terrorist attacks and assassinations the Iranian regime had been plotting on European soil during 2018 alone.

Cutting the regime off from major sources of revenue is a smart move, especially when the strategy is working as it should. Iran is no longer able to fund the Lebanese Hezbollah group as it did before the oil restrictions, meaning that the violent henchmen’s activities have been curbed.

However, what is missing from the whole picture is the people of Iran and their concerns and wishes. The longest-suffering victims of the regime have had enough. They want their great country freed from the rule of the mullahs and they want to be able to enjoy freedom, human rights and democracy. Their voice is not being considered enough by Western leaders, but the main opposition is working to change this.

In less than two weeks, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) will be holding a series of major demonstrations around the world, including in Brussels, London and Washington D.C. over the coming weeks, and the Resistance will be making sure that the voice of the people of Iran will be heard.

There will be calls to the leaders of European states to take action against the regime that is threatening peace and security across the world, and calls for them to ensure that the people of Iran’s voices are not ignored.

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