Why has Iran during the past four years been seeking war, exporting terrorism and meddling in other country’s internal affairs?

From day one, this regime has launched a non-stop campaign of warmongering, exporting terrorism and meddling in the internal affairs of other countries. Slogans of promoting Islam and … are mottos the ayatollahs have been deviously thumping their chests with for years now. Despite the atrocious economic conditions the Iranian people are living in, this regime has plundered and literally wasted billions outside of its borders, being in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and beyond. An increasing number of senior commanders, including Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officers being killed in other countries, prove very well Tehran’s meddling abroad. Of course, it has to be taken into consideration that these are cases that the regime is willing to admit to, and there has to be much more we never learn about.

The regime’s senior officials are claiming if their troops don’t fight in Damascus and Iraq, they will be forced to fight and shed blood in Tehran and Isfahan. Now, the question is, who do they have to fight in Tehran and Isfahan that they are so afraid of? There is no doubt that they are referring directly to the threat of further uprisings and nationwide protests as we saw in 2009 following the controversial elections that gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term in office as president. Therefore, the regime has no other choice but to waste the Iranian people’s wealth to further export terrorism and dispatch the IRGC and Quds Force to various different countries in the region to continue all the bloodshed and destruction we are currently witnessing across the Middle East.

After Khomeini gave in to the 1988 ceasefire between Iran and Iraq (which he himself described as a chalice of poison), the first figure who raised his voice was Khomeini’s own deputy, Ayatollah Montazeri. He even dared to say we have to repent to God. Other senior figures such as Rafsanjani (now Khamenei’s archrival) and others also began voicing their opinions. Of course, since Khomeini was in power back then he was able to silence all voices of dissent in an instance. Today, however, the scene is much different and there are many voices heard from here and there. Many are even placing the Iranian regime before this question: Why this and why that?

It is because of the mullahs’ weakness, nothing else.

This regime, with its current domestic and foreign policy, is literally facing the real possibility of crumbling from within. In such circumstances, like it or not, all those in line with this regime, have begun thinking about what must be done? The first and foremost element that is truly questioned is the regime’s policies, all rooted in more and more warmongering. There are many voices being heard against such policies, including the ayatollahs’ nuclear ambitions of which they boast about to such an extent. They argue that due to the international sanctions, lowering oil prices and … the prices of goods inside the country are skyrocketing and the economy is in a free fall. The regime’s senior officials understand very well there is a fire burning beneath in Iran’s society. As a result, there are many officials seeking solutions to relive themselves from such conditions, thinking theirs is the sole solution. This leads to increasing quarrels placing the Rafsanjani-Rouhani faction in a dangerous face-off against the Khamenei faction.

Senior officials are obliged to accept policies dictated by Khamenei and his inner circle. However, the difference between now and back when Khomeini was in power is that the supreme leader position has been undermined to such an extent that officials here and there are found daring to raise their voice against Khamenei himself. For example, the regime’s current president Hassan Rouhani, once a leading figure in the regime’s crackdown apparatus and an advocate of exporting terrorism and the nuclear program, has actually come out and called for a “referendum on the nuclear agreement”. This is a serious shot aimed directly at Khamenei himself. And what is interesting is that Khamenei cannot respond because he knows any such reaction by him will most definitely result in further dogfighting inside his regime that will ultimately engulf his entire rule in flames.

In this period, despite all the repressive measures and censorship inside Iran, the Iranian people understand what the regime is actually up to. Families living in utter poverty who cannot make ends meet, and those who literally have nothing to eat for dinner, are asking themselves what are we doing in the Syria war? Why does our money have to be wasted to provide weapons for Bashar Assad so he can crackdown and murder the Syrian people? Why does our money have to be spent on killings of the Iraqi people and other countries? Well, these are natural questions.

Now, my question is: “Is Tehran actually committing these crimes inside and abroad due to its strength? Or is it all a sign of its weakness?”

When Khomeini hijacked the 1979 revolution in Iran and his regime came to power it first enjoyed widespread popular support. However, due to its inhumane nature this regime had no will to resolve any of the society’s issues because their complete structure and ideology belonged literally to the Middle Ages. This regime cannot resolve any political, economic, social or cultural matters. It is simply a retrograde system not belonging to this day and age. Therefore, this regime must have either stepped aside in favor of those who can actually resolve problems in Iran’s society; however, if it decided to remain in power, considering the fact that the initial popular support Khomeini enjoyed had quickly melted away, the only option left was to resort to domestic crackdown and foreign meddling and terrorism.

Khomeini and his Revolutionary Guards also understood this quite well as their ruling foundations faded away. How can such a regime actually continue its survival? Of course, using repressive forces is quite possible, but is the supreme leader still strong enough for it?! Meaning is today’s Khamenei in the same position of then Khomeini? The repressive forces see and come to understand very well that this regime is isolated inside the country, meaning there is no power left at all. Walking in the streets the regime’s forces see how people are easily insulting the entire hierarchy; something unimaginable just some years ago. Therefore, the repressive forces loyal to the regime know they have nothing known as a popular base and any such support. Even when the regime launches demonstrations all Iranians know that those participating are none other than the 2 or 3 percent who actually support this regime, and the entire march and so called rally is nothing but a sham. Therefore, the regime is seeking to maintain just the repressive forces and senior officials need only them to believe that the regime actually sustains some power. If we take a look at Iran’s own modern history, before the Shah was overthrown in the late 1970s his intelligence service, known as the SAVAK, needed to show the Shah was actually very strong because he enjoyed Washington’s support. Therefore, when America stepped aside the first who fled Iran were SAVAK members themselves.

Those criminals who have whipped innocent people and carried out repressive measures in favor of Khamenei and his regime, are slaves of power. Of course they cherish money, but if they sense that Khamenei and his inner circle no longer enjoy their formal political and military power, rest assured their rule will crumble much faster than the Shah and his SAVAK. That is exactly why the regime’s supreme leader needs to be seen saber-rattling outside of its borders. A nuclear bomb, meddling in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, maintaining dictators and murderers such as Assad and Maliki in power are the methods resorted to by this regime across the Middle East. First, it needs to boast its strength somewhere in order to maintain its repressive forces, IRGC and other criminals to be able to maintain its rule and continue its very survival. That is why Khamenei is forced to continue its policy, and to this end continue his rule on the throne in Tehran. Otherwise, it is clear that if Tehran sets aside this mentality and policy, the Iranian people will literally tear this regime apart. That is exactly why regime officials are saying if they don’t fighting in Damascus and so forth, they have to fight in Tehran and Isfahan; meaning the Iranian people themselves. Therefore, to maintain their saber-rattling posture with the foreign lever against the restive Iranian nation, against freedom, they resort once again, as always, to increasing crackdown. This is what they need to continue their survival, and they will most definitely continue this policy.

Unfortunately, European countries consider Tehran’s meddling and export of terrorism as a presage of this regime’s power, and yet again they see the answer in further appeasement to tame this vicious beast that is actually wrangling in a whirlwind threatening its entire existence. What must be understood once and for all is that the only method to confront this regime is through a firm stance, quite like the policy adopted by Saudi Arabia and Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen, literally saving this country out of Tehran’s greedy grasps.

One must say to US President Barack Obama that providing concessions to Tehran one after another in the nuclear agreement will not be medicine to any pains. The clear and present danger is that Tehran has actually expanded its meddling in other countries, including Bahrain and Kuwait. In fact, the ayatollahs desperately need to be seen thumping their chests and flexing their muscles outside of their borders in order to motivate the IRGC to continue their crimes and quell the voice of the Iranian people inside the country.