Iran has no strategic regional ally: ex-IRGC chief

[mikkix]

Saudis definitely has i.e Israel and America..

 

[Nahraf]

I been in Iran and every Irani I met, they blame british for all their misery to start with. Second Mullahs who I found the second most hated.

I have also found the Iranians of all stripes blame British for conspiring against Iran. Its roots lie in British imperialism and occupation of its neighbors including modern Pakistan, The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran during World War II, by British Commonwealth, and Soviet armed forces. The purpose was to secure Iranian oil fields and ensure Allied supply lines for the Soviets fighting against Axis forces on the Eastern Front. This has resulted in long term dislike of British by Iranians.

 

[Nahraf]

absolutely......
and I wish we could help the 2 come closer together, though we know that given their size and their goals they wont be on the same page for quite some time -- I think its politics and the habit of both countries to exert their religious ideals politically (Wahhabism/Politicized Shiism)

Pakistan should facilitate the meeting among Persian Gulf countries. We should cooperate with Iran to have a neutral government in Afghanistan that does not have extremist from either Taliban or Northern Alliance.

 

[ای ایران]

I have also found the Iranians of all stripes blame British for conspiring against Iran.

Im sorry but unless you're like 70 years old and had been talking to some senile Iranians even older than that then there is no truth to this anymore. Yes like back the 1940s and 1950s and before then the Brits had a bad rep in Iran among those generations of Iranians but not among todays generation, almost 70% of which had been born after the revolution. The regime in Iran is suspicious of Britain, but not the people.

Ordinary Iranian people today do not think in screwed-up ways such as seeing foreign conspiracies behind things and havent done for a long time either. Infact, these are often topics of ridicule among ordinary Iranian people, both before the revolution and after it. The best example is of a very famous Iranian novel called My Uncle Napoleon.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Pakistan should facilitate the meeting among Persian Gulf countries. We should cooperate with Iran to have a neutral government in Afghanistan that does not have extremist from either Taliban or Northern Alliance.

easier said that done bro

But basically, I do agree on doing anything that suits our national interest

 

[ای ایران]

Pakistan should facilitate the meeting among Persian Gulf countries. We should cooperate with Iran to have a neutral government in Afghanistan that does not have extremist from either Taliban or Northern Alliance.

This is presuming that the regime in Iran actually desires to interfere in Afghanistan's internal politics, which it does not. The regime in Iran is concerned only with one thing; keeping the Taliban out, and destroying them ideally. Aside from that, the I.R has no political agenda towards Afghanistan, only economic ones.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Eyy Iran --- what are the feelings of young Iranians towards Pakistan, towards the Arabs and towards the U.S. ??

Hard to generalize 78 million people (many of whom are these youth in question) but give me your analysis

 

[Nahraf]

I m sorry but unless you're like 70 years old and had been talking to some senile Iranians even older than that then there is no truth to this anymore.

The Iranian I talked to are 25-34 and had been in Canada for long time. May be they have been influenced by their parents and/or grandparents. Nonetheless this is the common theme among them.

 

[ای ایران]

Eyy Iran --- what are the feelings of young Iranians towards Pakistan, towards the Arabs and towards the U.S. ??

Hard to generalize 78 million people (many of whom are these youth in question) but give me your analysis

Generally Iranian youth have no particular views about Pakistan. It is not a country that Iranians feel close to and most Iranians do not know much about it, so the topic of Pakistan does not ever really come up for conversation among Iranians.

Pakistan has a kind of negative image as a very poor country with many extremists, but that is an image that is built partly by the Iranian media and partly by common perception. But again this is something that is in the back of Iranian peoples minds, not something that ever comes up in conversations. Not in my experience anyway.

Its difficult to give a general impression towards Arabs because we tend not to see them as something monolithic. Iranians often deride Arabs in common chit-chat but we see them differently on the basis on their country of orgin. Iranians tend not to like Saudis, Emiratis and Arabs from that region, but dont have any real problems with Lebanese, Syrians and so on. Iranians dont really consider North African Arabs so like Pakistanis, they are not really a topic of conversation.

Id say that most Iranian youth have no problem with Americans, and want Iran to have normalized relations with the US. Altho Americans are sometimes seen as stupid and arrogant, but Iranians do not hate them or have any ill wish towards them. Many Iranians are fascinated in some ways actually with America. I think this is because the regime tries too hard to denounce it, which only makes people more curious.

 

[ای ایران]

The Iranian I talked to are 25-34 and had been in Canada for long time. May be they have been influenced by their parents and/or grandparents. Nonetheless this is the common theme among them.

Ive never been to Canada yet so fair enough. But i find this hard to imagine. Young Iranians generally do not entertain conspiracy theories like 'blaming the British for conspiring against Iran' . These are the kinds of things that would get met with ridicule by Iranians from even my parents generation if you were to seriously go around talking like that.

 

[Aspahbod]

This is mostly propaganda by Americans, Zionists and corrupt Arab governments. The Saudi Arabian government still ruled by Wahabi-Saudi clique that has been suppressing its people. Iran has large educated middle class and a degree of democracy.

Yes. Iran is a very democratic country compared to Some Arab states. But remember that The large educated middle class could be much more larger. But due to the highest brain drain rate in the world, 150,000 talented brains leave the country each year. We could have better situation now.

This post of Grand Ayatollah (آية *الله العظمی) existed among Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. This post also now includes itile of Supreme Leader of Iran (رهبر انقلاب). The post of Grand Ayatollah is achieved after decades of study and publishing of Islamic theology.

The Shah's coup d'état against Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 was start of dictatorship in Iran. Then 1979 the revolution in Iran overthrew Shah. Both have failed to create strong democratic institutions in Iran. The Iraqi invasion of Iran supported by US and Saudi Arabia resulted in less acceptance of opposition.

I agree with you. Mosaddegh is a national hero right now and I agree that Shah's government was very corrupted too. In my point of view, Khatami's Era has been the best Era of Iran since 1900. He tried to ease the relationships with the world, Started lots of economic projects that are being finished now and Ahmadinejad says that they are his government's "golden points", and was Trying to correct the constitution.

 

[Irani]

Democracy is just a show off ... All main powers are in the hand of supreme leader which is not elected by the people of Iran .. he will rule until he dies & the next one came ... its like Dictatorship .[/Q
Actually it's not like that! He is indirectly elected by the Iranian people. In Iran, the council of elites which all it's member are elected by people every five or six years ( I'm not sure) has the responsibility to find the person who had the criteria as the supreme leader and they unceasingly surveil him to maintain his criteria, by loosing one criterion he will be deposed from the post instantly.
And his power is limited by the constitution voted by majority of Iranian. He is to some extent like a stabilizer between third separated powers in Islamic republic. Also he draws the strategies and major policies. Moreover he is the root of religious legitimacy of Islamic republic which gives him the duty of watching over the Islamic rules and values.
I'm not going to say we are a western democracy because that's not true. In fact we've got our own system of governance which is designed for our ethnics and belief. It's not fully intact and need some progression and reforms like all the other political sovereignty but it's indigenous and I'm proud of it.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

What abt US, Its the mammoth strategic ally a country can have. Those nations who has an ally like US dont long for regional strategic allies..!

Eg Taiwan.. It appears to be a tiny little Island and always at odds with Chinese but such is the effect of its alliance with US that a global giant like China couldn't even touch it and say ahh you look so cute..

 

[Hussein]

Actually it's not like that! He is indirectly elected by the Iranian people. In Iran, the council of elites which all it's member are elected by people every five or six years ( I'm not sure) has the responsibility to find the person who had the criteria as the supreme leader and they unceasingly surveil him to maintain his criteria, by loosing one criterion he will be deposed from the post instantly.
And his power is limited by the constitution voted by majority of Iranian. He is to some extent like a stabilizer between third separated powers in Islamic republic. Also he draws the strategies and major policies. Moreover he is the root of religious legitimacy of Islamic republic which gives him the duty of watching over the Islamic rules and values.
I'm not going to say we are a western democracy because that's not true. In fact we've got our own system of governance which is designed for our ethnics and belief. It's not fully intact and need some progression and reforms like all the other political sovereignty but it's indigenous and I'm proud of it.

you mean the referendum after revolution? yes people heard words of Khomeini but IRI changed since then. Khamenei is acting like a dictator.
But i am worried about his son Mojtabah: so much influence on the bad mullahs who follow the crazy Mesbah Yazdi and the pressure group ...

With Khomeini about elections:
the council made of half religious and half lawers. the religious chosen by the leader , the lawers chosen by... the chief of justice.
the chief of justice chosen by the spiritual leader.
what a democracy.
With Khomeini it was ok because he was him. But Khamenei completely betrayed the equilibrum. Everything is in his hand.

Exemples:
mayor of Tehran? elected? by the spiritual leader indirectly because he nominatres all group who elect the mayor. it explains why a bastard like Ahmadinejad , unknown from us, because mayor.

deputies? when they are too much reform, they don't allow them most of them to be candidates. a very few of them only.
what is a democracy when someone undirectly decides who can be candidate?

Don't forget or maybe you don't know. Me i know because my wife is from ayatollah family. we know , we are many to know, that Khamenei was not elected.
He didn't have even the right to be elected. He was nominated ayatollah by political way, which is a shame for us.
And then Hashemi (him again) cheated the assembly by saying he was elected without asking the other.

We cannot say what we want in Iran now.
Even i would say this i would be in jail in Iran and maybe disappear and finish hanged.
this is how became our country

we need to kick out the bastards who lie, who insult our religion, our culture, who steal our people.
But pls don't speak about democracy.

Democracy it is more than a century our people wish for it. Democracy is not West idea. Democracy is an human goal.

 

[somebozo]

Generally Iranian youth have no particular views about Pakistan. It is not a country that Iranians feel close to and most Iranians do not know much about it, so the topic of Pakistan does not ever really come up for conversation among Iranians.

The notion of Pakistan being out of Iranian popular culture doesnt sit well with logic.

Iran was the first country to recocnize Pakistan always had strategic ties with it. Iran and Pakistan were founding members of CENTO and SEATO. Pakistan was the first country to accecpt post-revolution Iranian government citing it as their internal matter and wishing to continue same policy of co-operation. During the hostage crisis, Pakistan's ISI shared all the information and speculation of US with Iranian J2 cheif. Pakistani culture has fingerprint of Persian heritage all over it. Another cultrual overlap is the shared Baluchi population between Irani and Pakistani proviences respectively. A highway in Iran is named after Pakistan's founder Jinnah. Similarly Imam Khomeni is viewed and honoured in Pakistan as a great leader despite sect differences.

Pakistan is also home to largest Persian speakers of different dialect outside Iran. A large re-export trade of western goods occurs from Pakistan to Iran as well many Iranian businessmen having secondary operation base in Pakistan. There are rumors that a lot of aircraft parts are supplied to Iran with tactict approval of Pakistani government to curb the fallout of western sanctions. The famous nuke merchant of Pakistan provied Iran with centrifudge designs and Iranian government provided a lot of covert support to end A.Q Khan saga during Mushraff era. Recently, a gas pipeline project has been inargurated between Iran and Pakistan.

Ties between Pakistan and Iran have been soured due to Iranian mullahs contant rehotric of "export the revolution" which gave rise to millitant Shia'ism in Pakistan and skirmishes with state authorities. As well Iran's support of rival pro-India Northern Allaince faction which caused an immense financial and diplomatic drain on Pakistan to maintain parity by strengthening its favoured Talibans.

Pakistan largely kept out of Shia vs Sunni and Arab vs Persian rivalry by taking a neutal stance and opposing Iran-Iraq war despite pressure from oil rich states of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Iranians living in gulf states of UAE and Kuwait maintain favourable social releation with Pakistanis and many have inked family releations through marrige. Iranians are avid fan of Pakistani art, textiles and fashion goods. Often a list of items is requested ahead of vacation season when many families travel to their homeland however such exchanges are largely limited among women. Iranians also make up large majority of tourist visiting Pakistan.


Therefore, on people to people basis Iranians are definately not ignorant about Pakistan and its regional implications.