Iran: An Iranian Perspective

By Fae MacArthur Clark

The French newspaper Le Monde published an interesting little article this week in the wake of long awaited talks between Iran and the P5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China). The article comes from an interesting angle that appears to have been largely missing from the English language media coverage: an Iranian perspective. Le Monde interviewed five individuals of Iranian origin and otherwise diverse backgrounds about their views on Iran's nuclear program.

The resulting short essays make quite an interesting read (unfortunately google's translation of the page is abysmal so I'll do my best to translate the relevant parts below).

Ali Rastbeen, founder and president of the Paris Academy of Geopolitics, writes about US-Iranian political relations, pointing to disagreements over nuclear energy as only part of the relationship. He writes "Since 1979 Washington has used nothing but demonstrations of force towards resolving its differences with Iran. The Iranian regime who, by their nature, have need of a pretext to turn public opinion away from questions of domestic policy, have never ceased to play with this political struggle against the US."

Jaleh Bradea, presenter of the French television show "Women's Destinies", takes a different approach. She writes "I dream that my two small sons, half French, born in France, will one day have the choice to live in a democratic Iran, one which perhaps we might help in building. A democratic country who, if all the other countries keep their nuclear weapons, will also have that right. For its securitye, their security... I think of the mother of Neda (the symbol of the recent protests by the Iranian people) and of all the young people killed or tortured for an ideal Iran for which they fight at the cost of their lives... They do not care about nuclear power, they would just love a bare minimum of liberty and security... I am always afraid that in all the geopolitical discourse, economic and strategic interests, and relations between Iran and the international community, we forget what counts most in my eyes: the Iranian people."

Ehsan Emami, president of the telecommunications company Mediaserv, comes from an altogether different angle, stating "I remember still the beautiful pictures the secret service so skillfully painted of bunkers in the Afghan mountains filled with the most modern and destructive weapons. And what did they find? Some caves several meters deep, without technology, without water, without electricity." And pointing similarly to the predictions of WMDs in Iraq.

Ramin Parham, author of The Secret History of the Iranian Revolution, quotes Mohsen Makhmalbaf, one of the spokespeople of the recent "Green Revolution" in Iran, "The Iranian green movement does not want an atomic bomb!" and places his hopes in the the green revolution.

Ataollah Mohajerani, former minister of culture under Iranian president Khatami, completely rewrites the basis of contention. This is not the US and the international community vs. a nuclear Iran, it is Iran vs. a unipolar US. He recommends that anyone troubled by current events "take a visit to the Museum of Peace at Hiroshima", but his argument does go beyond this sort of rhetoric. "The principle question is this," he writes, "is the American attitude commensurate with that of the international community?"

These arguments each differ in varying degrees from those most commonly bandied about in the US media. However, they do each have something interesting to bring to the table. Perhaps empassioned pleas to think of the Iranian people, and excessive confidence in the potential of the Green revolution will not have amazing affects upon the shape of policy towards Iran, but they do make us think of aspects of Iranian and world politics that must be taken into consideration in any plans to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

[All quotes are in translation and subsequently not direct quotations. I am not a professional tranlator. All translation is approximate.]