Behind the Headlines/July 11

Jamshid Chalangi:

In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines we speak to Reza Taghizadeh and Sadegh Zibakalam about the same subjects of last week, which were:

Why does the Iranian regime claim that in its absence Iran will become another Syria?

And, what does it mean to be a “reformist” in Iran and what do they want to reform?

Is after 40 years of destructive rule this regime reformable at all?

And why can the Iranian people not have a better system of government for themselves?

We begin with asking why Iran is facing such a sever water shortage?

Sadegh Zibakalam:

The mismanagement of Iran’s water resources has been a major factor in this crisis and at the same time nature has not been kind too as Iran has seen several droughts over the last decade.

I once asked Mr. Araghchi in a gathering at Iran’s Foreign Ministry if the money that they are spending on the nuclear program would not have made the Iranians more prosperous and happier if it were to be spent on providing water for them.

He replied that this is not an issue that his department could handle and it was up to the Majles and ayatollah Khamenei to decide.

Other countries of the region like Israel have the same problem but they use their resources and new technology to overcome it but in Iran no one cares about what happens in the future.

Reza Taghizadeh:

My question to Dr. Zibakalam is this: when you look at the record of 40 years of this regime’s actions and policies that have brought so many calamities to our people and the country, will you still defend it with a rifle in your hand when it faces the threat of being overthrown, as you have said before?

Sadegh Zibakalam:

My argument is not the survival of the regime. I am talking about the survival of Iran as a country.

I am saying that if this regime collapses Iran and the Iranians will not progress and I fear there my not even be an Iran left to talk about its future.

Our central government has kept our many ethnic people together by force and if we do not have a central government left then the country will be partitioned. The lack of democracy in Iran has never solved the deep-rooted problems of our ethnic people.

Reza Taghizadeh:

I believe to try to link the issue of Iran’s national unity and the future of its people to the fate of the Islamic republic regime is a major deceptive argument and is directly advocated by the regime itself.

Any one with the least academic knowledge would know that the nature of Iranian ethnic minorities and the composition of our national identity as Iranians with different religious and ethnic background do not provide any grounds for the partitioning of our country.

The geopolitical factors of the region will never absorb a divided Iran and these facts seriously contradict Mr. Zibakalam’s argument.

Our country has been ruled by a religious dictatorship for the last 40 years and now it has been turned into a satellite regime of a foreign country and acts like its servants.

I am astonished that Dr. Zibakalam ties up the security and prosperity of our people to the continuation of this regime in such a deceptive way and with a big lie. Only the supporters of this dictatorial regime who are using every deception and political trick to sustain it in power would put forward such misleading arguments.