Iran is much more than just any of the more than 50 Islamic countries. Long before the birth of Christ, a highly developed culture existed in Persia (modern-day Iran). Even after Islamization in the Middle Ages, much of this culture was preserved in the language and values of the Iranian people. Arabs and Turks are aware of this to this day. A leading Arab politician said in 1947: "We were able to drive out the Crusaders, but on the other hand, we lost Spain and Persia." In the 20th century, Iran – along with Lebanon – was one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East. Free, democratic elections were held in 1951. The elected Prime Minister Mossadegh placed oil under state control so that the country would receive a fair share of the revenues. Subsequently, in 1953, he was overthrown by the CIA and the British MI6 – primarily in the interests of British oil companies. Shah Reza Pahlavi was installed as the sole ruler in his place.
Under Pahlavi, modernization accelerated. However, the excessive pace of Westernization and the abuses of his secret police provoked a counter-movement. This was led by the Islamist Ayatollah Khomeini from his exile in France. In February 1979, he was able to overthrow the Shah – but only with Western support. First, the strong Iranian military, at American instigation, did not intervene. Second, the British broadcaster BBC had provided Khomeini with a vast platform in Persian for years. Through this platform, the Islamist was able to deceive the people into believing that his "Islamic Republic" would bring freedom and the rule of law.
This background is largely unknown to Western citizens due to uncritical media. Consequently, they also lack the necessary skepticism with which such anti-democratic machinations from within their own ranks must be met. Islamism and terrorism are not so much dangerous in themselves. Rather, they only become so through their promotion by Western propaganda and Western arms shipments.
Without a proper understanding of this internal danger, the conflict between the Iranian Ayatollah regime on the one hand and the US and Israel on the other threatens to surpass past catastrophes. Besides the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was a series of uprisings and civil wars during the so-called Arab Spring in late 2010 and early 2011. In about a dozen Arab countries, democratically motivated protests against ruling autocrats took place. However, everywhere these movements were quickly hijacked by well-organized and well-funded Islamists for their own entirely different purposes.
Two circumstances from that time give particular cause for caution regarding the current situation in Iran. One is unfortunately consistent with similar experiences in the Vietnam War (1955-1975). According to that experience, the Arab Spring left its worst and most lasting consequences precisely where the West intervened militarily, namely in Libya. Although Gaddafi was overthrown there, the country has not yet returned to normalcy. The second cautionary point is that it was attacks by Gaddafi's security forces against protesting citizens that prompted the Western military intervention. This created a situation comparable to the current one in Iran.
In Libya in 2011, what was supposed to be the protection of civilians turned into a bloody intervention in a civil war. This war spiraled out of control and has politically divided the country to this day. Furthermore, there was a massive proliferation of weapons in Africa, primarily to terrorist groups like the notorious Boko Haram.
From all this, several warnings arise for the Iran conflict:
- Due to its small size, Israel has programmed an automated atomic counterstrike in the event of a nuclear attack. However, it must be ensured that civilians are largely spared from this automated counterstrike. The goal is to liberate the Iranian nation from the rule of the Ayatollahs and thus also Israel from the threat which this regime constitutes.
- In general, intelligent strategies are needed instead of violence, e.g., propaganda like that of the BBC until 1979, only this time not for, but against, Islamists. Similarly, the neutralization of the Iranian military through psychological manipulation in 1979 serves as a model that could prevent a lot of bloodshed.
- However, before the CIA and the military can be entrusted with such tasks, a thorough purge of these forces is necessary. The disastrous results from Vietnam to Afghanistan stood in stark contrast to the objective capabilities of by far the best-equipped military power in the world.
In contrast to the Arab Spring of 2010-2011, there are also favorable circumstances that offer hope: After 47 years of Ayatollah rule, most Iranians are disillusioned with political Islam and immune to its propaganda. The second favorable circumstance is the presidency of Donald Trump. He is clearly willing to counter the promotion of Islamism plasticized by influential Western forces. Instead of falling into the trap of a major war, he is more likely to find a solution like the one in the Maduro case—a minimally invasive, targeted intervention that truly deserves the name "protection of the population."
The full version of the article, including source references, can be found here:
https://www.frieden-freiheit-fairness.com/en/blog/iran-treacherous-trap