#Iran: Hassan Rouhani Is Not the Moderate You’re Looking For

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NCRI – Hassan Rouhani, the president of the Iranian Regime, insisted last month that his country would continue to develop ballistic missiles in clear defiance of the latest American sanctions and the UN resolution that surrounds the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

For those who continue- in spite of all available evidence- to see Rouhani as a “moderate” leader who should be supported against the Regime’s “hardliners”, this will be disappointing and perhaps confusing.

Those people should understand that there is no such thing as moderates and hardliners within the Regime; it is fake news.

Yes, Rouhani has made promises (freeing political prisoners) and said some things (criticising the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as the “government with a gun”) during his two presidential campaigns that make him sound like he is someone that the West should work with, but he does not believe them and will not act upon them.

He said those things to fool the West into supporting him- the Iranian people know better than to trust a Regime member- and sure enough, he has gone back on his word.

He failed to free any of the political prisoners who were imprisoned because of their involvement in the 2009 protests against election fraud during his first term, and since his second term began earlier this year, he has voiced his support for the IRGC- even calling the “beloved” by the Iranian people.

The IRGC, a notorious military body that answers only to Iran’s unelected Supreme Leader, was designated as a terrorist organization by the US in October. By no stretch of the imagination is the IRGC, which is responsible for some of the most horrific human rights violations in the world, beloved by the Iranian people.

On a day that honours Cyrus the Great, the ancient ruler of the Persian empire, and is usually marked by a gathering outside of his tomb in Pasargadae, 500 miles south of Tehran, the IRGC implemented a widespread crackdown on freedom of assembly because they were scared that a large gathering of the Iranian people would erupt into mass protests.

How badly do you have to treat your people that you fear a mass protests if you let them gather in remembrance?

The IRGC blocked all roads to the tomb and patrolled the area in motorcades and helicopters, threatening to arrest anyone who wanted to join the rally, yet Rouhani didn’t criticise the IRGC or defend the Iranian people’s rights. Given that Rouhani presided over more than 3,000 executions during his first term, it is not surprising that he really doesn’t care about the rights of the Iranian people.

Still the Iranian people defied the IRGC to attend the gathering anyway because the state cannot suppress the will of the people.

It should be clear to everyone that the Iranian people are the victims of the Iranian Regime and that the only way to ensure peace and security for the people is by supporting their overthrow of the Regime.

Amir Basiri, an Iranian human rights activist, wrote on the Washington Examiner: “While proponents of rapprochement with the Iranian regime will continue to hope against hope that some form of moderation will emerge from within the regime, the Iranian people know better than to rely on the hollow promises of duplicitous figures such as Rouhani.”

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