Beyond the headlines: life under the Iranian regime

On the 26th May, our guest speaker, Amir Pars, led a fascinating discussion on what is proving to be one of the most controversial topics that we have covered at Politics in Pubs. He provided a personal perspective of life growing up in Iran and the challenges faced living under the Iranian regime. He began with two stories illustrating the inhuman nature of their government:

1. Handing out 500k plastic keys to child mine hunters so that those who died would be granted entry to paradise.
2. Watching reports on TV of crowds of mothers celebrating the deaths of their sons at the hands of Saddam’s army, because they would also enter paradise.

He stressed that westerners simply cannot understand this mindset and hence our reasonable, common-sense responses and solutions will never succeed. We are dealing with a society where a woman cannot be executed as a virgin so is gang raped first by prison wardens. In January this year 40,000 protestors were killed, so many that they ran out of body bags, and families were forced to pay for the bullets.

We simply cannot imagine this level of evil, but this should not be surprising. His own experience as a seven-year-old schoolboy was being indoctrinated every day at school to hate the Jews, the west and any non-Muslims.

Sending troops into conflicts has almost never succeeded before therefore why does he still support intervention in Iran? He gave example of Kuwait in 1990 being a success – was that bad – should we have allowed Saddam Hussain to take over Kuwait? Amir pointed to conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda where we should have intervened and over 100K and 800K people respectively were killed.

He emphasised that Iranian people are very different to others in the Middle East. It has a very successful diaspora. People have memories of the time before the revolution and want to return to that time. They know what democracy was.

We have stood by for 46 years and until today wished them luck.

The obvious reason for the west to intervene is to prevent Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. Given their recent attacks on their peaceful neighbours do we think it would be long before Iran would deploy nuclear weapons?

Iran is also the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism, with the Hutis in Yemen leading to 400k dead and Assad in Syria with over 700k dead.

The Iranian people have tried to rise up several times but have met devastating responses.

Today, despite having the world’s second largest oil reserves and largest natural gas reserves, they have inflation close to Zimbabwe’s. Instead of being one of the richest nations on earth children have no water to drink. Against this backdrop, and despite Amir’s own reservations about Trump, the Iranian people, a country of 80m people, treat him like a saint!

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, guaranteed what happened on7th October 2023. It empowered an evil empire.

Amir concluded his presentation and his case for intervention.

Comments (C), Questions (Q) & Answers (A)

Q. Can you summarise the nature of the population of Iran by culture, religion and race?

A. Persians 60%, Kurds 10%, <1% Peshmerga (who are not pursuing a break away). But cannot have surveys in Iran but there does seem to be a clamour for the return of the Crown Prince even though Amir sees him as a dilletante. However, who does speak for the Iranian people? He may be the best game in town. In terms of the Muslim population, 80% of mosques had to close down because of no attendance. The IRGC is the only bastion of the Muslim faith.

Q. I would like to understand the causes, why the IRGC arose in 1979? Was it related to Mosaddegh’s intervention to nationalise their oil fields?

A. No, this was a myth promoted by the CIA agent Kermit Rooselvelt Jr. Mosaddegh was appointed by the Shah Reza Pahlavi and began amassing power. Pahlavi wanted him to resign, but he imprisoned Pahlavi’s delegate. He believed that Mosaddegh was drunk with power and was helped by western powers publishing articles published in Iranian media outlets. The mullahs were against Mosaddegh and rose up. They wanted religion to be the defining characteristic of the new political system. However, Pahlavi would not entertain Khomeini who started speaking out, to larger and larger crowds until the eventual overthrow in 1979.

C. There is a parallel between Hamas and the IRGC – starting small with little power.

C. I agree with vast majority. The most important thing is that everyone in the west thinks people are like them. The Mullah regime is the most evil group and therefore puzzled why the west thinks they can make a deal with them. They won’t surrender.

A. The US works on a 4-year election cycle. Trump is at rock bottom and will potentially lose the house in November. Thinks of him like the character Chancey, the gardener in the Peter Seller’s film Being There. However, IRGC is thinking in terms of centuries and millennia. The Shite ideology is foundational and believes that once the world is cleansed the Imam Mahdi, currently hidden in a cave, will arise.

Q. Trump went in because he was asked but no natural leader arose. What should he do?

A. I am not a military strategist and acknowledge it is difficult because the regime is unique in its organisation. There are many factions supporting it but each is unaware of the other. See for example writing by Kasra Aarabi (United Against Nuclear Iran). Therefore, I do not know. However, on principle I still support intervention. I do not think it helped that Trump tweeted about destroying Iranian civilisation. Look at the work of HR McMasters and the Abraham Accords.

Q. I agree with intervention, if needed proof look at their attack on Middle Eastern states. Could have missiles capable of reach Europe and the UK. Trump (he is intelligent) has tried everything and has had some success, BUT – it won’t be completed without troops on the ground. How do we get to that point?

A. We are seeing fascism rising again – so the world does need to stand up. However, UN and NATO has so far not intervened.

C. I have always been against foreign intervention and the US is no longer the world’s policeman. There are no civil society or organisation to rise up. The US cannot even keep a waterway open. I am most concerned about nuclear weapons.

A. I agree. Iran needs a party to overthrow the theocracy. The current Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi [eldest son of the same name as the deposed Shah] is not ideal, but is the only option so far, and has a lot of support in Iran.

C. Coming from Texas and California there are a lot of Persian folks. They are wonderful warm people. Thinks Amir has Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). Being There is my favourite movie, and Trump is nothing like Chancey the gardener. Finds the comparison offensive. Trump has been talking about Iran since the 1990’s and is the only one that has done something. I am very worried how in this country the Left and Islam are forming a coalition. My heart aches for this country.

Q. I am very interested in your story. How did you escape the indoctrination?

A. My father saw through it all and fled to Sweden with the family. I became a socialist. However, when I was 27 I had cancer and while being treated in hospital read a book “In Defense of Global Capitalism” by the Swedish writer Johan Norberg. I also read the essay “Why I don’t criticise Israel” by Sam Harris. One paragraph stood out pointing out the comparison between what would happen if Israel were omnipotent compared to Hamas. Essentially, I went on a journey of being confronted by my own biases.

Q. I am clear that the IRGC is incredibly evil and am shocked by the “omni-cause” protesting in support of it! How do you feel about the UK’s position? Protests including IRGC flags! Why won’t the UK government proscribe them?

A. Western civilisation has lost a sense of meaning. By comparison Israel has survived wars in 48, 67, 72 and 73. It survives because it has to survive because Jews have nowhere else to go. In the west we have lost our heritage and are filling the hole with things like multi-culturalism and climatism. Youth is putting on an outfit for a cause it doesn’t understand. We are grasping for meaning. I moved to the West because I believe that the West is superior. I note that Kemi Badenoch has said that not all cultures are equal and was vilified for it.

Q. What would happen if we did proscribe them?

A. There would be riots by the Pakistani community and Owen Jones would write a strongly worded article!

Q. I don’t think that Donald Trump knows what he is doing. Is Reza Pahlavi the only one with a strategy? Is there support underground. Do some in the military support him? Should we arm the people?

A. Jonathan Sacerdoti wrote an article for called Does Trump have a Plan? I don’t know if arming people is feasible.

C. It would be best for an organic regime change to take place. It did no good for Scott Bessant, the US Trade Secretary, to be shouting about destroying their economy. The Israeli TV station Channel 14 suggested there are already boots on the ground and 60K weapons have been supplied to protestors.

A. It is nonsense that Netanyahu gave money for this. Inflation started rising long before the recent interventions.

Politics in Pubs would like to thank Amir Pars for leading this fascinating discussion. We would also like to thank our wonderful hosts at The Welcome Inn. Cheers all!

Further Reading

Amir has a popular SubStack blog with over 2,000 subscribers here: https://substack.com/@amirpars.

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