Iran after the nuclear accord – Increasing or decreasing meddling in the Middle East

The main characteristic of the Iranian regime, differencing it from other dictatorial regimes, is its meddling in other countries dubbed by its senior officials as “exporting the revolution”, killings and massacre in other countries. When Khomeini was forced to give in to the 1988 ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War, his regime began focusing on meddling in countries across the Middle East. This meant they had suffered a major defeat in the war with Iraq and sought to compensate their losses through such interferences.

Khamenei, the Iranian regime supreme ruler, accepted the nuclear agreement on 18 July 2015, marking the same day, 18 July 1988, when Khomeini accepted the Iran-Iraq ceasefire.

“We have accepted the nuclear deal, yet it doesn’t mean we will withdraw from providing support and backup for our friends in the countries of Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq,” he said.

Now, my question is will Iran following the nuclear accord decrease or increase its meddling in Middle East countries?

An old map related back to 1982 when it was secretly published amongst Iran’s Revolutionary Guards forces, depicted Iran’s forces assembling and moving from five fronts and gathering in Karbala in southern Iraq, and from there divided and heading towards Jerusalem, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. This is the Iranian regime’s fixed policy dating back to 33 years ago.

Iran is the Godfather of terrorism and in my opinion its meddling will increase following the nuclear deal. The reason is that after Tehran will get a hold of a significant amount of money as a result of this pact. This regime, while under sanctions, was known to send billions for Bashar Assad in Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah. So it’s no hard guess what it will do now with billions it is to receive. The Iranian people are starving but this regime is spending billions of dollars supporting Assad’s forces and proxies killing the Syrian people. The terrorism pursued by the Iranian regime is a state-sponsored type of terror, and Tehran is now relying on this for the region. That is why the mullahs have launched a proxy war in Iraq and Yemen through their militants; and also staging terrorist attacks in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. If the countries of the region fall short of launching countermeasures against Iran’s meddling, Tehran will most definitely continue and expand its meddling. The West and the United States care less about such issues because they merely seek their own interests in the region.

Now, my next question is what must be done vis-à-vis this meddling? In other words, what is the solution for Iran’s terrorist meddling in regional countries?

Yemen and the Saudi-led “Decisive Storm” against the Houthis is the best lesson for regional countries in this regard, meaning in their measures against the Iranian regime. If Saudi Arabia never took action to stop Iran’s advances in Yemen, the situation on the ground would be much different. Therefore, the only solution to stop Iran’s meddling is firm policies. One of the methods adopted by the Iranian regime in this meddling is resorting to deceptive actions. By making a fuss about al-Qaeda and ISIS, Tehran is attempting to force all parties in the region into defensive positions and pursue its own policies. Therefore, everyone must be aware about such deceptive measures.

As I have reminded in previous articles, the formation and expansion of ISIS in Syria was due to Iran’s actions. (You can refer to my previous pieces.) I will just mention that Iran prevented the fall of Bashar Assad by allowing the expansion of ISIS and placing this group against real Syrian opposition groups. If in the first years of the Syrian war regional countries had adopted a policy in Syria similar to the Decisive Storm now in Yemen, not only would there be no ISIS forming in Syria or Iraq, in fact the Iranian regime have been forced to literally sit-down and shut-up.

Following the fall of the former regime in Iraq in 2003 and the occupation of this country by the US, Iran began dispatching its forces into Iraq and expanding it’s meddling in this country. Following failed US policies in Iraq, Washington literally presented Iraq to Iran in a silver plate. The result of these extremely faulty policies was the country of Iraq being engulfed in a bloodbath during the past several years. These days, we are witnessing the Iraqi people staging further demonstrations and uprisings protesting Iran’s meddling in Iraq. Fortunately, Iraqi Prime Minister Dr. al-Abadi has promised the demonstrators to listen to their demands and I hope he will remain loyal to his word. Otherwise, this storm now roaring in Iraq will set him aside.

As an analyst of Middle East politics, I believe Iran’s meddling in other countries is much more dangerous than its nuclear ambitions.

Here I turn my attention to politicians and senior political figures in the Middle East. Either you will stand firm against the bloodthirsty and terrorist-sponsoring regime of Tehran and all its aspects inside your countries, or sooner or later, the terrorist measures by this government will also plague your homelands.

I wanted to also send a message to Dr. Haider al-Abadi as the Prime Minister of Iraq, who has pledged to realize the demonstrators’ demands, that there is only possible solution before him: entirely evicting the Iranian regime and all its aspects from Iraq. There is no middle path in this regard. The path to victory over ISIS and liberating Iraq’s occupied areas also runs through such a policy.