The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported on the one-year anniversary of the US drone strike that killed Iran’s top terrorist operative is not far off. The regime’s official media showcased a commentary of his life. This included notes from a deputy to Iran’s Foreign Minister, confirming that Mohammad Javad Zarif and Qassem Soleimani kept a close working relationship until Soleimani’s death.

Zarif and Soleimani are flip sides of the same coin

Deputy Minister of Legal and International Affairs, Mohsen Baharvand, said the following words: “I will never forget that when I went to the Political Studies Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs almost every Tuesday at 7:30 am to attend a strategic meeting on foreign relations, I saw the glorious martyr, General Haj Qassem Soleimani, who was escorted out of the meeting room by Dr. Zarif.”

The Foreign Minister, Zarif, said in 2019 that he was invited to visit the headquarters of Iran’s hardline paramilitary, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Zarif saw this as a great honor and he admitted that he coordinated closely with Soleimani and had done so for at least 20 years. Soleimani was the head of the IRGC’s foreign special operations division, the Quds Force. Basically, they shared the same views.

There were many horrendous events that took place due to Soleimani who played a leading role in supporting the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, leading to a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. There is little doubt that Zarif had supported this action.

Soleimani’s primary role was to project Iranian power beyond the nation’s borders, but he also meddled in the uprisings called by the Iranian people and supported using oppressive tactics to suppress the people’s voices.

Zarif has also be known for trying to conceal the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses from international audiences. He even said in a discussion at New York University that Iranian authorities “do not jail people for their opinions.”

How sanctions were imposed

Sanctions came not long after the US made the move to blacklist the entire IRGC as a terrorist organization. The Quds Force had been described as that for years. The opposition had always said that there has never been any meaningful separation between the function and the ideology of the different arms that exist within Iran’s paramilitary apparatus.

Western countries have appeased the regime because their policymakers believe there must be distinct “hardline” and “reformist” factions in the Iranian government, with the latter providing the chance to engage in productive international dialogue so as to change the behavior of the leadership in Tehran.

Little difference between the “hardliners” and the “reformists

However, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), have always said that there is little difference between the “hardliners” and the “reformists.” Resting on that assumption as being correct, Western powers should be rethinking their position on Iran.

This close link between the Foreign Ministry and the Quds Force is something that the new US administration and its European allies need to consider when forming a policy towards the regime. As it has always been said by the (NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran) and admitted by Zarif himself, and now Baharvand’s comments, “Zarif and Soleimani are flip sides of the same coin, elements of a terrorist regime with no regard for human life.”

Source » mek-iran