Behind the Headlines/June 11, 2018

Jamshid Chalangi:

In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines we will discuss the relationship between the reformist factions and the regime in Iran.

Our guests tonight are Amir Hossein Etemadi (in Washington) and Massoud Moyaedi speaking to us from Tehran. Amir Hossein Movahedi, a journalist based on Meshkin Shahr, also joins us.

While the world is focused on the meeting between President Trump and the North Korean leader Kim, the news about Iran is still followed with much interest.

My question tonight is why after forty year of its rule, the Islamic republic regime is still unable to pay the wags of workers and civil servants?

Amir Hossein Etemadi:

We can say that this is directly related to the regime’s foreign policy. You cannot wage war against the rest of the world with your ideological beliefs and call for the death of America and the annihilation of Israel, and yet within that same world expect to solve the problems of unemployment and your closed factories.

Massoud Moyaedi:

In addition to the reasons that Mr Etemadi mentioned, we have the issue of so many incompetent and ignorant ministers and managers who are in high positions in Iran.

There is a minister who has been in is office for the last 37 years and all he has done has been wrong but no one can remove him. It is the same story with managers of the industries.

Amir Hossein Etemadi:

In this regime all that matters is your ideological allegiance and being an obedient servant and managerial skills do not count.

Massoud Moyaedi:

Officials like Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ali Akbar Salehi are educated and disciplined but they are liars and pretend that that they are religious men to retain their high positions, because the regime is based on hypocrisy.

We have a problem of people saying something but doing something else as within this regime only people with double standard grow and operate.

Amir Hossein Etemadi:

It is impossible to reform this regime because corruption and hypocrisy are the foundations upon which it operates. All macro decisions are made somewhere else and this regime is not accountable to anyone.

Massoud Moyaedi:

Despite that I believe the system can be reformed and the best way for that is to abide by the articles of the Constitution, which remain dormant.