{"id":228678,"date":"2020-10-28T16:03:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T16:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=228678"},"modified":"2023-01-26T14:48:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T13:48:06","slug":"trial-of-iranian-diplomat-underscores-calls-for-dramatic-change-in-western-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/blog\/op-ed\/trial-of-iranian-diplomat-underscores-calls-for-dramatic-change-in-western-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial of Iranian Diplomat Underscores Calls for Dramatic Change in Western Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Assadollah-Assadi-28102020\"<\/p>\n

By Alejo Vidal-Quadras<\/strong><\/p>\n

The date is fast approaching when the international community will have a unique opportunity to demand accountability from the Iranian regime for its role in the global spread of terrorism. On November 27, a high-ranking Iranian diplomat will face terrorism charges in Belgium, where he recruited two Iranian sleeper agents to carry explosives across the border into France in June 2018. Their intended destination was an international gathering of Iranian expatriates and their political supporters, but fortunately the plan was foiled before it could be carried out.<\/p>\n

Had it been successful, the bomb plot might have killed hundreds, including any number of the high-profile dignitaries who had traveled to the convention space<\/a> near Paris in order to participate in the event. There is little question that the main target was Maryam Rajavi<\/a>, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That outcome seems more feasible than many Western policymakers would be inclined to admit. In fact, it was apparently on the basis of widespread concerns about a new revolution that the regime ordered its diplomat, Assadollah Assadi<\/a>, to spearhead an operation intended to deliver a devastating blow to the Resistance movement. Those concerns, in turn, stem from the reality of large-scale protests that have rocked Iran under the mullahs\u2019 rule throughout much of its existence, but especially in the past three years.<\/p>\n

In the final days of 2017, an economic protest in the city of Mashhad became the spark for a nationwide uprising that encompassed roughly 150 cities and towns. As it spread, the movement took on a much broader political tone, culminating in ubiquitous chants of \u201cdeath to the dictator\u201d and other slogans that clarified the popular desire for regime change and the lack of belief in any promises of reform coming from the political mainstream.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIran\u2019s Year of Uprising\u201d<\/div><\/div>
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