Condemnation and silence: the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ seen from Tehran
Grand ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani recently wrote a letter to Saudi King Abdallah denouncing his country's intervention in Bahrain. He called on the king to pull out its troops, which have violently crushed a local Shia uprising. He told him to apologise to the people of Bahrain; otherwise, he would soon be punished by God.
Yesterday, 200 Majlis deputies issued a similar statement, slamming Saudi Arabia for interfering in the internal affairs of Bahrain, urging the king to use his armed forces in the struggle against Israel.
Today, Bahrain Shias sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asking for his support and blessing. “We are in pain and have nothing but resistance and readiness for martyrdom to help us,” they said.
Iranians are scandalised by the fact most anti-government protests in the small Gulf kingdom are Shias like the people in power in Tehran.
At the start of the ‘jasmine’ uprising, the demonstrations were seen as part of an “Islamic awakening”. Now that Iranian interests are being affected, Islam is no longer seen as important, and the country’s strategic alliances have come into play.
The unrest in Syria, which is fuelled by the country’s Sunni majority, has found no space in Iranian media, which are controlled by the regime.
One of the few reports about demonstrations in Damascus and Deraa blamed “foreign forces”, thus echoing statements by President Bashar al-Assad. A hard-line website went even further, calling on the government to send “Hezbollah warriors, Iranian or not,” to Syria and Bahrain.
At the same time, Kuwait just uncovered and condemned an espionage ring involving Iranians. Together with other (Arab) Gulf States, it slammed Tehran’s attempt to undermine “security and stability” in the country by stirring “sectarian seditions”.
Iran’s position on the revolution in Libya is more muddled. On the one hand, Tehran backs the rebels; on the other, it has condemned the NATO action.
Paradoxically, Gaddafi was once one of Tehran’s best friends. However, after the latest revelations that Libyans were responsible for the death of Moussa Sadr, a Lebanese Shia cleric who disappeared in 1978, relations between Iran and the dictator in Tripoli have cooled considerably.
Still, the condemnation of NATO is an attempt to avoid creating a precedent because Iran has always opposed the intervention of foreign powers in the Middle East.
Domestically though, the crackdown against opponents to the ruling mullocracy continues. More liberal activists and public figures have been arrested in recent days, following the attack against the funeral of Mir Hossein Moussavi’s father, which ended in the detention of 20 people.
Moussavi was not allowed to attend the funeral.
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04/03/2011
