Many in the business community are arguing that the recent elections in Iran have opened a "window of opportunity" for dialogue with the current regime. I would remind you, however, that we heard the same siren song when Rafsanjani was first elected president in 1989. Instead, there was more terror, greater internal repression, and a significant increase in Iran's quest to build weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, the Islamic Republic launched its campaign to eliminate the leaders of major opposition groups under Rafsanjani, fearing that the regime had lost its revolutionary credentials with the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Those who would have us lift the current sanctions against Iran - in exchange for the privilege of building oil pipelines from the Caspian through Iran - are ironically the same policy-makers who also led the United States down the disastrous road of collaboration with Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. If the stakes were not so momentous, their recommendations would be dismissed as merely silly, or craven. But with the Islamic Republic's determined quest to build nuclear weapons, such recommendations are dangerous.
What the anti-sanctions lobbyists have never been able to explain is why this regime would be enticed to abandoned policies it has long maintained despite U.S. pressure, just because Washington would offer to ease that pressure. Indeed, easing the pressure, building the pipelines, and allowing U.S. and European oil companies to modernize Iran's oil and gas industry will only build a stronger regime in Tehran. Five years down the line, that regime will be armed with nuclear weapons; or at the very least, with long-range missiles tipped with biological warheads. And it will continue to assassinate opposition leaders in exile.
We believe the message of Mr. Khatemi's election is very clear: it was an overwhelming rejection of the regime's hand-picked candidate, Nateq-Nouri. These elections mark the beginning, not the end, of the long road to democracy in Iran. Mr. Khatemi needs to be judged on his actions, as well as his words; and to date, his words have not been very reassuring, either to Iranians living under the regime, or to the West.
Iranians seek measurable changes under Mr. Khatemi, which the new president is unlikely to be able to deliver. Among those changes:
- authorization of political parties, the right to organize, and unimpeded access to the domestic media, including for those that do not accept clerical rule;
- authorization of labor unions and the right of workers to organize freely and engage in contract negotiations;
- dismantling of the repressive apparatus in all its aspects;
- an end to the assassination of Iranian dissidents living in exile and to the harassment of the Iranian exile community;
- freedom for all Iranians to equal treatment under the law, regardless of religion, sex, political belief, or ethnic background;
- an end to press censorship and ownership laws that restrict press freedom, and free access to the international media for all Iranians;
- enforcement of the rule of law, including the prosecution of those responsible for campaign violence;
- an end to the training and support of foreign terrorist groups.
Assuming Mr. Khatemi actually wants to help build a true, multi-party democracy in Iran - a big assumption - we are not very optimistic that he will be allowed to pursue such a path by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamene'i, or other regime leaders.
We applaud the recent measures the German government has adopted in response to the conviction of the Iranian government in the Mykonos case in Berlin, aimed at reducing the Iranian government intelligence presence in Germany. But we believe this must a European-wide effort, and are concerned by recent reports that Iran's intelligence organs have merely shifted assets from Germany to Italy and to France. We believe Europe can and should do more.
€ Europe should cease to provide preferential bank loans and export credit guarantees to the regime.
€ Europe should halt trade by large industrial concerns which continue to supply the Islamic Republic's arms factories and oil fields with critical parts and technology.
€ Europe has a duty to dismantle Iranian government terrorist networks operating on European soil under diplomatic cover and in so-called "Islamic" study centers and commercial organizations. Has the fact that "only" Iranians have been the victims of Tehran's terror made Europe loath to do so until now?
Finally, the Foundation calls on Europe and the United States to join together in encouraging the democratic opposition in Iran to forge an alternative to the current regime in Tehran. A strong, free, and democratic Iran is the best defense against terrorism, and is the best guarantor of the rights of all Iranians, regardless of race, sex, ethnic or religious background.
+++++