29 September 2016
By Amir Taheri
Ever since they seized power in 1979, Iran's ruling mullahs have faced the
challenge of forging a synthesis between perception and reality. In almost
every case, attempts at replacing reality with the perception of an ideal ends
in grief. And in many cases, the ideological regime is prepared to sacrifice
reality to perception. What matters is how things look, not how they are.
Iran's Khomeinist regime is the latest illustration of that. The seizure of
American hostages in 1979 ended with a disaster for the Iranian economy, not
to mention the nation's prestige. Yet, the ayatollah declared victory over the
''Great Satan.''
In 1988, the eight-year war with Iraq had a humiliating end for the Islamic
Republic. But, there too Khomeini crowed about his triumph, and ordered the
execution of thousands of prisoners to divert attention.
More recently, President Hassan Rouhani labelled the so-called nuclear deal
the ''greatest diplomatic victory in the history of Islam'' while accepting
some of the most humiliating terms dictated to an Iranian government even at
times of historic weakness.
Over the years, most nations have learned to treat the Islamic Republic
leaders in Tehran as snooty teenagers who would fall in line as long as they
don't lose face. Last month, the Foreign Minister Muhammad Jawad Zarif toured
a number of Latin American countries with bankrupt leftist regimes and
reported that the Islamic Republic was now the leader of a new bloc of
revolutionary powers. It didn't matter that Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and
Venezuela didn't have even two farthings to rub against each other. The Tehran
Foreign Ministry's Economic Director-General, a certain Mr. Haqbin, had the
temerity to declare Zarif ''a gift to mankind'' for ''having created a new
framework for global prosperity.''
For two decades the Islamic Republic has tried to become a full member of the
so-called Shanghai Group, an alliance led by Russia and China. Every year,
Tehran's application is politely set aside. And every year, Tehran declares
''great diplomatic victory'' because of a promise to examine the application
the following year.
It is also two decades that the Islamic Republic declares ''diplomatic
victory'' regarding an agreement on the status of the Caspian Sea by the
littoral states. And, yet, all four states that share the sea with Iran- that
is to say Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan-, have simply
isolated Iran and continue to do as they please regardless. Russia has even
violated three treaties under which the Caspian must be free of a military
presence.
Last month, Zarif went all the way to Laos to persuade a summit of the
Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to admit Iran as a member. Back in
Tehran, he declared the usual ''diplomatic triumph of Islam'' ignoring the
fact that the Vientiane summit shelved the Iranian demand with a promise to
examine it a year later. Instead, the same summit admitted Chile and Morocco
as members, neither of them even in Asia.
Earlier this year Tehran was preparing for what it hoped would be an even
greater ''diplomatic triumph'', persuading the Saudis to play the mullahs'
script by allowing the mullahs to appear as if they could dictate the terms
under which Iranians would perform the Hajj rites. Soon, however, it became
clear that this time the Saudis would not play the role written for them in a
script designed to deceive the Iranians, other Muslims, and indeed the whole
world.
The mullahs had played a similar game in 1987, triggering a tragedy in which
more than 400 pilgrims died and, later, in 1997 when they used their favourite
tactic of taqiyah (dissimulation) to resume their attempt at the
politicization of the Hajj rites.
An account of the prelude to that attempt is given by Ayatollah Ray-Shahri,
the mullah who led the Iranian pilgrims at the time. In his memoirs published
in Tehran, the ayatollah recalls a meeting between the then Saudi Crown Prince
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and the Islamic Republic President Hashemi Rafsanjani
in Pakistan during the Islamic Summit.
Ray Shahri makes it clear that Rafsanjani was trying to persuade the Saudi
leader to allow Iran to play a game of deception by pretending that the
pilgrims in Mecca had responded to Ayatollah Khomeini's call for mass
demonstration.
Rafsanjani
wanted a space, any space, in which a few Iranians would gather, make films
for TV and show it in Tehran to say the entire pilgrimage paid tribute to
Khomeini and his policies.
It
would be an exercise in make-believe, like a Cecil Be DeMille movie made in a
studio.
Khomeini would be deceived, Iranians would be deceived and the regime would
declare another triumph. Ray Shahri quotes part of the dialogue verbatim.
It is a valuable historic document. Here it is:
Crown Prince Abdullah: What is this Hajj
pilgrimage leader you have named?
Why don't you appoint someone who obeys
you? We have had enough, enough of suffering about what happened before (in
previous Hajj seasons). Non-Muslims laugh at us. We've had enough. As one
Iranian brother has told us you could do your demonstration in the desert or
in Europe.
President
Rafsanjani: We've a clear solution to offer. There is no need for either of us
to be concerned.
Crown Prince
Abdullah: Let me tell you something which is from the time of the Shah. It
shows that Iranian people have always been Muslims. The only nation that came
for Hajj in good discipline was the Iranians. They knew where they were and
what they should do. In Arafat, Mina and elsewhere they had the best places.
We welcomed them and offered full facilities.
President Rasfanjani: Let me make a deal
with you, a final deal. I have also talked to {your} foreign minister. For
example, if you give us a mosque anywhere in Mecca, even a very small mosque
we could agree on the number of people {for demonstration}.
Crown Prince Abdullah: Why couldn't they
perform Hajj as before? Weren't Iranians who did it before also Muslims?
President Rafsanjani: Things changed
since we created an Islamic government. We'll solve it, you won't have any
problem.
Crown Prince Abdullah:
But God created the Iranian people as Muslims from the beginning of creation.
President Rafsanjani: But before we had
the Shah. Give us a tent, a small tent; say for 500 to 1000 people {to make a
film for TV}
Crown Prince
Abdullah: Why not in your assigned place (ba'atha)?
President Rafsanjani: We accept even in
our place. We won't fix loudspeakers and make no announcement. We'll have
people there to pray, say for half an hour or an hour, won't give the news to
any newspaper, the footage will be shown only in Iran. No loudspeakers.
Crown Prince Abdullah: No need for
loudspeakers. God can hear even the prayer of an ant.
President Rafsanjani: With this
arrangement you will be Ok and we will be comfortable.
Ray Shahri then relates how the ''Supreme Guide'' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
ignored Rafsanjani's promises to the Saudi leader and how thousands of Islamic
Revolutionary Guard members and security agents went on a rampage in Mecca.
This year, President Hassan Rouhani, a disciple of Rasfanjani tried the same
trick aimed at deceiving the Saudis presumably with Khamenei's consent. This
time, however, the technique didn't work.
Amir Taheri was born in Ahvaz, southwest Iran, and educated in Tehran,
London and Paris. He was Executive Editor-in-Chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran
(1972-79). In 1980-84, he was Middle East Editor for the Sunday Times. In
1984-92, he served as member of the Executive Board of the International Press
Institute (IPI). Between 1980 and 2004, he was a contributor to the
International Herald Tribune. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, the
New York Post, the New York Times, the London Times, the French magazine
Politique Internationale, and the German weekly Focus. Between 1989 and 2005,
he was editorial writer for the German daily Die Welt. Taheri has published 11
books, some of which have been translated into 20 languages. He has been a
columnist for Asharq Alawsat since 1987. Taheri's latest book "The Persian
Night" is published by Encounter Books in London and New York.
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