How to deal with Iran
by Kenneth R. Timmerman
The Sunday Telegraph
London April 27, 1997 - Letters
In Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's otherwise informative article, "US
hawks seek massive air strike at Iran," (Sunday Telegraph, April 20,
1997), I have been misquoted as espousing massive air strikes on Iran in
retaliation for the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, if the evidence
shows that the Islamic Republic played an organizing role in that attack.
While Mr. Evans-Pritchard is correct that there are Washington advocates
of a retaliatory strike, I am not one of them. Indeed, I have publicly
advocated a diametrically different approach.
State-sponsored terrorism is a matter of regimes, not nations. I
believe we should hold the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable
for its use of terrorism, not the Iranian people. I also believe that the
U.S. and European efforts at changing the "behavior" of the current
regime are wrong-headed. As eight years of rule by the "moderate"
President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani has shown, there are no moderates within
the regime who are capable of reigning in this type of behavior. The Islamic
Republic will continue to assassinate political dissidents, attack U.S.
interests around the globe, and subvert neighboring pro-Western governments,
no matter which cleric is in charge.
The U.S. should focus its retaliation for the Dhahran bombing on the
regime itself, by providing moral support to the democratic opposition,
by funding surrogate radio and television broadcasts into Iran (Radio Free
Iran), and by seeking international trade sanctions against the Islamic
Republic at the United Nations.
Instead of seeking a change of behavior on the part of this regime,
the West should be encouraging Iranians from the democratic opposition
to change the regime. A strong, free, and democratic Iran is in everyone's
long-term strategic interest, starting with the interests of theIranian
people.
Kenneth R. Timmerman
Executive Director
Foundation for Democracy in Iran
Note: sections cut by Sunday Telegraph editors appear in italics