Is someone listening?
I met an Iraqi young man who was pursuing his PhD in Warsaw in the year 1992. He spoke about the Iraqi community requesting that he joins them in a demonstration in front of the American embassy to lift the embargo against Iraq. The youngster asked the people to demonstrate in front of the Iraqi embassy demanding the exit of Saddam Hussein instead, if they really wanted the embargo to be lifted. At that time, the youngster was packing his belongings to escape from the Polish capital and become a political refugee because of what he said to the Iraqi community representatives.
If what this youth had advised was carried out, the situation in Iraq would be different today. I remembered this incident while listening to the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the World Health Organization (WHO) meeting held in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. While they demanded for the end of war in Yemen, I suggested that if the Iranian representative seriously wants to end the war, they should not be calling for a ceasefire, rather he should ask his government to get out of Yemen.
The Iranian interventions in Arab countries’ affairs cause constant tension between Arabs and Iranian people, and not only at the governments’ level. If Iranian government stopped its intervention in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, the situation would change in those countries and become more secure and stable. Normalizing relations with Iran is an urgent matter for the region’s future and for the happiness of its people.
To face challenges that come to us from all countries that do not want anything good for us, and for normalization to take place, each country must commit to not interfering in the affairs of other countries, and not create sectarian for populous reasons to justify intervention. I hope that the elders in Iran listen to this advice and refrain from interfering in Arab countries’ affairs, before their interventions cause harm to the good Iranian Muslim people who are paying the price of a policy that is far from being right. We learn from history, but is someone listening?