Behind the Headlines/April 17

Jamshid Chalangi:

We continue tonight’s program with looking at the arrival of the Iraqi and Lebanese militia forces into Iran and find out what is the real reason for the presence of these armed forces in our country amid so much problems that it is facing?

The question is why do we need to rely on foreign armed militias to enter our country from Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan under the guise of helping the flood victims, when our own voluntary people are stopped by the authorities for doing the same thing?

We put these questions to our guests of tonight, Bahram Moshiri in US and Mohammad Nourizad in Tehran.

Mohammad Nourizad:

I have visited the flood hit cities of Ahwaz and Abadan as well as Sousangerd and Dezful in recent days.

They have all been submerged under water and many farming lands and properties have been destroyed.

The worst thing about this flood apart from its economic devastation is the humiliating way in which the people of affected areas have been resettled in shabby camps with little help.

The Horalazim land that is shared between Iran and Iraq contains many oilfields but in order to keep the flow of oil exploration the Iranian authorities have diverted the flood onto the vast farming lands that have destroyed crops and killed animals on its path.

This is a natural disaster worsened by human misdeeds.

Bahram Moshiri:

All actions of the Iranian regime are abnormal and against international conventions.

While it despatches its own forces to the trouble spots of the world in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, it has now imported armed militias from these parts of the world into our country to supposedly help the flood victims.

It has barred the Red Cross aid workers from doing their jobs properly.

The invitation for these foreign militias to come to Iran has been from the Revolutionary Guards, which has now been listed as a terrorist organisation by the US.

This means the people of the region who have a negative view of the Guards look upon this development with fury and this raises the possibility of more anti- Iran sentiments.