Opinion
We must loosen Iran’s grip on Muslim world
The Islamic Republic survives by promoting hate, sectarianism and fundamentalism
June 8, 2023 10:21
3 min read
The Islamic Republic survives by promoting hate, sectarianism and fundamentalism
June 8, 2023 10:21Iran’s military revealed this week that it has produced a hypersonic missile that can fly five times faster than the speed of sound. According to analysts, the missile can fly through a complex and difficult-to-intercept trajectory system, making it much more difficult to prevent it causing death and destruction.
As we all know, the Iranian regime promotes antisemitism globally, and uses its media outlets and agencies to push a polarising ideology intended to inspire antisemitic rhetoric from others.
It funds proxies to commit terror on its behalf, such as when Hezbollah attacked the Amia Jewish centre in Argentina in July 1994 and killed 85 people, leaving 300 injured. It was a deliberate attack on Jews — an attempt to destabilise any sense of safety and security that Jews felt in countries beyond Israel.
In March Tom Tugendhat, the Minister of State for Security, confirmed the JC’s investigation which revealed Iran’s plots to kill British Jews, saying: “The Iranian regime’s threats to assassinate UK-based journalists and harm their families are beyond contempt. Their efforts to silence Iran International TV are a direct attack on our freedoms and an attempt to undermine our sovereignty. They will not succeed.”
Iran has been repeatedly warned for decades by many countries including the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel to stop meddling in their internal affairs. Yet Iran continues to chip away at our national interests, selling arms to Russia against Ukraine, going after dissidents and attempting to stop free speech in the UK against the regime.
Look at its actions against neighbouring Saudia Arabia. It has strong and significant Shia Muslim communities living in the eastern province of Saudia Arabia in places such as Dammam, Jubail and Khobr. About 30 per cent of the eastern province consists of Shia Muslims, who make up 12 per cent of the total population of Saudi Arabia.
For Saudi authorities, the eastern province has always been where they have feared Iranian influence and the potential of insurrection, agitated by its sectarian neighbour. It has been an ongoing concern — and the discrimination faced by Shia Muslims in the region does not help to make them feel fully integrated into Saudi society.
Iran realised that the discrimination felt by Shia communities in Saudi could be manipulated to add political pressure. Riyadh has long complained about Iran’s attempts to foment civil unrest in local Shia populations during religious events, which are sensitive times for the country given the sheer number of Muslim pilgrims that enter into the country during the haj season.
Having run out of ideas and friends, the Iranian regime’s goal is now survival through two key powers: China and Russia. It is as simple as that and it is pulling out all the stops. Its misuse of Islam, its attempts to position itself as a “defender of Muslim rights” and its desire to build on and encourage the antisemitism in some of parts of Muslim-majority countries has indeed given it some ideological influence.
What a toxic legacy Iran leaves in doing so, beset by hate, sectarianism and religious fundamentalism — all elements that should make us even more determined to hold it to account. Vitally, we must challenge it so that young Muslim minds can develop a better mental outlook than that of Iran’s fundamentalist theocrats.
The regime has held back the entrepreneurial, inquisitive and endearing spirit that has been so much part of Iranian history and heritage, though these qualities in its population can never be broken by the religious fundamentalists.
The Middle East was once a hub of civilisation and culture. People communicated freely, they travelled with ideas and they exchanged goods. They met one another, bartered, argued, loved, and married. Imagine what could be achieved if countries like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iran co-operated, and what technological advancements could be made for the betterment of our species.
We are at a tipping point in relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, though the only way that Iran can be part of this advance is if the regime falls. A regime that hangs people from cranes, murders them and kills its youth for survival must go.
So while Iran shows off its hypersonic missiles, we should remain resolute against its current rulers. They can threaten all they want, but the Iranian people and the rest of the world want a better future.