khalijefars News, Blogs, Art and Community
We begin tonight’s edition of A Window to the Fatherland with Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh reading one of his poems from the book of his collected works.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
We continue the program with looking at some of the latest news stories about Iran, in discussion with our special guest of every Thursday, Dr. Mohsen Sazegara.
Mohammad Baqer Nobakht has now resigned from his post as the spokesman for the Rouhani government and Abdul Nasser Hemati has been appointed the new Governor of Central Bank of Iran, just as the free fall of Iranian currency continues.
What is your take about these changes in the Rouhani cabinet?
Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:
I sincerely feel for our Iranian compatriots who are going through extremely difficult times, which can only be described as sad and heartening.
When you look at the statistics, you note that the earning of every single Iranian family has been reduced by 70% since last year this time and the devastating mismanagement of Iran’s economy is primarily directed at the hard working families. And there is one man responsible for all these miseries and calamities and his name is Ali Khamenei.
However, today’s conditions in Iran were predictable, as the value of Iranian rial has been dropping continuously over the last 40 years under the present regime. I do not hold any hope for Mr. Hemati’s economic plan to succeed as Iran’s economic system must change fundamentally and our national currency must change to start with.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
Iran is now a country where you do not know who is in charge of what and what policy, if any, all government agencies must follow as on the one hand we have the Rouhani government which is divided itself, and on the other hand we have these powerful mafia-like interest groupings who control the markets and set the value of rial and foreign currencies disregard of any state policy.
This must be a completely bankrupted economy that a short comment from Trump determines the value of Iran’s national currency by the hour.
Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:
We also have some people who call themselves “economist” but they only prescribe left-wing solutions. The first thing to do is to reduce the size of government and stop the massive funds that are paid to the ayatollahs and make Khamenei’s household accountable for the billions of dollars that it receives from the special funds linked to Iran’s oil revenue.
Iran’s judiciary must also be completely overhauled, as it is a den of corruption itself and can never fight the many mafia-groups that control many aspects of Iran’s economy.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
It is interesting you mention the role of the judiciary in spreading the corruption rather than fighting it.
Hamid Baghaie, former deputy to Ahmadinejad who has been on parole has been speaking to cameras outside Evin prison and has said that soon the top leaders of the regime will be replacing him in the prison and has singled out the head of judiciary Sadeq Larijani by his name.
He has even predicted the fall of the regime soon and the opening of the gates of Iran’s political prisons thereafter.
He speaks so confidently and makes one think that he must know something that we do not know.
Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:
There are three scenarios for the fall of the regime:
One is the Israelis, John Bolton and the Mujaheddin believe the regime is falling apart by itself as a result of the US pressures and some within the regime will move fast to replace it;
The second scenario is that just like the former Soviet Union the regime will fall without any foreign intervention, which might prove very dangerous in the absence of a viable alternative to replace it.
And the third scenario is that Khamenei will go all the way to resist change and begins a harsh crackdown on the protesting people, which would be his greatest mistake and would lead to a nationwide uprisingthat will end his regime once for ever.
