Nuclear Deal or Not, Iranians' Fight for Democracy Will Continue

LONDON, July 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

In London, British Foreign Minister William Hague has told the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung that achieving a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers "was far from certain and significant differences still remain," but has hoped that the current negotiations are the best opportunity in years to resolve this issue.

France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius has also hinted at growing differences between the Western countries in the talks by saying that "in recent days, representatives in the negotiations have put forward a certain number of different approaches."

In Tehran meanwhile, president Rouhani's spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht has told reporters that the Iranian government, "has drawn up contingency plans for more sanctions in the event of the failure of the nuclear talks."

With the deadline of 20 July for a final agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group only a few days away, comments of this sort can be interpreted as advance warnings for a possible collapse of the talks, given that Iran's supreme dictator Ali Khamenei has also said this week that Tehran could eventually need "tens of thousands of centrifuges" for its nuclear program, the most controversial issue at the heart of the current negotiations.

There is no doubt that any just and lasting solution to Iran's nuclear crisis is welcomed by all peace-loving people of the world, as the prospect of nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranian regime would lead to other countries to feel the need to prepare their own deterrents in a region already fraught with wars, violence and terrorism.

However, Iran is not confined to the Islamic republic regime. It belongs to the Iranian people, the majority of whom have shown on more than one occasion that they do not believe this regime is willing or capable of protecting their national interests.

As such, world powers may enter a deal with the Islamic republic officials but that does not necessarily mean that this deal would ultimately guarantee peace, freedom and prosperity for the Iranian people so long as they live under the tyrannical rule of this regime.

To achieve these long overdue objectives, the Iranian people will use the new conditions that a just deal may bring to their country, but no one should expect that they would close their eyes to the "significant differences" that they too have with the despotic rulers who have landed them in this quagmire of international isolation and crippling sanctions in the first place.

Dr Behrooz Behbudi
contact@bbehbudi.com