![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/tom-ridge-patrick-kennedy.jpg\" "\\"Tom")
The ‘repressive theocracy’ in Iran is to blame for the conflicts raging in Iraq and Syria and poses a threat to security in the rest of the world, two leading US politicians have declared.<\/p>\nThe ‘repressive theocracy’ in Iran is to blame for the conflicts raging in Iraq and Syria and poses a threat to security in the rest of the world, two leading US politicians have declared.<\/p>\n
Former Governor Tom Ridge and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy said the ‘overreaching and destructive’ has pronged the civil war in Syria and sent the chaos in Iraq spiralling out of control.<\/p>\n
In an article on the political website Roll Call, they wrote: “Recent reports about Saudi troops amassing to secure that country\u2019s border with Iraq underscores the multinational dimensions of the conflicts raging inside both Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n
Civil wars that might have initially only threatened the two dictators are now endangering the entire region and global security.<\/p>\n
“The main culprit for the growing instability is no other party but the repressive theocracy in Iran.<\/p>\n
“When the mass uprisings began in Syria back in 2011, the Syrian dictatorship\u2019s fate was essentially sealed. But the tide began to turn in the war when the Iranian regime propped up its ally by sending shipments of arms, equipment, and even soldiers.<\/p>\n
“Clearly Iran directs its neighbors to establish a repressive regime that mirrors its own and Nouri al-Maliki has succeeded in Iraq.”<\/p>\n
Iraq’s problems are not only a result of religious differences or extremism, but also due to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki\u2019s decision to exclude large sections of Iraqi society from the political process and to remove all obstacles in the path of his Iranian patrons\u2019 quest for regional hegemony, they said.<\/p>\n
To prove his loyalty to Iran, Maliki even conducted massacres of defenseless Iranian political refugees in camps Ashraf and Liberty, the pair wrote.<\/p>\n
They added: “Therefore, it was virtually inevitable the Iraqi people would rise up to protest against Maliki\u2019s authoritarian rule. Many people staged months of sit-ins and peaceful demonstrations in the northern part of the country.<\/p>\n
“Maliki responded with excessive force and an iron fist. One can only wonder why the media and US Department of State that praised such protest at the epicenter of the Arab Spring were silent during the Iraqi cry for justice and inclusion.<\/p>\n
“Maliki\u2019s sectarian policies, supported by Tehran, continue to breed more extremism on both sides of the conflict. The solution is the ousting of Maliki and eviction of his Iranian backers from Iraqi politics.”<\/p>\n
But with the right response from the international community, these conflicts could ‘pose a threat to the very survival of the Iranian regime’, the article read.<\/p>\n
It added: “What can make a firm international response more effective is the widespread hatred the Iranian people have towards a regime that routinely and systematically violates their fundamental human rights.<\/p>\n
“Despite thousands of executions, torture and imprisonment of political activists, the Iranian people have not given up their fight to uproot the theocratic system and replace it with a democracy.”<\/p>\n
“Despite thousands of executions, torture and imprisonment of political activists, the Iranian people have not given up their fight to uproot the theocratic system and replace it with a democracy.”<\/p>\n
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