Iran: Mounting Persecution of Christians

by Majid Rafizadeh • February 24, 2019 at 5:00 am

"We created a people's army to defend the country and also help in emergencies, but it turned into a monster." — Mohsen Sazegara, on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he helped establish.
Under international law, the Iranian government has an obligation to respect freedom of religion. Yet, while the rights of Christians are being violated in Iran at an unprecedented level, how long will the international community remain silent?
What will it take for these endlessly preening moralists to act against those human rights violations?

One objective of the violations against Christians by Iran's Islamic forces seems to be to threaten and intimidate the entire Christian community, whose ancestors have lived in this country for thousands of years, to flee in fear of imprisonment, torture and death. Pictured: St. Mary's Church in Khuygan-e Olya, Isfahan Province, Iran. (Image source: Arteen Arakel Lalabekyan/Wikimedia Commons)

The persecution of Christians in Iran in 2018 increased to a new level, according to an in-depth report jointly released by Open Doors, Middle East Concern, Article 18, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

"The end of 2018 saw an unprecedented wave of raids on private house gatherings, leading to a large number of arrests. Many Christians received prison sentences, or had sentences upheld by the Court of Appeal," noted the report.

Despite this roaring abuse, and violations and attacks against Christians being significantly ratcheted up, the international community continues to label the Iranian government, run by President Hassan Rouhani, as "moderate.

What is puzzling is that while the Iranian authorities boast that Christians and other religious minorities are treated fairly under Islam, the Iranian regime is, in fact, increasingly targeting Christians solely for daring peacefully to practice their faith.

Continue Reading Article

Putin to Join the Mullahs' Deception Club

by Amir Taheri • February 24, 2019 at 4:00 am

"Talk to Iran" was tried by successive US administrations, starting with Jimmy Carter's. In 1980, the mullahs signed an accord with Carter not to seize any more American hostages in exchange for unfreezing Iranian assets blocked by Washington after the 1979 capture of the US Embassy in Tehran. Yet, to this day, Iran has always held American hostages, and today is holding 14.
The Saudis helped Iran organize the Islamic Summit in Tehran, hoping to persuade the mullahs to become part of the normal world. They coordinated oil policies and, as a further sign of goodwill, granted Iran an unprecedented Hajj quota. The reward was the Khomeinist attack on Khobar and, later, the ransacking of the Saudi Embassy and consulates in Iran.
Now here is a scoop: Russia is about to discover the duplicity that has marked the mullahs' diplomacy for four decades. The Caspian Sea Legal Status Convention was just a piece of paper, signed to please Putin, who now can join the club of those deceived by the mullahs. There he would find Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, an enthusiastic novice.

Russia is about to discover the duplicity that has marked Iran's diplomacy for four decades. The Caspian Sea Legal Status Convention was just a piece of paper, signed to please Russian President Vladimir Putin, who now can join the club of those deceived by the mullahs. Pictured: Putin meets with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, on November 1, 2017. (Image source: kremlin.ru)

"Talk to Iran!" This is the advice some Western politicians have bandied around since 1979, when the mullahs seized power in Tehran. The 40th anniversary of the Khomeinist regime has provided fresh opportunity for that slogan to be promoted again in the European Union and the United States.

The argument is that the alternative to "talk to Iran" is war, something which few would desire. It is also claimed that "talk to Iran" helps a never-defined "moderate reformist faction" to defeat "hardliners" in the power struggle that has raged in the Islamic Republic from the start.

I have exposed those claims as fallacious and need not repeat my arguments here. I thought to return to the topic because the new German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, repeated the "slogan" as if he were Columbus discovering the New World.

Continue Reading Article