Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States under 72-year-old President Donald Trump of trying to overthrow the Mullah government, in power since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei ousted U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979. Official State Department policy is not to overthrow the Iranian regime, only to stop Iran from fomenting proxy wars and revolution in North Africa and the Middle East. “Iran is in economic and psychological war with America and its allies. Their aim is to change the regime but their wish will not come true,” said Rouhani, giving Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s part line. Rouhani, a moderate compared to the Ayatollah, is only a figurehead, subject to the whims of the Mullah government that gives all the orders. If Rouhani dared to disagree with the Ayatollah or any of the so-called Council of Experts, he’d be out in a heartbeat.
When Trump cancelled May 8, 2018 former President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPA] AKA “The Iranian Nuke Deal,” Iran cried foul with the U.S. Security Council signatories, U.K, France, Russia, China and Germany, insisting they stick to the agreement, bucking Trump’s decision. Trump cancelled Obama’s deal, negotiated over two years by former Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, primarily because Iran used its cash, sanctions relief and leverage to foment more Mideast and North African wars. Trump also believes that Iran was never in compliance with the agreement because it never permitted U.N. weapons inspectors to go into sensitive military sites, something excluded in the deal. Khamenei insists that if signatories don’t comply with the agreement, Iran will resume uranium enrichment.
Iran has always denied that its extensive uranium enrichment program was anything but “peaceful purposes,” denying that it was working on an A-bomb. Yet every time the Ayatollah thinks the Security Council no longer complies, he threatens to ramp up uranium enrichment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begged a joint session of Congress Marc 3, 2015 to reject any effort to strike a Nuke Deal with Iran, knowing the regime’s feverish commitment to building a bomb. President Ronald Reagan used to call the LGM-118 land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM] the “peackeeper,” the same when Iran says it’s nuclear program is for “peaceful purposes.” Netanyahu warned Congress that if they end Iranian sanctions and give Iran cash, they’ll use it to stir revolution in North Africa and the Mideast. Trump cancelled the Iranian Nuke Deal because it didn’t stop Iran’s mischief.
Re-imposing sanctions, Trump has heaped considerable damage on the Iranian economy, including devaluing the Rial, now worth 42,105,00 to one U.S. dollar. Khamenei blames Trump for Iran’s economic woes, despite the fact that the Mullah economy doesn’t produce enough jobs to sustain its population. Unemployment is at 12.5% in Iran with the Gross Domestic Product of 1.8% in 2018. Average Iranians earned only 5,383 U.S. dollars, not much purchasing power, but, more importantly, not enough income to immigrate to any Western nation. Khamenei says the U.S. has committed economic warfare on the Iranian nation, when Trump has offered to negotiate a better economic deal. “There is no possibility of entering negotiations with America,” Rouhani told an audience in Lahijan, broadcast on State TV, insisting Trump wants to topple the Mullah regime.
Rouhani has no independent voice when it comes to feeding the Iranian public pernicious propaganda. While it’s true Trump wants to see Democratic change in Iran, it’s also true he’d like to see Iran stop fomenting revolution in the Mideast and North Africa. “America wants to take Iran back to 40 years ago . . . to the era before (1979) the Iranian Revolution . . They want regime change,” perpetuating the same paranoia that resulted in the takeover of the U.S. hostages and embassy in 1979. “Our nation and the leadership are united against our enemies . . We will continue our path of independence and freedom,” said Rouhani, regurgitating Khameni’s edicts. Rouhani knows there is no freedom in Iran when dissent is illegal, punishable by prison, torture and death. Iran’s Mullah regime pillages-and-plunders nearly all of Iran wealth, leaving the public with little economic opportunity. Most educated and technically trained Iranians have left the country under Mullah rule.
No one’s asking Iran to return to the Shah’s monarchy. What Trump wants is for Iran to stop threatening its neighbors and sponsoring Shiite revolution in the Mideast and North Africa. Iran wants to maintain the status quo of supplying rockets to Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu’s main gripe with Iran is that it’s always looking through its proxies to undermine Israel. Rouhani misstates the U.S. position on Iran, insisting it revert to a Shah-like monarchy. Trump and U.S. allies want Iran to stop undermining Israel or supplying arms-and-cash to Houthi rebels in Yemen to continue a proxy war against Saudi Arabia. “We say we won’t go back,” Rouhani says, referring to the days before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Trump could live with the Islamic Republic of Iran if they’d stop undermining Israel and sponsoring revolution around the Mideast and North Africa.
