{"id":18766,"date":"2020-01-17T17:47:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T22:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=18766"},"modified":"2020-01-17T17:47:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T22:47:07","slug":"struan-stevenson-soleimanis-assassination-isnt-enough-to-end-the-evil-that-lurks-in-irans-regime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/2020\/01\/17\/struan-stevenson-soleimanis-assassination-isnt-enough-to-end-the-evil-that-lurks-in-irans-regime\/","title":{"rendered":"Struan Stevenson: Soleimani\u2019s Assassination Isn\u2019t Enough to End the Evil That Lurks in Iran\u2019s Regime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Struan Stevenson’s article on the Scottish daily The Herald explained that Soleimani\u2019s Assassination Isn\u2019t Enough to End the Evil That Lurks in Iran\u2019s Regime<\/strong><\/small><\/p>\n

Written by\u00a0Mahmoud Hakamian<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a017 January 2020.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0<\/span>an article<\/span><\/a>\u00a0published by Scottish daily The Herald on Thursday, Struan Stevenson, a former Member of the European Parliament representing\u202fScotland\u202fand the president of the Parliament\u2019s Delegation for Relations with Iraq, explained that the elimination of\u00a0Qassem Soleimani<\/a>, chief of\u00a0Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>isn\u2019t enough to<\/span>\u00a0end the\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>r<\/span>anian r<\/span>egime\u2019s institutionalized terrorism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soleimani was immediately replaced by another criminal IRGC commander,\u00a0<\/span>Esmail<\/span>\u00a0Ghaani<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike his ruthless predecessor,\u00a0Ghaani\u00a0<\/a>ha<\/span>s taken up the post of Commander in Chief of the\u00a0terrorist Quds Force<\/a>, the extra-territorial wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),\u201d\u00a0<\/span>wrote\u00a0<\/span>Mr. Stevenson.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith blood on his hands,\u202fGeneral\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani<\/span>\u00a0is the Ayatollahs\u2019 ideal choice to take command of their equivalent of the Gestapo. He has spent years actively repressing the\u202fpeople\u202fof Iran while aiding the theocratic regime\u2019s policy of aggressive expansionism across the Middle East and further afield,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Referring to\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani’s<\/span>\u00a0long records of crimes<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0M<\/span>r<\/span>. Stevenson wrote<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0“He served as Soleimani\u2019s deputy for the past 20 years, rising quickly through the ranks after helping to crush the Kurdish uprising following the overthrow of the Shah in the 1979 revolution.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Soleimani focused on the Iranian regime\u2019s proxy wars in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq,\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0job was to bolster terrorist militias in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Africa,\u201d read Mr. Stevenson\u2019s article.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2014,\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0focus has increasingly turned to the Middle East. During the war against Isis in Iraq, he was seen several times in Quds Force delegations\u00a0<\/span>organising<\/span>\u00a0the genocidal campaign against the predominantly Sunni population of al-Anbar province, where hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were ethnically cleansed from the ancient cities of Fallujah and Ramadi and later from Mosul, in the Governorate of Nineveh,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Keen to cement his place as the new Quds Force commander, immediately following Soleimani\u2019s funeral in Tehran,\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani<\/span>\u00a0met with Ismail Haniyeh, chief of the terrorist Hamas and his deputy Saleh al-<\/span>Arouri<\/span>\u00a0and other Hamas politburo members,\u201d said Mr. Stevenson.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his article<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Mr. Stevenson also argued that\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0\u201ctough talk and his bloodstained past\u201d has done \u201clittle to dent the determination of the Islamic Republic\u2019s 80 million, careworn and struggling population, who have taken to the streets in their hundreds of thousands in recent weeks in protest at the venal corruption of the ruling mullahs and their wanton spending on conflict and terror.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Referring to the nationwide Iran protests in November, and the regime\u2019s brutal crackdown<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Mr. Stevenson wrote<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0\u201cThe brutal crackdown on the protests ordered by Khamenei and enthusiastically implemented by\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0predecessor Soleimani, saw IRGC thugs shoot dead 1,500 young demonstrators, including 400 women, wounding 4,000 and arresting over 12,000.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also referred t<\/span>o t<\/span>he leading role played by the\u00a0People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK)<\/a>\u00a0\u201cResistance Units\u201d during the\u00a0Iran protests<\/a>\u00a0and wrote, \u201cThe courageous\u00a0People\u2019s Mojahedin of Iran\/ Mojahedin-e-Khalq (PMOI\/MEK)<\/a>\u00a0resistance units who have played a central role in\u00a0<\/span>organizing<\/span>\u00a0the uprising, will not be cowed by\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0arrival on the scene.\u202f\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

R<\/span>ecounting\u00a0<\/span>the bogus claim of the Iranian regime in taking a so-called \u201cHarsh Revenge\u201d\u00a0<\/span>on\u00a0<\/span>the United States for eliminating Soleimani and\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0role in this show, Mr. Stevenson\u00a0<\/span>w<\/span>rote<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0\u201cBut\u00a0<\/span>Ghaani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0immediate priority, on orders from the supreme leader, will be to avenge the assassination of Soleimani. He will certainly have supervised the launch of more than 20 missiles targeting two American military bases in Iraq in the early hours of 7th January,\u201d but\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>The missiles caused no casualties and limited damage.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can be certain that all is not well in Iran. Ghaani will assuredly now be engaged in detailed planning for a major terrorist outrage,\u201d Mr. Stevenson continued<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0concluding that Ghaani \u201c<\/span>w<\/span>ill be keen to show Iran\u2019s supreme leader that he is a worthy successor to Soleimani and his only credible way of doing that will be by executing an act of unspeakable horror against the enemies of the Islamic Republic. Soleimani\u2019s blood-spattered demise should act as a warning to Ghaani, that like the Mafia Godfathers of old, there is no impunity for the perpetrators of evil.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Struan Stevenson is the Coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change (<\/span><\/i>CiC<\/span><\/i>). He was a member of the European Parliament representing\u202f<\/span><\/i>Scotland<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u202f(1999-2014), president of the Parliament\u2019s Delegation for Relations with Iraq (2009-14) and chairman of the Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (2004-14). He is an international lecturer on the Middle East and president of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA)\u202f<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Struan Stevenson’s article on the Scottish daily The Herald explained that Soleimani\u2019s Assassination Isn\u2019t Enough to End the Evil That Lurks in Iran\u2019s Regime Written […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":18767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18766"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18768,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18766\/revisions\/18768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}