The Right Policy Towards the New President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi

Amnesty International issued a statement protesting the dispatching of an EU envoy to ‎attend the inauguration of Ebrahim Raisi. On June 19, 2021, the organization called for ‎a UN inquiry into Raisi’s leading role in crimes against humanity. ‎
On November 4, 2019, the US Treasury Department placed Ebrahim Raisi on a sanctions ‎list along with eight other close associates of Ali Khamenei for their role in “repressions ‎inside and outside Iran” and human rights abuses.‎

Nevertheless, both Europe and the United States are still seeking to negotiate with the ‎regime and have stated that they are ready to negotiate with the new Iranian ‎government, instead of using this leverage of the illegitimate presidency to increase ‎pressure on the Iranian regime – which is what most Iranians want. ‎
They should force the regime to respect human rights, withdraw from plans to acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and to adhere to non-interference in the affairs ‎of other countries through proxy terrorists. ‎

On the one hand, 42 years of experience has proven that this regime understands no ‎language
other than that of force, and if the world tries to reconcile with this regime by ‎appeasement, the result will be none other than what we are witnessing these days: a ‎frail but power-hungry regime that is carrying out terrorist acts against merchant ships ‎and tankers in international waters. ‎

On the other hand, the Iranian regime is almost completely paralyzed due to ‎widespread government corruption as well as the pressures of sanctions and is losing control inside Iran.  The Iranian people are in the worst living conditions due to ‎unemployment, skyrocketing prices, and inflation above 50%, which they did not face ‎even during the Iran-Iraq War or World War II, and now 80% of the people live below the poverty line. That is why Iranian society is like a barrel of gunpowder that can ‎explode with any spark. ‎

Last month, angry people in most cities of the oil-rich Khuzestan province staged large-scale protests over the unprincipled policies of the Revolutionary Guards to build dams ‎in the province, which has dried up the province’s rivers and destroyed agricultural products and livestock.
 Khamenei, who is unable to respond to the demands of the ‎people due to institutionalized corruption in all his apparatuses, sent his repressive ‎forces to disperse them by beating and shooting. As a result of his reaction, dozens of ‎people in different cities of the province were killed or wounded and hundreds were ‎arrested and sent to prisons.‎

This reaction of the regime, however, did not silence the people of Khuzestan. Instead,  it ‎made the people of other provinces take to the streets in support of the people of ‎Khuzestan, staging large demonstrations and chanting “Death to the dictator” and ‎‎”Death to Khamenei”  to show their disgust with this government. ‎

This frightened Khamenei, who, in a propaganda speech to absolve himself of fault for ‎shortcomings, admitted that the people had the right to be dissatisfied with the situation ‎and to protest.
The government was also forced to open sluices of the dams to allow ‎some water to flow back into the rivers and temporarily silence the protests. ‎

Prior to that, the deprived people of Sistan and Baluchestan province in eastern Iran, ‎especially in the city of Saravan, had revolted due to poverty and unemployment, but ‎again faced the repressive forces of the Revolutionary Guards, and a number of people ‎were killed, wounded, and arrested.‎

Additionally, the spread of COVID-19 throughout Iran has gotten out of control and has ‎reached a slaughter point, to the extent that Iran currently has the highest mortality rate ‎of this disease compared to its population in the world. ‎

According to reliable reports, more than 350,000 people have died due to this disease in Iran and now between 2 and 3 thousand people die in different cities of Iran every day.
 ‎All hospitals are full of patients and they cannot accept any more patients. In addition, there is a shortage of oxygen and even dextrose saline. In addition to corruption in all government agencies, this situation arose especially in the Ministry of Health,
Due to Ali ‎Khamenei’s opposition to importing vaccines and his empty promises about the production of domestic vaccines. Now, while most countries are getting close to over 50% ‎vaccination only less than 4% of the Iranian population has been fully vaccinated, most ‎of whom being repressive security forces, the Revolutionary Guards, the mullahs, the ‎regime leaders, and their families.‎

All these reasons and evidence indicate that the vast majority of Iranians want regime change and its replacement with a democratic system based on the separation of religion and state, and this demand was clearly expressed in the boycott of the recent ‎elections. In this election, only about 10% of eligible voters went to the polls, most of ‎whom were either members and affiliates of the security forces and the Revolutionary ‎Guards, or affiliates of the regime and those who benefited the most from these ‎conditions.‎

It is obvious that no regime with such conditions can last long. Sooner or later, the ‎Iranian people, who revolted against the dictatorship of the Shah hoping to have ‎freedom and a better life, but now are disillusioned with the mullahs’ regime and they ‎have nothing to lose and will rise in masses against it. ‎

Western governments, especially the United States, can play an important role in this ‎and stand by the Iranian people. The right policy is not carried out by re-establishing ‎economic relations and injecting blood into the dying body of the dictatorship of the ‎mullahs. The right policy is not achieved through direct intervention, nor by appeasing ‎and giving respiratory relief to a dying regime, on the contrary ‎ by not only continuing ‎the sanctions but adding to them. ‎