Liars, moderates have a rare opportunity
funding of terror groups and their efforts to deepen their interference in countries like Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
Now, thanks to the gross ineptitude of the regime’s handling of the Ukrainian aircraft disaster, it is abundantly clear to the thousands of Iranian demonstrators who have taken to the streets that it is their own government, not the Americans, who are the villains of the piece.
Consequently, the Islamic Republic is experiencing its greatest existential crisis since its creation in 1979; one where it is no longer tenable to resort to the repressive tactics that have previously enabled it to crush dissent, such as deploying the Revolutionary Guard, as it did during the 2009 Green Revolution, to kill and terrorise civilian protesters.
Key figures within the regime are said to be deeply unhappy with the country’s current predicament, with more moderate figures, such as President Hassan Rouhani, claiming military leaders misled them about what really happened to the plane.
Tensions between Iran’s so-called moderates and the hardliners loyal to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are nothing new. Ever since the moderates helped to negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal, the hardliners have done their utmost to undermine it.
Britain, Germany and France, the European signatories to the agreement, yesterday responded by officially triggering a dispute mechanism. This could ultimately result in them joining Washington in ending their co-operation with Tehran, thereby deepening Iran’s international pariah status.
With the hardliners on the back foot in the wake of the Ukraine aircraft disaster, as well as the demise of Soleimani, their iconic leader, there is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Iran’s moderates to seize the initiative, and begin the process of repairing relations with the outside world.
In this context, they should heed Boris Johnson’s suggestion yesterday that the best way to de-escalate tensions between Iran and the West would be to negotiate an improved nuclear deal, one that addresses the Trump administration’s concerns.
The ayatollahs need to understand that, unless they can find a way to extricate themselves from their current predicament, it is simply a matter of time before their beloved Islamic Republic is consigned to oblivion. (© Daily Telegraph, London)