US’ Iran regime-change plan: hit economy, orchestrate protests, engage MEK cult to chant “Democracy”
While
the hard-hit Iranian economy is likely to continue reeling, driving
more protesters into the streets, one shouldn’t mistake their pain
for a desire to subject themselves to a totalitarian cult with hardly
a fraction of the support enjoyed by the Shia clergy helming the
Islamic Republic.
by
Elliott Gabriel
Part
1
Iran’s
latest wave of protests against the suffering state of the economy
and the plunging value of the rial appeared to have come and gone by
Wednesday, as crowds dissipated and businesses opened up shop
following a two-day strike. While clashes between security forces and
protesters during the protests were far from widespread, the very
fact that the protests broke out hints at the extreme duress Iran is
undergoing thanks to President Donald Trump’s renewed economic war
on the country.
Judging
by the enthusiastic response to the demonstrations in the U.S.,
Saudi, and Israeli press, anti-Iranian forces are clearly banking on
the possibility that the sanctions that will soon be reimposed in the
next several months could dislodge the Islamic Republic, clearing the
way for a regime friendly to the West.
Thus we
have witnessed anti-Iran publications like the Israeli Jerusalem Post
frothing over with excitement over scenes of alleged Iranian citizens
chanting “Death to Palestine,” “Let go of Syria – think about
us,” and the much-beloved anti-Ayatollah Khamenei mainstay “Death
to dictator.”
While
videos from Iran depict what could very well be an organic
groundswell of social protest against government policies, photos
published in papers like the Post show a different story: middle-aged
Persian men gripping English-language signs and the flags of the
toppled Iranian monarchy, along placards bearing the portrait of an
unlikely figure: the moustached, mysterious and long-disappeared
charismatic cult leader who is considered an outlawed terrorist and
traitor to the nation — Massoud Rajavi.
Rajavi
was the leader of the group that lies at the center of the anti-Iran
alliance’s “regime change” dreams: Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), or
the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). A fanatical
militant group whose title translates literally to the “The
People’s Holy Warriors,” this eccentric left-nationalist,
pseudo-religious cult has been led by Massoud’s wife, Maryam
Rajavi, since the 1980s.
Formed
in 1965, the group’s tortured history has seen it transformed from
a movement of communist-influenced, Islamist-tinged anti-imperialists
who carried out attacks on U.S. military officers in Iran into an
authoritarian de facto mercenary army serving anyone opposed to the
Islamic Republic – be it Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Israel, or the
United States.
The
group wields major PR clout and outsized influence in Western
capitals through countless front groups like the National Council of
Resistance in Iran (NCRI), through which it depicts itself as “a
political coalition that represents all of Iran’s religious,
ethnic, and political groups proportionately;” stresses feminist,
Islamist, free-speech and pro-free-market values; and is firmly
“committed to a secular, democratic, non-nuclear republic” in
Iran.
The RAND
Corporation described the group as “skilled manipulators of public
opinion,” but a cursory look at its publications shows a rather
ham-fisted and self-celebratory pile of cultish jargon. Throughout
the past week, publications like Iran Focus or Iran News Update –
the latter of which bills itself as “Insider News & Analysis in
Iran” – have pumped out articles boosting NCRI as “the only
viable alternative to the Iranian regime” and claiming: “As
protests in Iran continue to multiply and intensify, the regime’s
claim to power is looking more and more tenuous. If the people were
to overthrow their tyrannical government, the only democratic
organization in the position to take over governance would be the
NCRI … The regime’s reign of terror is at its close.”
The MEK
was one of the first groups to be named a Foreign Terrorist
Organization by the U.S. State Department, but its extreme opposition
to the Islamic Republic of Iran and generous donations to politicians
has led to its eventual delisting. The roster of politicians and
influential figures tied to the MEK and its fronts spans much of the
U.S. political spectrum, from the far right to the left-of-center.
Trump’s
White House is a virtual all-star cast of MEK associates –
explaining the administration’s frenzied push to scrap the nuclear
deal and push to topple Tehran. Among the top supporters of MEK is
White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, whose hatred of
Iran’s government verges on the pathological.
A
congressional foreign-policy aide who attended an Iranian New Year
celebration hosted by an MEK front group told Foreign Policy
magazine: “Bolton is positively predisposed to the MEK … they
will have some access to this White House, [to say] the least.”
Source,
links:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/us-iran-regime-change-plan-hit-economy-orchestrate-protests-engage-mek-cult-to-chant-democracy/244949/
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