2 hours ago
4
How right your editorial is in saying that “Those who claim they want to help, while cynically seeking to exploit the legitimate grievances of Iranian citizens for their own ends, only risk more bloodshed and suffering” (The Guardian view on Iran’s protests: old tactics of repression face new pressures, 9 February).
America’s bloody interference in Iran has a long history, which includes the overthrow of the democratically elected, secular Mossadegh government in 1953 in order to control Iranian oil; supporting the puppet shah’s repressive security apparatus against the Iranian people; arming the dictator Saddam Hussein in a war with Iran resulting in a million dead; and, more recently, arming Israel in its indiscriminate attacks that killed scores of Iranian civilians.
Donald Trump’s current interest in stoking insurrection and threatening Iran is to distract Americans from the repression he is leading, through ICE, on the American people. Americans need to focus on challenging repression on the streets of Minneapolis, Chicago and Portland, rather than stoking insurrection in Tehran. The time for America to play-act being the world’s policeman as a front to whitewash its worldwide exploitation and hegemony is over.
Raza Griffiths
Chatham, Kent
Donald Trump says “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before” (Iran warns US against attack as protest death toll reportedly soars, 11 January). Is there anybody out there old enough to judge how close Iran came to it in 1953, before the US and the UK aided the overthrow of an elected government, and whether anything has happened since to convince Iranians that they can trust either of those countries?
Bryn Hughes
Wrexham
As a survivor of two consecutive dictatorships in Iran, I urge the international media to accurately reflect the aspirations of the Iranian people. My family has paid the ultimate price for freedom: my father, Iraj Karim, died under brutal torture, and my mother, Fatemeh Kharazian, was destroyed by the current regime’s interrogators.
The world must understand that the popular slogan “No to the Shah, no to the Sheikh” is a definitive rejection of all forms of tyranny. Millions of Iranians are not looking to restore the Pahlavi monarchy; instead, they seek a democratic republic. Social media campaigns attempting to revive the previous dictatorship do not represent the will of those on the ground.
The democratic alternative presented by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the 10-point plan drawn up by Maryam Rajavi – the Iranian dissident politician and leader of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran organisation – offers a viable path to a secular, non-nuclear and democratic Iran. This plan is a guarantee for human rights and global peace.
Maged Karim
Berlin, Germany
