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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 tonight’s program by reporting on the prison sentence on the political dissident and former Majles deputy Dr. Ghassem Shole Sadee by the regime’s judiciary.
We will follow the program with our usual Thursdays talk with Dr. Mohsen Sazegara.
Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:
It must be noted that Dr. Shole Sadee’s imprisonment is related to his courageous open letters to Khamenei in which he has criticised his leadership and now Khamenei’s stooges in the judiciary are taking a revenge on him.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
Is it the case that the leaders of the Islamic republic regime do not realize that their days are numbered now?
Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:
It appears that they do not accept this eventuality. However, that in itself indicates that there is a total confusion and desperation among the regime’s leadership.
As you know, the lorry drivers across Iran have now entered their second day of a national strike and we are talking about more than 360,000 lorries in Iran whose drivers are protesting against the sudden rise in the price of petrol and spare parts. If their strike continues the life- lines of Iran’s devastated economy will be blocked and the regime will have to make a major retreat.
We have had more than six thousand industrial actions and strikes in Iran over the last year and they have been among the vanguards of the civil rights movement in Iran.
However, the only force that can bring down this regime will have to be a general strike by the Iranian industrial workers. That will be when the Iranian nation can show its power to this regime. There is a distinct absence of students’ protest in the current nationwide struggle against the regime though.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
We now have a dispute between the Rouhani cabinet and the judiciary over the issue of the innocence of the environmentalists.
Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:
This seems to be a puzzle. More than 20 people have been arrested in the province of Hormozegan and one of them has been killed in prions and a dozen more have been killed in a plane crash and no one seems to be accountable for any one of these tragic events.
It looks like all these environmentalists had discovered that the regime is up to something suspicious related to the nuclear activities of the Revolutionary Guard and they have paid a price for their knowledge.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
What do you think about the new US policy on Iran?
Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:
In terms of the international laws, the Trump administration’s position on Iran can be criticised. However the reality is that Washington has now a clear strategy to confront the Iranian regime and as John Bolton has said the US must use the language of force that it has at its disposal to speak to dictatorial regimes like the one in Iran.
The US has used this power before and has achieved its aims from it as they are trying to do with North Korea.
In any case, the Islamic republic regime is the main exporter and supporter of international terrorism and this cannot be hidden from the eyes of the international community.
The regime’s leadership is divided on how to react to the new US policy and people like Ali Larijani are asking for immediate direct talks with the Americans but Khamenei is extremely furious and angry and will either have to surrender to the US demands or start a new round of locking horns with them. In any case the regime lacks any popular support for whatever policy it adopts.
