Behind the Headlines/september 4

Jamshid Chalangi:

In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines:

The free fall in the value of Iranian rila continues;

Hassan Rouhani blames the current economic crisis in Iran on the former regime;

An increase in the number of sex tourists to Iran’s holy cities;

We discuss these topics with our guests, Mehdi Khazali and Khosrow Forouhar.

Mehdi Khazali:

You mentioned that 3 million people live under poverty line in Iran. I must make a correction here and say that as a result of the fall in the value of our national currency, the actual figure is 5 million people.

Two young Iranians who have been protesting on the streets of Iran have given the nation the right message that so long as this dictatorship rules Iran, nothing will change.

Mohammad Javad Zarif’s message to the Iranian people has been that “you chose this life for yourself”. He is right, until the day that we choose to rid ourselves from these appalling conditions, our situation will be the same. We must unite to end these conditions. The youth must unite with those peddlers on the streets to choose a better future for Iran.

However, we are in favor of peaceful change through civil protests for fundamental changes in Iran. In the current Majles no one shouts “death to Mousavi” but in the previous one they did. This is a progress.

And in the next Majles we must have 50 percent of the deputies from among the opposition groups to reform our laws and protect the civil rights of our people. But if we opt for an uprising and another revolution, the country might be partitioned and we are not after such scenario.

Jamshid Chalangi:

Actually, the argument that if this regime falls Iran will be partitioned is a tactic for the regime to continue its existence.

Mehdi Khazali:

You are right. The regime uses this argument to scare the Iranian people that if it is overthrown, Iran will become another Syria. I hope this will never happen and the Iranian people will succeed in removing the current irresponsible officials from power.

Khosrow Forouhar:

I take issue with Mr Khazali’s points of view and it is rather painful to see that he still believes that we can turn Iran into a wonderland through the current Islamic constitution. His argument is that every revolution will end in disaster and we must avoid it.

Revolution is one thing, rioting, which is what happened back in 1979, is something different. What happened then was a blind hatred of the Pahlavi dynasty, without any intention to bring peace, prosperity and democracy for the people.

Some revolutions, like the French revolution, aimed to achieve freedom and liberty but the Islamic revolution was a blind religious rioting and until such daythat we come out of its horrible consequences Iranians will not see a day of happiness and prosperity.

Today the Iranian youth have made this clear that they will not follow people like Mousavi whose hands are smeared with the blood of thousands of Iranian Baha’is and personally ordered the removal of the pictures of ayatollah Montazeri.

We live in the 21st century and no one is interested in following Mehdi Karoubi any more. We live in an age that the regime’s leadership is scared of the Iranian youth having access to the Internet and the regime’s president is a liar and holds a fake doctorate and his ministers do not speak a second language.

Our youth as the future of Iran believe that their motherland has been destroyed by a bunch of corrupt gang who has sold out the Caspian Sea to the Russians and the Persian Gulf to the Chinese.

Today anyone who speaks about reform within this regime is a supporter of a regime that has brought so many miseries onto our people and country.