Extremely repressive at home, the Iranian regime has presented itself as the champions of Muslim cause that defies the ‘Big Satan’.
In the first place, denying Holocaust or calling U.S. names is no anti-imperialism as is the case with Iran. Anti-imperialism is about liberation. A liberation from economic, political, social and gender-based exploitation. Even if anti-imperialism is cheapened to confessional anti-Americanism, as is the case with Ayatollahs and al-Qaida, Iran does not stand the test of anti-imperialism. True, it has not been as pliant as neighbouring Sheikhdoms yet it has always extended co-operation every time there was a convergence of interests with Washington. No doubt it is justified in diplomacy and international relations. The problem, however, is: Ayatollahs did it at the cost of their ‘Muslim brethren’. The U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is a case in point. Even before September 11, Tehran was sleeping with the enemy in a bid to get rid of (an even brutal) Taliban regime.
Alexander’s Gas & Oil Connections reported in February 2002:“Plans to destroy the Taliban had been the subject of international diplomatic and not-so-diplomatic discussions for months before September 11. There was a crucial meeting in Geneva in May 2001 between U.S. State Department, Iranian, German, and Italian officials, where the main topic was a strategy to topple the Taliban and replace the theocracy with a ’broad-based government’. The topic was raised again in full force at the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Genoa, Italy, in July 2001 when India – an observer at the summit – contributed its own plans”. According to another account, further meetings took place after the G-8 session in Berlin among Americans, Russians, German and Pakistani officials, and Pakistani insiders have described a detailed American plan of July 2001 to launch military strikes against the Taliban from bases in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan before mid-October of that year.
UN diplomat Francesc Vendrell, architect of Geneva talks, recalls intimate parallel meetings Iranians were holding with Americans on the sidelines of Geneva talks. Soon after Twin Towers collapsed, Iranian diplomats met their counterparts on September 20. Consequently, Iran closed 900-mile border with Afghanistan besides offering ambulance services in case U.S. pilots were hit.
Similarly, at Bonn Conference held after Taliban overthrow to install a puppet regime, U.S. diplomats worked in tandem with Iranians at that moot. When Northern Alliance’s Rabbani refused to behave, Iran twisted his arms on U.S.’ bidding. Likewise, Gulbadin Hekmatyar was conveniently expelled from Iran when he joined Taliban in the wake of September 11.
Not merely the occupation of Afghanistan, the treatment Afghan refugees were meted out in Iran speaks volumes for campaigners of Palestine cause. Manipulatively denying Holocaust does not cost anything while hosting three-million refugees demands practical solidarity. It takes commitment, not manipulation, to express solidarity. Hence, Afghans were expelled by Tehran as if Afghans are less Muslim than Palestinians. By the way, Palestinians would have met the same fate had they ended up in Iran as refugees. Only recently five Afghans were hanged in Iran that sparked protests across Afghanistan. In last thirty years, more Afghans would have been hanged in Iran than Palestinians in Israel. Even Amnesty International has expressed concern over Afghan executions in Iran. Hamid Karzai, however, remained silent over executions simply because the political façade U.S. has mounted in Kabul rests upon Tehran-backed war lords. All the Tehran’s men--- Mohaqiq, Khalili, Ismail Khan---are vital tools in sustaining U.S. occupation. By the way, Afghanistan is not the only Muslim country Iran helped Washington occupy, Ayatollahs role in Iraq’s occupation was equally criminal.
In March 2003, as U.S. troops pushed north from Naserya, Ayatollah Sayyid al-Sistani, was telling his community not to resist the Americans march to Baghdad.
Farooq Sulehria