Iran – the next few days will be decisive

Behind the name of Reza Pahlavi, there are a lot of question marks. Foto: Greg Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 2.0

(KL) – The images from Iran are horrific. The regime is using merciless force against the demonstrators, murdering numerous protesters indiscriminately, and has already arrested thousands of people, all of whom face the death penalty. Yet despite this, the nationwide demonstrations are not abating. The next few days will decide how things will continue in Iran.

The images of murdered protesters lined up side by side make speechless. A regime that murders its citizens to maintain its power is a criminal regime. Iran is not the only country where even its own citizens are no longer safe, but nowhere else is the population being slaughtered as brutally as in Iran today.

And now Donald Trump. He proudly announces that he now wants to negotiate with the mullah regime. But that is exactly what must not happen, because the oil-hungry Trump is capable of negotiating a “deal” with the mullahs that will allow the aged Ali Khamenei to remain in power with his criminal clique, if the “deal” is tempting enough for the US president. The mullahs must be overthrown by the Iranians and not from outside, and American interference in Iran would only make the situation worse in the long run, just as all conflicts escalate when Trump interferes with his “deals.”

And then there is the question of what will happen after a possible overthrow of the regime. The self-proclaimed opposition leader Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah, gives strange instructions to the demonstrators, urging them from a safe distance to attack the regime everywhere. Since the Iranian population does not have weapons comparable to those of the Revolutionary Guards and other henchmen of the regime, he is effectively calling on the Iranians to sacrifice themselves so that he can come to power. Any means are justified. The highly reputable French TV station “FranceInfo” examined a video in which demonstrators allegedly chanted loudly for the return of the Shah’s son. However, this sound channel was mixed into the video and could be isolated – in reality, the people were chanting “Death to the dictator.” Reza Pahlavi is a figure shrouded in mystery, and Iranians will have to think carefully about whether they want to bring the Shah’s family back to the top of the state.

There is an opposition group in Iran, the People’s Mujahideen, which could organize a transition to democracy without immediately concentrating all power in the hands of a single person whose intentions are questionable, to say the least. The People’s Mujahideen are also the organization that works closely with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), whose 10-point plan for a peaceful transition to a modern democracy, presented by Maryam Rajavi, has the support of European politicians and many politicians in the US. So there are definitely alternatives to Reza Pahlavi, and the only ones who have to decide are the Iranians themselves.

But before we can talk about the future, the Iranians must first survive the next few days, which could quickly turn into a civil war that, judging by the images coming out of Iran, has already begun. However, the mullahs will not be able to murder the entire Iranian people; their time is up, and the sooner they understand this, the more lives can be saved. The international community must now stand in solidarity with the Iranian people!