Behind the Headlines/February 12

In tonight’s program we will look at the fortieth anniversary of the Islamic revolution and discuss where Iran is heading with a population miredwith prostitution, corruption, unemployment and drug addiction.

Our guests tonight to discuss these issues are Reza Taghizadeh and the leader of Iran’s National Front Party Koroush Zaim.

Reza Taghizadeh:

One of the symbols of the situation in the Iran of today is the bankruptcy of its ruling regime. People keep comparing the current situation in the country with what it was before the revolution andrealize what they have lost in the process.

The regime however is trying to cover up its failures with grandstanding the supposedly achievements of the revolution and wiping out from the memory of the people what Iran had been before theycame to power.

The late Dr Bakhtiar had once said that during the time of the Shah all the talks about the country’s progress and the corruption were nonsense. I wish he was alive today and could see for himself how Iran has gone backward for many decades and corruption is everywhere.

Forty years ago a US dollar was equivalent to 7 tomans, it is now 15000 toamns to a single dollar. The value of our national currency, which is supposed to represent the state of our nation, has taken a free fall and so has Iran’s position in the world under this regime.

Koroush Zaim:

I think the only reason for the revolution was the political repression. The former regime would not allow any political party or group to operate freely and all state run parties were just puppets of the regime.

We had no freedom of speech or association and people and intellectuals were dissatisfied with the closed society.

However, it is true that on other issues such as the economy we had progressed and after Japan we were the second largest economy in Asia.

I remember when the South Korean president at the time visited Iran he told the Shah that he wished Iran could give its own car manufacturing plants to South Korea so it could become a world leader in that industry!