{"id":233325,"date":"2021-01-19T06:38:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T11:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=233325"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:21:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:21:32","slug":"iran-expect-claims-of-moderation-in-the-remaining-months-of-rouhanis-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/iran-expect-claims-of-moderation-in-the-remaining-months-of-rouhanis-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran: Expect Claims of Moderation in the Remaining Months of Rouhani\u2019s Term"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rouhani-Executions-400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just last week, the Iranian regime took two virtually simultaneous provocative steps by resuming the enrichment of uranium to 20 percent fissile purity and also seizing a South Korean chemical tanker in an apparent bid to extort the Asian nation of seven billion dollars that are currently frozen in accordance with US sanctions.<\/p>\n

Tehran\u2019s disinterest in cooperative relations with foreign powers could hardly be clearer. Yet many Western leaders continue to press for policies that are designed to facilitate that cooperation, particularly through negotiation with \u201cmoderates\u201d who are supposedly in charge of the regime\u2019s executive. In this sense, they are parroting talking points that have been prevalent since the 2013 election of Iran\u2019s current president, Hassan Rouhani, but that actually go back to the early days of the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n

For Western policymakers, Iran is frequently the object of fantasies about an easy transition to governance, brought about through trade and negotiations that just happen to also serve European and American economic interests.<\/p>\n

That fantasy has been put on display against the backdrop of some of the Iranian regime\u2019s worst crimes. In 1988, when \u201cdeath commissions<\/a>\u201d in prisons all throughout the country were systematically executing 30,000 political prisoners<\/a>, Western media were running stories that insisted social reform was on the rise in Iran because, for instance, the Ayatollah had announced that people would be permitted to play chess in public.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
1988 Massacre of political prisoners in Iran<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>