It’s been nearly two months since Iran officially began the process of scaling back its centrifuges and retrofitting some its nuclear infrastructure as part of the agreement with the world powers to restrict its nuclear weapons program. Some have touted the agreement as a sign of Iran seeking to soften its policies and join the world community.
Yet, for all the fanfare over the summer about the consequences of the Iran deal, it seems little attention has been paid to other Iranian policies. Alas, with the world’s focus on the immediate danger of the radical extremism emanating from the Islamic State, Iranian actions in recent months have affirmed the regime’s unchanged agenda – promoting illiberal policies that profoundly conflict with our core values and those of nearly every other member of the family of nations.
Two years into the term of “reformist” President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic remains one of the world’s leading human rights violators. If anything, Iran has stepped up its abuses in recent months.
Fantastical anti-Israel and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have been a mainstay in the state-run Iranian media since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Official sources regularly issue explicit and implicit threats against the Jewish state. Almost too frequent to mention, there are some notable new additions to the canon of hatred:
Just days after the attacks in Paris, Iran’s Fars News Agency published a so-called report titled “Paris Bombings – Fingerprints of the Zionists Are Found Again” that made a series of bizarre unsubstantiated accusations, including that “After the terrorist attacks in Paris, it was once again confirmed that French Jews were informed that the tragedy would happen. Just as it happened in the September 11 attacks 14 years ago, when Jews working in the Twin Towers did not attend…work.”
To add to this fiction, the account added that “Zionist officials wanted to exploit [the attacks] to achieve their specific goals,” albeit no factual basis was provided to explain this anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
Iran consistently uses warmongering rhetoric in its campaign against Israel. Iran has accused Israel of creating ISIS, despite the clear lunacy of such a suggestion. In this year’s annual commemoration of the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the Iranian government launched a new public relations campaign that declared: “Israel will be destroyed within 25 years.” This came on the heels of the Supreme Leader’s repeated use of social media to threaten Israel with destruction.
In a recently released open “Letter to Western Youth,” Ayatollah Khamenei charged that Israel’s “terrorism” is worse than the attacks in Paris. He wrote of Israel” “In today’s world, do we know of any other violence on this scale and scope and for such an extended period of time?” Alas, this was not written with any hint of irony.
And whether we can credit the Supreme Leader or those around him, Iran recently revived one of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s favorites: the Holocaust-themed cartoon contest.
Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism is well documented. While the world focuses on responses to ISIS and other radical Sunni groups including Al Qaeda and Boko Haram, Iran maintains its financial and operational support for equally violent terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah, Hamas, and the Houthis in Yemen.
And although ISIS recently shifted its focus outside its local theater of operations, Iran long has exported terror beyond its borders. Its litany of crimes spans continents from Latin America to Europe and includes an attempted assassination in Washington, D.C. Iran has also expanded to Africa: just a few weeks ago, Kenyan authorities announced the arrest of two local men who were described as having “links to Iran” for plotting attacks against Western targets in the country.
During the summer, many observers marveled that America and Iran seemingly overcame decades of distrust to forge a diplomatic agreement. Yet despite the accord, Iranian leadership continues to rail against the “Big Satan” without penalty or even opprobrium. In a recent televised address, Ayatollah Khamenei inexplicably alleged that the U.S. is trying to “infiltrate Iran” using sex and money.
Iran continues to imprison Americans without any legal basis for doing so. The list of captives includes Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who, according to reports in the Iranian media, was sentenced to a prison term of indeterminate length. But Rezaian is not alone. There are five other imprisoned American citizens, including Siamak Namazi, a Dubai-based businessman with dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship who was detained by the authorities last month for unsubstantiated crimes.
Beyond unprovoked arrests and public threats, the Islamic Republic employs increasingly sophisticated tools in its efforts to target America. U.S. officials have reported a “surge” in cyber-attacks emanating from Iran, including a series of attempted hacking attacks that targeted State Department officials, the very same individuals with whom the Islamic Republic allegedly was negotiating in good faith on the nuclear deal.
We still are months away from “implementation day” – the date the IAEA must certify that Iran has met the requirements spelled out in the nuclear agreement before international sanctions are lifted, and world attention might shift back to Iran and its behavior. Meanwhile, commercial delegations blaze a trail to Tehran and analysts contemplate a new era for Iran and the West.
But just as the international community is committed to monitoring for potential violations in the nuclear realm, the Islamic Republic’s ongoing human rights violations and its external aggressions must be taken into account when considering the prospect of normalized relations.