Trump’s Genuine Menace Belies His Protest Support Offer in Iran

Rasa - Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif couldn’t be more accurate when he said US President Donald Trump’s moves against the Iranian people belie his recent claim that he “supports” them.

News ID: 435684

Date: 09 January 2018 - 05:04

RNA - Trump, the man who called Iran a “terrorist nation” and bans Iranians from travelling to the United States, posted a comment on his Twitter account on Wednesday, expressing his “respect” for the Iranians participating in small protests in some cities, claiming that the US will provide “great support” to them “at the appropriate time.”

His claim came after protesters took to streets in a number of Iranian cities starting last Thursday to show their disgruntlement at rising prices and economic conditions in the country. The protests soon took a violent turn as rioters, who were later revealed to have been fed by foreign intelligence agencies, entered the scene and caused sporadic violence in some towns and cities for several days. On that note:

- The Trump regime is busy weighing a series of new sanctions that almost always target Iranian people - in a bid to bolster the riots. They are holding accountable the people or foreign entities who are committing violence and destroying public property. That involves actions they always take against the people (read protesters), like sanctions and other means that affect the quality of their lives.

- Trump has repeatedly made reference to human rights concerns, but human rights is not an issue often mentioned by his administration when it comes to America’s allies in the region, mainly Saudi Arabia. This is a country that promotes the ideology of Wahhabism which is the unique characteristic of terrorist groups like ISIL, jails protesters, and uses torture against them, but this is hardly a concern for Washington. Despite its calamitous human rights records, Riyadh never faces serious criticism from Trump.

- Trump has never cared about peace and security in the region, let alone respect the right to protest, freedom and self-determination. He himself has provoked larger protests in Palestine, and Israel’s crackdown has involved mass arrests and several killings after Trump declared Jerusalem Al-Quds as the new capital of Israel.

- Trump has long expressed interest in “confronting” Iran. His human rights concerns begin and end to the extent he can use them as a pretext to rail against the Iranian government and people. No wonder Iran’s prosecutor general blames the violence in the country on a CIA operation, accusing the CIA of seeking help from exiled Iranians, and getting support from both the Israeli and Saudi regimes.

- The US State Department is way off the line to say that the US has “ample authority” to hold Iranian officials accountable for any attempts to censor or commit violence against the protesters, saying that the demonstrators “will not be forgotten.” The US itself is one of the biggest human rights violators in the world. This includes the least protections for workers of most Western countries, the imprisonment of debtors, the criminalization of homelessness and poverty, and the invasion of the privacy of its citizens. Others include logistical and diplomatic support for Saudi war crimes in Yemen.

- No doubt there are some economic problems in Iran. Iranians are also protesting corruption, which has long been a central feature of economic and political life in the country. This, however, does in no way give the Trump regime any right to instigate violence in the country on any pretext.

- Part of the protesters’ anger has to be directed toward the US which refuses to lift its sanctions under the nuclear deal Iran signed with the P5+1 group of nations, including the US. The nuclear deal was supposed to remove the sanctions, expand Iranian exports and attract a new wave of foreign investment. Few sanctions have been removed in practice. Some exports have spiked (mostly oil). But the foreign investment has been slow to materialize.

True, some European firms have dipped their toes into the Iranian market. And Boeing secured a major civilian airplane deal. But opposition to economic engagement with Iran has been strong in Washington, even during the Obama administration. The US has enforced new sanctions on Iran ever since the deal was struck in Vienna back in 2015, and the Congress and the administration have both been seeking more ways to apply new sanctions against Iran and reduce what little investment is flowing toward the country. And now they intend to take the opportunity to do just that on the pretext of these violent protests.

Considering the above, and contrary to what Trump would like to tweet, the US objective is no way unknown to the Iranians. No one buys his words. The US naked support for riots is a grotesque meddling in Iran's internal affairs and a violation of International Law and UN Charter.

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