Behind the Headlines/January 11

In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines we will look at the speech of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Cairo University and his emphasis on the support of the Trump administration for the Iranian people, as well as his criticism of the Obama government for turning the Middle East into its current situation.

In response to Pompeo’s comments Iran’s Javad Zarif has said that the US needs to come to terms with the fact that “it has lost Iran”.

Meanwhile Allaudin Boroujerdi, the head of Majles National Security Council Committee has called on EU not to leave Iranian markets and continue doing business with Iran.

Our guests tonight to discuss these issues are Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh and Mr Hassan Shariatmadari.

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

The choice of Cairo University by Pompeo for his speech has been very clever as it was here that Obama spoke nine years ago with a hint of criticism of the then Egyptian government as though he was the leader of the opposition in that country.

The US government under Obama was flirting with the Muslim Brotherhood but the Egyptian people were under the impression that US was trying to help them.

But as it turned out, Washington was after ousting Mubarak, the same way that the Carter administration treated the Shah and backed away from supporting him.

However, only a year later the Egyptian people rose up and ended the disastrous rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Today Mr Pompeo speaks with a different language to the Egyptians and truly wants to help them; in the same way that Mr Trump intends to help the Iranian people.

I believe the contents of Mr Pompeo’s speech and his view of a new Middle East has caused a lot fear among the rulers of the Iranian regime.

Hassan Shariatmadari:

I believe the most significant change in US strategy for the Middle East is that they have abandoned the idea that such thing as a “moderate political Islam” exists and it is only a cover for the radicals to pursue their political aims in the Middle East.

As such, the US is now throwing its support behind the secular forces that canbring peace and progress to the region, including the people of Iran and Egypt.