Appeasement of the Mullahs, Like Father, Like Son?!

General Hassan Pakravan, the second chief of the Shah's secret police, SAVAK, had all the pedigrees needed to be regarded as an Iranian silver spoon fed aristocrat. His father was the governor of Khorasan province, amongst his many other titles and his mother, partly of European descent, was related to the Habsburg rulers of the Austro-Hungar empire. Pakravan studied most of his childhood and youth, studying abroad and finally graduated from the artillery school in Poitiers, France, and the Ecole d’Application d’Artillerie in Fontainebleau.

Pakravan was appointed as the second chief of the Shah's secret police, better known by its acronym, SAVAK, after its first appointed chief, Teimour Bakhtiar, was removed when he became too ambitious and wanted to rule Iran himself.

Pakravan's soft and compassionate nature was hardly suitable for someone who was supposed to lead a secret police organisation, he would have been more at home had he been appointed as the director of an art gallery or the national opera.

It was during Pakravan's time as the chief of SAVAK, that Khomeini was arrested. Orders had come from the then Prime Minister, Assadollah Alam, to arrest Khomeini for instigating a bloody riot that opposed the Shah's progressive reforms such as replacing the feudal land ownership and granting universal suffrage to women and the religious minorities of Iran.

During the time Khomeini was under house arrest in Tehran, General Pakravan visited him every week for lunch. According to Pakravan's wife, this was something Khomeini looked forward to and would say: "Timsar [General], I count the days to our lunches together." Pakravan, on the other hand, was literally petrified of Khomeini and totally awestruck by this stern puritan Shia cleric. "He makes my hair stand on end. It is frightening," Pakravan told his wife about his impression of Khomeini.

When Khomeini was sentenced to death, General Pakravan, became upset and felt sorry for his weekly luncheon companion and missed their conversations about religion and philosophy. The Shah's General and head of the "bad, bad brutal" SAVAK decided he had to save his "friend". Perhaps he was hoping that by continuing his luncheon dialogues, he would change the Ayatollah's behaviour!

Pakravan contacted the moderate, also soft natured, Grand Ayatollah Shariatmadari and asked for his help. Ayatollah Shariatmadari issued a decree that promoted Khomeini to an Ayatollah and Pakravan then convinced the Shah that he should not have an Ayatollah executed. Pakravan thus saved Khomeini's life and furthermore asked Turkey to grant asylum to Khomeini.

Not that Khomeini showed any gratitude either to Pakravan or to Ayatollah Shariatmadari after he seized power. General Pakravan was amongst the first of the Shah's officials to be executed after the 1979 revolution had triumphed. Ayatollah Shariatmadari was also eventually put under house arrest and denied medical care, until he died in miserable conditions on 3rd April, 1986.

The fruit has not fallen far from the tree as it appears that General Pakravan's son, Dr. Karim Pakravan, is now continuing the same futile path of appeasement of the mullahs in Iran and has become a key fundraiser and advisor to NIAC, the lobby organisation that advocates appeasement with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Lets hope Karim Pakravan does not end up having the same fate as his father or help more extremists come to power like his father did!

Khomeini's Damnation of Mossadegh

What happens when the management of a company choose bad advisors? Well usually bad advise leads to undesirable consequences and the company suffers, but when the management is the US administration that appoints bad foreign advisors, then the undesirable consequences become global catastrophic calamities!

I am still so infuriated about Obama apologising to the mullahs in Iran for the toppling of Mossadegh in 1953. It shows that none of the things we talked about or wrote about after Madeline Albright made the same mistake,  including articles written by the likes of Ray Takeyh, are reaching the US administration which is more hell bent on listening to advice on Iran from their NIAC advisors, considered by many as a lobby group for the Islamic Republic. 

So it is with little hope that I am writing this post, except that this is not my opinion or that of a learned person's accurate recount of what really happened in 1953. This is Khomeini's damnation of Mossadegh in his own words. Perhaps by watching this, the future US administrations will learn that they need not apologise to the mullahs for the events of 1953 in Iran or consider it a reason to justify the actions by the mullahs today!

Perhaps Ayatollah Khomeini's damnation of Mossadegh will make the US administration realise that they really are listening to very bad advise!

"right from the beginning when Ayatollah Kashani saw that they [Mossadegh supporters] are misbehaving and spoke against them, what they [Mossadegh supporters] did was to put a pair of glasses on a dog and named it Ayatollah [audience cries]..this was at a time when his [Mossadegh] supporters speak so proudly of him, Mossadegh was not a Muslim either. That day I was in the house of one of Tehran's high ranking clerics, when I heard the news that they have put a pair of glasses on a dog and are walking him in the streets calling the dog, Ayatollah. I told that high ranking cleric that I was with at that time, this is now no longer a matter of personal animosity with Mossadegh, he will be slapped for this, and it wasn't long before he was slapped, and had he [Mossadegh]  remained in power, he would have slapped Islam"

Who Has Obama Been Listening to?

What does it tell you when the US president justifies the behaviour of the clerical theocracy in Iran with the toppling of Mossadeq in 1953 and thinks the United States should apologise to the mullahs for the overthrow of a "democratically elected regime in Iran"??!!!

Watch Obama's apology here:

It proves beyond any reasonable doubt that NIAC have got as far as the president's bedroom, right in between his bed sheets actually, and the likes of Mehdi Hasan have been teaching him the wrong history of Iran!

Read my article published in the commentator about the toppling of Mossadegh and why the clerics in Iran are the last people to apologise to for this:

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/5967/mehdi_hasan_s_iran_death_to_america_whitewash

Listening to Obama is like listening to NIAC. 

In response to Obama's pathetic uninformed apology about the 1953 events, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, made the following reference to Obama's interview with Thomas Friedman during his important speech on Saturday:

"he [Obama] admitted to America's past mistakes. Of course, he said a hodgepodge of things. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in Iran on the 28th of Mordad [Toppling of Mossadegh]......I would like to offer a friendly word of advice to these excellencies: today - after the passage of many years from the 28th of Mordad, the eight-year war and the defense that the Islamic Republic put up there - you acknowledge that you have made certain mistakes. I would like to say to you that you are making a mistake in the present time as well..."

It may also be a good idea to include the full translation of the Supreme Leader's speech, copied exactly from Ayatollah Khamenei's website. It is extremely well translated and accurate. 

In contrast to a weak, apologetic US president, the Supreme Leader is defiant, resolute and strong.

Unlike Western Media's translation of the speech, Supreme Leader never once refers to a "deal" but consistently calls it a document and that is the most important thing about the Supreme Leader's speech:

"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate and infallible household. And greetings be upon the Imams of Muslims and supporters of the oppressed, especially upon the Commander of the Faithful, the Mistress of all women, Hassan and Hussein - the children of mercy and the Imams of the guided - Ali ibn al-Hussein Zayn al-Abidin, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ja'far ibn Muhammad, Musa ibn Ja'far, Ali ibn Musa, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ali ibn Muhammad, Hassan ibn Ali and Hujjat al-Qaem al-Mahdi, Your representative among Your servants and trustworthy ones in Your land.

The first thing that I would like to say in the second sermon is to greet and congratulate all the brothers and sisters who say prayers and to advise them to observe piety.

The events that occurred in our region during the month of Ramadan and before that, were and still are bitter events. Unfortunately, some vicious hands made the blessed month of Ramadan bitter for the regional peoples. Many Muslim peoples in Yemen, Palestine and Syria experienced difficult days and fasts because of the evil plots of the enemies. All these events are important to our people.

Another issue is a domestic one: the issue of the nuclear negotiations. I deem it necessary to raise a few points in this regard. The first point is a word of thanks to officials in charge of these long and arduous negotiations - the honorable President and particularly the negotiation team who really made great efforts and worked hard. They will certainly be divinely rewarded whether the document that has been prepared will- through its determined legal procedures- be ratified or not. We have said this to those brothers in person as well.

Of course in order to ratify this document, there is a clear legal procedure that, by Allah's favor, has to be taken. We expect that these officials take the interests- interests of the country, interests of the people- into consideration by paying careful attention, so that when they deliver the matter to the people, they can do so with their heads held high in front of Allah the Exalted as well.

The next point is that by Allah's favor and grace, no one will be allowed to take advantage of this document in any way and to undermine the fundamental principles of the Islamic Republic whether this document is ratified or not. The defense capabilities and the security area of the country will- by God's grace- be protected although we know that the enemies have placed great emphasis on these areas. The Islamic Republic will never give in to the enemy's greed in the area of protecting its defense capabilities and security- particularly in this environment filled with the enemies' threats.

The next point is that whether this document is ratified or not, we will not abandon our regional friends: the oppressed people of Palestine, the oppressed people of Yemen, the people and government of Syria, the people and government of Iraq, the oppressed people of Bahrain and the sincere mujahids of the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine. These people will always enjoy our support.

The next point is that our policy towards the arrogant government of America will not change in any way despite these negotiations and the document that has been prepared. As we have said many times, we have no negotiations with America on different global and regional issues. We have no bilateral negotiations with America. Sometimes, we have negotiated with them in exceptional cases such as the nuclear issue and we have done so because of our interests. The nuclear issue was not the only case. There were other cases as well which I have referred to in my previous public speeches. The American policies in the region are 180 degrees the opposite of the policies of the Islamic Republic. The Americans accuse Hezbollah and the Lebanese Resistance - who are the most self-sacrificing forces in their country in the area of national defense - of terrorism. There is no injustice worse than this. This is while they support the terrorist child-killing government of Zionism. How can one do business, negotiate and reach an agreement with such a policy? There are other cases as well and I will expand on them in other speeches.

Another point is about the Americans' blustering in recent days. In the recent days that the negotiations have been concluded, the American excellencies - their male and female officials - are busy blustering. Each of them is blustering in a different way. Of course, this is alright with us. Their domestic problems force them into blustering. They claim that they have dragged Iran towards the negotiating table, that they have made Iran surrender, that they have obtained such and such concessions from our country and other such claims. However, the truth is something else. They say that they have prevented Iran from building nuclear weapons, but this has nothing to do with our negotiations with America and other countries. They themselves know this and sometimes they have spoken about the importance of the fatwa that bans nuclear weapons.

According to the commands of the Holy Quran and Islamic sharia, we consider building, keeping and using nuclear weapons as haraam and therefore, we will not do so. This has nothing to do with them and with these negotiations. They themselves know that this is the truth. They know that what prevents the Islamic Republic from building nuclear weapons is not their threats and intimidating behavior. There is a religious barrier behind this and they know the significance of this fatwa, but they still claim that it was they who prevented Iran. They are not honest with their own people and they do not tell them the truth. On various other matters, they say that they have adopted such and such a measure about Iran's nuclear industry and that they have forced Iran to surrender, but they can only see Iran's surrender in their dreams.

From the beginning of the Revolution until today, five other U.S. presidents died or were lost in history dreaming that they would force the Islamic Republic to surrender. You too will enjoy the same fate. You too will never achieve the dream of forcing the Islamic Republic to surrender.

There was one point in the statements that the American president made in recent days: he admitted to America's past mistakes. Of course, he said a hodgepodge of things. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in Iran on the 28th of Mordad. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in helping Saddam Hussein. He admitted to two, three mistakes, but he did not mention tens of others. He did not speak about the 25-year oppressive and treacherous rule of the second Pahlavi monarch. He did not speak about the many instances of torture, looting, massacre, disaster and calamity that were caused by America. He did not speak about the destruction of the Iranian peoples' dignity and America's efforts to trample upon their domestic and foreign interests. He did not speak about the Zionists' domination, the killing of Iranian passengers on a passenger plane and many other things. Nonetheless, he mentioned a number of mistakes.

I would like to offer a friendly word of advice to these excellencies: today - after the passage of many years from the 28th of Mordad, the eight-year war and the defense that the Islamic Republic put up there - you acknowledge that you have made certain mistakes. I would like to say to you that you are making a mistake in the present time as well. In the present time too, you are busy making mistakes in different places in the region and particularly towards the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran. In a few years, someone else will turn up and show you your mistakes, just as today you are admitting to the mistakes that your predecessors made. You are making mistakes as well. Therefore, you should awaken, correct your mistakes and understand the truth. You are making grave mistakes in the region.

What I want to say to the people of Iran is that by Allah's favor and grace, the Islamic Republic has become powerful and strong. It has become stronger on a daily basis. It is 10, 12 years now that six great global powers - which are among powerful countries in the world in terms of economic wealth - have been sitting in front of Iran, trying to prevent it from pursuing its nuclear industry. They have said this openly. Their real goal is to open the nuts and bolts of the nuclear industry. They have said this to our officials many years ago. In the present time too, they pursue the same dream. The result of a 10, 12-year struggle with the Islamic Republic is that they have been forced to tolerate the operation of several thousand centrifuges in the country. They have been forced to tolerate the continuation of this industry in our country. They have been forced to tolerate the development of this industry and the continuation of research on it. Research and developing the nuclear industry will continue. The cycle of the nuclear industry will continue.

This is what they have been trying to prevent for many years, but today they have signed on paper that they have no problem with our nuclear industry. Apart from the power of the Iranian people, what other meaning does this have? This has been achieved because of the people's resistance and steadfastness and our dear scientists' courage and innovation. God's mercy be upon the likes of Shahriari, Rezainejad, Ahmadi Roshan and Ali Muhammadi. God's mercy be upon our nuclear martyrs. God's mercy be upon their families. God's mercy be upon a people who stand by their truthful claims and rights.

I would like to raise another point which is the last one. An individual has said that he can destroy Iran's army. Our predecessors used to call such statements, "boasting among strangers" [audience laughs]. I do not want to say anything more in this regard. If those who will hear this statement want to know the truth and if they are willing to use their experiences correctly, they should know that should any war break out - of course we do not welcome and begin any war - he who will emerge humiliated [literally: "head-cracked"] out of it, will be transgressing and criminal America."

Who Does Obama Invite to the White House?

Although the guest list to the recent White House Nowruz party is not made public, but somehow the cat got out of the bag and it was revealed that NIAC's research director, Reza Marashi and its founder, Trita Parsi were amongst the guests.

This selfie at the White House Nowruz party was taken by NIAC's founder and then tweeted by the Iran lobby organisation's research director, Reza Marashi.

NIAC were behind spreading the lie that US sanctions were responsible for the medicine crisis in Iran. Even though Iran's own Health Minister at the time, who was later dismissed by Ahmadienjad, repeatedly and explicitly said that the medicine crisis was nothing to do with sanctions.

I have written in the past about NIAC and how they tried to cash in on their lie:
http://www.azarmehr.info/2012/12/niac-profiteering-from-peoples-good.html

Central to Obama's gigantic failures in the Middle East was when he tried to seek moderate Muslim groups and was then badly advised that the Muslim Brotherhood were a moderate Muslim group (probably because they wear ties!)

It seems on Iran, Obama is also wrongly advised as to who is friend and who is foe and he cosies up to people who spread lies about his administration's policies. Well with friends like that who needs enemies?!
No wonder Obama administration's foreign policy is in such a mess.
Throughout the 2009 protests in Iran, the people of Iran chanted "Obama, Are you with them or are you with us?" Well it seems the answer is obvious.

NIAC Profiteering from Deceit

When I first read the Guardian news about Manouchehr Esmaili-Liuisi, the young Iranian teenager dying as a result of sanctions denying the haemophiliac drugs to Iranians, I got very suspicious. There were no ambiguities in the title as to who was to blame for the tragedy; it read "Haemophiliac Iranian boy dies after sanctions disrupt medicine supplies"

There were many reasons for my suspicions about the news being accurate. First of all Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, the Health Minister who was sacked yesterday by Ahamdinejad,  and many other Iranian health ministry officials have been going out of their way publicly saying that the medicine crisis is not because of the sanctions but because the government and the Central Bank have not given the promised allocated currency required to import the much needed drugs and medical equipments. Instead many Iranians, health ministry officials as well as Majlis deputies have been saying how luxury cars, cosmetics, horse saddles and other unnecessary goods have been imported with the subsidised currency that the Central Bank of Iran should have allocated for importing essential goods.
"We can circumvent the payment restrictions, the problem is not the sanctions, we haven't been given any currency by the Central Bank to buy the essential medicines" The Health Minister has been repeatedly saying before she got the sack yesterday.

Not only medicines are excluded from the Iran sanctions list but the German government has even made special provisions for banking transactions for medicine exports to Iran, this was even published in Iranian dailies.  On top of all of the above, it was only two years ago that amidst much pomp and ceremony, Islamic Republic declared that Iran has become self-sufficient in producing haemophiliac drugs - one of the rare good news that has recently come from Iran. Another Iranian website only today, has published a story on the satisfactory situation of the Haemophiliac medicines.

Guardian readers are a niche of their own however and they need to read the kind of news they like to think is true, but when I saw NIAC- whom many regard as an Islamic Republic lobby group in US, a sort of US equivalent of CASMII -  trying to cash in on the sanctions ignorance, I was even more disgusted.

Credit to the Times newspaper who investigated the news of the Iranian haemophiliac teenager and found out the real truth of the tragedy.  Sadly however, perhaps because of having been published over the festive period, the relevant article has gone largely unnoticed or at least not received the same publicity that the bogus Guardian news received.

Times investigations suggest that the unfortunate Iranian teenager, Manoucher Esmaili-Liuisi did not die because the hospital could not provide his medicine as a result of the sanctions against Iran, but because the unfortunate teenager suffered a cut during a hiking accident and he was too far from the nearest hospital in Dezful to be saved.

NIAC have also come up with an even more ridiculous story to emotionally blackmail Iranian-Americans. NIAC's gullible and naive supporters are not informed by NIAC about the real reasons for the medicine crisis in Iran, i.e. the corruption and mismanagement but are told that it is the sanctions which are killing innocent Iranians.

In an appeal for more donations from these out of touch Iranian ex-pats, NIAC have come up with a story of an unnamed "aunt of an American Iranian" who was taken to hospital and needed IV fluid but the hospital had run out of IV fluid and couldn't buy any more because of the bad bad sanctions. NIAC claimed he unnamed "aunt of an American Iranian" was instead given a water drip  and died as a result. So what can the super wealthy out of touch Iranian ex-pats living in America do to help their compatriots in Iran? Send IV fluids and medicine to them? No! Send money to NIAC!

I personally talked to at least ten hospitals throughout Iran and enquired about the possibility of something like this happening. All ten without exception laughed at me and confronted me with the question "Do you think we import IV fluid from the West? It is one of the most basic things we produce and even if it is badly required in remote parts; at a minimum we can produce a saline solution with common salt".

How sad is it that some people donate their hard earned money to this man?