No to Rouhani

Israel is, as ever, at the center of Iran’s nefarious plans.

By JPOST EDITORIAL
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a news conference at Salam Palace in Baghdad, Iraq March 11, 2019 (photo credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a news conference at Salam Palace in Baghdad, Iraq March 11, 2019
(photo credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is in New York for the 74th UN General Assembly. He is pushing a message of “peace,” but it is one in which the peace Iran desires is a Middle East controlled by Tehran. This is a dangerous time, made more complex by the roles of Russia, Turkey and the United States in the region.
Israel is, as ever, at the center of Iran’s nefarious plans. Iran regularly excoriates our state, lashing it with various conspiracies and accusations. Iran claims that Israel is an enemy of Islam, one that threatens the holy mosque in Jerusalem, and is an artificial and temporary imprint here, one that will be washed away with the help of Iran’s precision-guided missiles.
For decades this has been the narrative from Tehran, and for decades its threats have been largely ignored by the world, as though the rules of international relations do not apply to Iran.
The Iranian regime kidnaps people, detains boats via piracy and even attacks countries in the region with missiles and drones. It sends its arms flooding into Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. But this all goes unchecked. No other country in the world behaves like Iran does. Other countries seek peace, they behave with dignity toward their neighbors, rather than trying to subvert and colonize them using militias.
“We hope in the very sensitive situation of the region today we would be able to convey the message of our regional nations, which is the message of regional peace and end of any interference in the sensitive regions of Persian Gulf and the Middle East,” Rouhani said before his speech at the UN. He claims Iran is under pressure from a cruel economic war.
Iran is very good at playing the victim and perpetrator at the same time, part of its “good cop, bad cop” approach to foreign countries. It pretends to be a victim, but then again it continually threatens Israel, the US and other states.
Think for a moment about the universities and hospitals Iran could have built in Yemen or Lebanon, in lieu of ballistic missiles. Where are the new cultural centers in Syria, instead of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bases and storehouses? Where are the choirs and schools for girls in southern Lebanon, instead of bunkers and missile factories in the Bekaa Valley?
Iran says it wants a “long-term” peace in the Persian Gulf. That sounds like a nice idea, but on what terms? For Iran, there are only its own terms, according to which it uses its drones and missiles to attack Saudi Arabia fuel tankers in the nearby sea. That’s not peace. There was peace in the Persian Gulf until Iran began attacking.
This regime in Tehran never stops boasting of its weapons capabilities, never stops its grotesque events like the Holocaust denial contests, or detaining innocent academics and keeping them in prison. Members of the regime assault women for not wearing the correct head covering and hang gay men from cranes for violating their religious laws. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif may like to tweet out his statements to the world, but why aren’t more people asking whether the average Iranian has access to Twitter or other social media sites?
Rouhani is seeking to turn the world to its narrative at the UN. It has quietly floated these ideas with Russia, China, India and Turkey, arguing that it is helping to balance American power, feeding off resentment toward American global hegemony. It plays on the troubles of the Trump administration, mocking the White House and calling Trump’s team the “B team.”
Zarif, with his devious smile, argues that Iran is not behind a recent attack on Saudi Arabia, but also tries to curry favor with left-leaning voters in the US by portraying Washington as working on behalf of Israeli interests, or fighting wars for the Saudis. Iran is very smart in this respect, exploiting democracies to make them fight against each other, to distract them from its mafia-like tactics across the Middle East and throughout the world.
It’s time to say no to Rouhani. No more attacks on foreign countries. No more precision guidance for Hezbollah. No more expanding the Iranian empire. Those are our three noes. Tehran should hear them loud and clear in New York.