35-country anti-terrorism coalition leaves Iran terrified

December 2015

In various remarks made by senior Iranian regime officials and state-run media outlets we are faced with a wide range of contradictory remarks made over the 35-state coalition of Islamic countries. On one hand this coalition is ridiculed with different jokes and … while others describe it as “dangerous”, a measure aimed at “confronting the regime” and its allies, and a “ground campaign”; so, what is the truth?

The truth is that the Iranian regime is left in a serious plight in the face of this new coalition, and has suffered major political isolation; on one hand it considers itself the target of this coalition, while it is also isolated against nearly all Islamic countries, as in addition to 35 members of the coalition ten other states have expressed their support and solidarity with this cause. Even Oman, Iran’s middle man in the Middle East, and Russia that is Tehran’s main ally in Syria and is fighting to maintain Bashar Assad in power, eventually welcomed the formation of this coalition. Therefore, it is understandable why the Iranian regime in its official positions against this coalition is so tight-lipped and to this day no government or foreign ministry official has said a word about this issue, since any reference to this issue will intensify and signify their own regional and international isolation.

However, in the meantime the media context, remarks made by senior religious figures and Khamenei’s representatives who had launched a carefully synchronized choir ridiculing this coalition must not be taken as mere satire. Especially if we pay close attention we can come to understand that under this this layer of ridiculous irony there is actually a deep fear. For example:

Mullah Khatami in the Tehran’s Friday prayer sermon (December 18^th, 2015) said, “One word about Saudi Arabia. A political satire was published last week that Saudi Arabia has launched an anti-ISIS coalition. Saudi Arabia is the mother of all tikfiri groups.”

Daily memo in Keyhan daily (Khamenei mouthpiece – December 19^th, 2015): “One must only laugh at news reports of a tikfiri and medieval regime forming two anti-terrorist coalition in the span of 9 months… one can truly say many developments in the region, from the occupation of northern Iraq by Turkey to the status quo in Nigeria, directly or indirectly refer to one ‘subject’, or more precisely one ‘country’, and that one subject is none other than Iran… the objectives of this coalition, despite being a bogus entity, are no different from the objectives defined for tikfiri terrorists… the Lebanese Hezbollah is one of the targets of this coalition. Confronting Hezbollah means confronting Iran.”

Editorial of MardomSalari daily (December 19^th,2015): “The responses seen from various internal outlets to this move made by Saudi Arabia have been very poor and along with ridicule that is worth noting. This horrible phenomenon has two precepts for us; first that today’s world is a ruthless world of taking advantage of opportunities…”

State-run Jamaran website (December 17^th, 2015): “The true objectives of this coalition are completely different from what has been announced… and instead of the US it will be other countries rallying ground forces.”

One of the measures made by the Iranian regime in this regard is that the Iraqi government and Shiite militias in Iraq are now missioned to take positions against this coalition. Al-Abadi’s government, itself in a weak position, unfortunately positioned itself alongside the Iranian regime’s demand and condemned this coalition to lift itself out of isolation.

Another face of the Iranian regime’s deceptive propaganda regarding this coalition is its attempt of depicting it as an American initiative. However, CNN’s senior correspondent Nick Robertson said on Thursday, December 17^th that this coalition is the result of Saudi Arabia and other countries of the region, completely and unbelievably angry over Washington’s nuclear deal with Iran, reaching this conclusion that in the face of the threat of terrorism – seeing the source lying in Iran – they must stand on their own and rely on their own will power. The fire that is currently engulfing the entire Middle East and has arrived at their doorsteps or is inching closer than ever before, is finally being taken seriously. In response, the terrorist regime of the mullahs in Iran, as the main target of this coalition, is also left with no choice but to consider this coalition as very serious and dangerous.