{"id":261448,"date":"2022-07-19T22:55:36","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T20:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=261448"},"modified":"2023-02-02T07:41:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T06:41:07","slug":"more-than-ever-confronting-irans-regime-is-both-a-strategic-and-a-moral-imperative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/free-iran-world-summit\/free-iran-2022-world-summit\/more-than-ever-confronting-irans-regime-is-both-a-strategic-and-a-moral-imperative\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than Ever, Confronting Iran\u2019s Regime Is Both a Strategic and a Moral Imperative"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Iran
File photo-Iran nuclear facilities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Sunday, a former Iranian foreign minister and current advisor to the regime\u2019s top leadership, Kamal Kharrazi, told Al Jazeera<\/em> <\/a>that the Iranian regime already has the technical capability to build a nuclear weapon. Kharrazi went on to say that the regime has not made the decision to actively pursue that aim, but such statements are rather clearly designed to promote a narrative of peaceful nuclear development which would allow the regime to one day claim that Western adversaries had \u201cforced\u201d it to direct prior advancements toward military ends.<\/p>\n

Iran regime\u2019s former intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi<\/a>, very nearly admitted to that strategy early last year when he highlighted a fatwa that supposedly bars the country from acquiring nuclear weapons, but then immediately acknowledged that the order could be nullified instantaneously and without consequence. \u201cThe fatwa forbids the production of nuclear weapons, but if they push Iran in those directions,\u201d Alavi said of the US and Europe, \u201cit is not Iran\u2019s fault. Those who pushed Iran in that direction will be to blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Council of Resistance of Iran has long argued that the clerical regime will never give up its ambitions regarding nuclear weapons. According to the NCRI, this and other provocative gestures toward the international community constitute one of two central pillars of the regime\u2019s strategy for maintaining power. The other is the domestic suppression of dissent, and both phenomena have been noticeably accelerating in recent years.<\/p>\n

The suppression of dissent has clearly become more vital than ever for the regime\u2019s survival since Iran has undergone at least nine anti-government uprisings since the end of 2017. This has led many analysts to conclude that the regime is in its most vulnerable situation to date. Although 1,500 peaceful protesters<\/a> were killed in just several days during an uprising in November 2019, demonstrations resumed across much of the country just two months later, signaling that the repressive strategies are failing.<\/p>\n

Under these circumstances, the Resistance and its supporters have promoted the further conclusion that if only pressure were applied to the other pillar of the regime\u2019s survival, then its collapse would follow close behind. Kharrazi\u2019s implicit threat of an imminent nuclear \u201cbreakout\u201d should strongly underscore the value of pursuing that collapse.<\/p>\n

\n

The #IranianResistance<\/a> will hold its annual #FreeIran2022<\/a> Summit: "#Iran<\/a> on the Brink of Change\u201d on July 23 and 24. https:\/\/t.co\/QIEPbIYvdw<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/NIanLHWPRu<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 15, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n