A Ramezani
16 February 2014, Al-Monitor
In his latest address In Tehran, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most powerful politician in the country, said the United States’ hostile policy toward the Islamic Republic has not changed a bit through recent decades, and that US officials need to do much more to win the Iranians’ trust back.
At a Feb. 8 ceremony to mark the 35th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei condemned the United States for pursuing a “regime change” strategy in Iran, and warned domestic officials to remain cautious while negotiating with their US counterparts over the Iranian nuclear energy program.
“US officials, in negotiations with our officials, say we are not after regime change in Iran,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “They are lying. They would not hesitate a moment if they could do it.”
At a Feb. 8 ceremony to mark the 35th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei condemned the United States for pursuing a “regime change” strategy in Iran, and warned domestic officials to remain cautious while negotiating with their US counterparts over the Iranian nuclear energy program.
“US officials, in negotiations with our officials, say we are not after regime change in Iran,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “They are lying. They would not hesitate a moment if they could do it.”
Advocates of Iran-US talks fear that Ayatollah Khamenei’s harsh criticism of US policy, and the deep distrust between the two foes, could reverse the fragile progress the moderate administration of President Hassan Rouhani has made in recent months.
The “regime change” strategy of Washington has been a major concern of political decision-makers in Tehran since the Islamic Revolution. On several past occasions, US authorities indicated an intention to change the Islamic regime through different means. In January 2002, former US President George W. Bush said Iran was part of the “axis of evil,” and four years later, he called on the Iranian people to “win your own freedom,” a statement interpreted by many analysts, including the journalist Guy Dinmore, “a barely disguised call for regime change in Iran.” In addition, in 2009, when street protests in Iran against controversial results of the presidential election were escalating, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger suggested that if the opposition failed to achieve its objectives, “then we [the United States] may conclude that we must work for regime change in Iran from the outside.”
But in recent years, the Barack Obama administration has tried to avoid using the provocative term in public, and even assured Iranians in private that they had already abandoned the “threatening” strategy. President Obama, during his September 2013 UN General Assembly speech, even specifically stated that Washington “is not seeking regime change.” But the White House’s attempt appears to be unconvincing.
According to people familiar with the diplomatic communications between Iran and the United States, Tehran has several times demanded, through direct and indirect channels, that the United States provide it with a guarantee that there would be no such threat against the Islamic establishment in the future — an appeal Washington has been resisting so far. Instead, the United States has insisted in talks with Iran that “other options” are still on the table — a clear reference to the war option — if diplomatic efforts to resolve the decadelong nuclear dispute fail.
Tehran criticizes this policy as hypocritical. Given the “unprecedented” compromises Iran made in recent nuclear negotiations with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany that led to the historic Geneva deal in November, Iranian authorities may have expected Washington to agree to a great concession in exchange. Americans, however, are unwilling to offer the kind of guarantee Iranians are looking for.
To hammer home the point that the West’s concern with Iran’s nuclear program is an excuse for regime change, after the supreme leader’s comments, his official website published an infographic of different issues the United States and Western countries have raised against Iran.
The infographic displays nine distinctly labeled matches in a box with the title “Nuclear is an excuse.” The matches represent different issues that Western countries have brought up against Iran, such as why Iran will not recognize Israel and continues its support of “regional resistance”; the question of democracy and human rights inside the country; why Iran “adheres to Islamic standards”; and its development of missiles and drones. Interestingly, the “nuclear match” is the only one lit.
The title of the infographic is taken from a speech in November 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei in which he said, “The history of America’s behavior shows that the nuclear issue is only an excuse for the continuation of enmity against Iran.”
Despite harsh rhetoric of Iranian conservative leaders against US “lies,” moderate and pro-reform figures are confident they will reach a “comprehensive” and “fundamental” agreement with Washington in a year or so, a deal they hope will ultimately address conservatives’ main concern. In a Feb. 10 meeting with 130 foreign diplomats working in Iran, Rouhani hailed the Geneva six-month deal as an achievement of his administration’s diplomacy and called it a starting point to finally reach the “fundamental agreement.” The president said Iran’s economy has the potential to enter the world’s top 10 in the next three decades. One day later, Rouhani said in another speech, “Without international engagement, objectives such as growth, creativity and quality are unattainable.”
But if the Rouhani administration fails in its effort, Tehran and Washington’s hostile relations will persist. Frequent references by Ayatollah Khamenei to Washington’s “dishonesty,” as well as his call on Rouhani’s economic team to remain on alert and concentrate on “infinite domestic capacities, [and] not to pin hopes on the lifting of sanctions,” convey the message that ultraconservatives are serious about what they are seeking in talks with the United States: a guarantee that the regime change strategy has been filed forever.
But if the Rouhani administration fails in its effort, Tehran and Washington’s hostile relations will persist. Frequent references by Ayatollah Khamenei to Washington’s “dishonesty,” as well as his call on Rouhani’s economic team to remain on alert and concentrate on “infinite domestic capacities, [and] not to pin hopes on the lifting of sanctions,” convey the message that ultraconservatives are serious about what they are seeking in talks with the United States: a guarantee that the regime change strategy has been filed forever.
