Iran’s disingenuous condemnation of terror

The terrorist attacks that left 17 people dead and several more injured in Paris drew the ire of the international community, with Muslim nations and groups describing such barbaric violence as fundamentally contrary to the tenets of Islam.

Interestingly, the "Islamic" regime in Iran grudgingly spoke out against the attacks. In its efforts to present an endearing front to the international community since Hassan Rouhani's presidency in 2013, the regime's deceptive move may not be all that surprising.

Yet, its pathetic duplicity cannot hide the fact that the regime is more than ever before committed to its anti-Western rhetoric and rogue behavior. In an affront to the French people, Tehran's Foreign Ministry actually blamed the victims of the attacks and described publications like Charlie Hebdo as being engaged in “intellectual radicalism” and “misuse of free speech.”

The state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency used the incident to attack French policy in the Middle East. It said the “Paris attack is the result of France playing with fire in Syria.”

France, like the United States, has taken the position that the Assad regime in Syria should come to an end after four years of civil war. Both governments have backed the moderate opposition in that country, against Assad and the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group.

“The attack that resulted in death of 12 individuals and the wounding of 40 is the result of innumerable and uncalculated meddling of France in Syrian affairs,” the Tasnim article declared, without referring to the far more direct and extensive meddling that Iran itself has carried out in the Syrian conflict.

Tehran has effectively replaced the collapsed Syrian army with a network of Shiite militias and Revolutionary Guards known as the National Defense Force. It has done virtually the same thing in Iraq, where Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, has been in control of murderous Shiite militias.

The Iranian regime has fanned the flames of sectarian conflict from Syria to Iraq to Yemen and Bahrain. Its actions have fueled the rapid growth of ISIS.

The regime's reluctant and temporary condemnation of attacks in France proves superficial and dishonest because it has clearly used Islamic fundamentalism as the rallying cry for its activities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and beyond. Domestically, a medieval “Islamist” legal system has led to an escalation of the already extraordinary rate of executions, totally to over 1,200 so far under the presidency of supposedly "moderate" Hassan Rouhani.

Iranian people continue to be arrested and handed down long prison sentences for “insulting the prophet” and “enmity against God.” This was the extremist ideology that motivated the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and it emanates from Tehran.

Iran’s clerical regime implements the death penalty for offenses related to free speech. In fact, the regime's founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, popularized the notion of murdering authors and journalists by issuing a fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie in 1989. Khomeini's assault on free speech outside Iran's borders was accompanied by a global terrorist agenda that included the funding and arming of tens of thousands of extremists and terrorists.

So, who is the regime trying to fool by issuing a statement condemning the attacks in France?

The Iranian theocracy does not represent the sentiments of the majority of the Iranian people, just like ISIS does not speak for billions of ordinary Muslims who yearn for peace and respect human dignity.

The Iranian people have their own opposition forces struggling against the ruling regime for a free Iran. Maryam Rajavi, who heads the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran and advocates a democratic and anti-fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, issued an unqualified and genuine condemnation of the Paris attacks long before the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s disingenuous statement that blamed the French people.

Rajavi stressed that such barbarity contradicts the principles of a moderate, rational and democraticIslam. Her Ten-Point Plan for the future of Iran clearly rejects fundamentalism and promotes the establishment of a democratic, pluralist society based on the separation of religion and state.

She has also called for a non-nuclear Iran. The mullahs, armed with nuclear weapons, will be a nightmare not just for the people of Iran and the region, but also for global peace and security. The international community has a moral and strategic obligation to stop the Iranian regime’s dash to the bomb.

The Iranian opposition's experience has shown that only a decisive policy can stop the nuclear threat of Iran. Congress has imposed sanctions on Tehran, which helped bring the regime to the negotiating table. President Obama can use the leverage during negotiations to warn Tehran there will be consequences if it continues to cheat and deceive. Tehran's words are disingenuous and it cannot be trusted - especially when it comes to nuclear negotiations.

Samsami is the representative in the United States for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of Iranian opposition groups and personalities committed to the establishment of a democratic, secular and non-nuclear republic in Iran.