IRAN: Tehran squirms as crackdown by ally Syria creates global uproar

Iranian officials and state-run media for as long as they could have turned a blind eye to the weeks-long unrest in Syria. But as the turbulence in Syria and international outrage over the hundreds killed gain momentum, many Iranian diplomats, pundits and academics can evade the question no longer.

In an interview on Iran's Arabic-language Alam TV on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, unable to sidestep addressing the concerns about unrest in Syria, vaguely and tactfully stated that Iran respected the sovereignty of other countries.

But then, in a turn of boldness that many consider hypocritical, he subtly advised the Syrian regime to give in to democratic demands that Iran has long denied its own people. 

"We respect the demands of [Syria’s] people," he said. "We consider the use of violence againt the people of any country unacceptable. We call on all regional regimes to address the demands of their people."

Indeed, officials in Iran are nervously watching the uprising in Syria more closely than they would like to admit. 

During a candid conversation with Babylon & Beyond, an Iranian foreign ministry expert praised Syrian President Bashar Assad's gentleness while recalling the story of the city of Hama, where Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez Assad, crushed a revolt in 1982. 

"The regime in Syria is monolithic and Alawites are 2 million in a population of 23 million," he said, referring to the Alawite religious minority which includes the Assads and many influential Syrians.
"Alalwites have managed to run the country for the past 40 years. President Bashar Assad is an educated and soft-spoken politician. At the end of the day, people in Syria will appreciate the wise role of the incumbent regime."

The comments seem contradictory and unintelligible, but they express well the squirmy position of a Tehran regime that has enthusiastically backed revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia while balking now that it's pal Syria is in the hotseat.  

"Syria has been our strategic ally since the beginning of the revolution," said one hard-line member of parliament, Reza Foladgar. "We believe that the nature of protests in Syria is different from what is going on in Libya, Bahrain, Tunis and Egypt."

Why the distinction?

"The Syrian government is anti-Israeli and its rulers are not stooges of the U.S.A. as the rulers in Bahrain are, or as the previous leaders of Tunis and Egypt were," he said.

"I am sure elements from abroad are instigating some unrest in Syria," he said. "I hope the regime takes initiative to reform and the people are careful of the plots of enemies."

It is a common opinion among hard-liners in Iranian government and society that turmoil in Syria is a meal being cooked in foreign kitchens. 

Some Iranian officials and agents merely parrot the lines of Assad's cronies. Mohammad Karamirad, another Iranian member of parliament, holds puritanical Salafi and Wahhabi Sunni Muslim "agents" responsible for sabotaging the Syrian regime. 

"Seventy percent of the unrest in Syria is instigated by Salafis supported both by Saad Hariri in Lebanon as well as the Mossad [the Israeli security agency] and the CIA, in an effort to topple the regime in Syria and weaken resistance to Israel," said Ahmad Bakhayesh, an Iranian academic in Tehran. 

Asked to explain the double standard regarding the Arab uprisings brazenly adopted by the Islamic republic, Mehdi Motahari, a political scientist at Azad University, responded that other countries were hypocritical, too.  

"The United States does not respond to the events in Bahrain the same way it responds to those in Libya," he said. "National interests justify the means." 

The reformist camp in Iran, however, is a little more even-handed in its interpretation of the wave of revolution that has engulfed the Arab world. Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a reformist analyst, believes that realities on the ground in Syria show that the winds of change are blowing across the entire Middle East.

"Iran should not do anything but accept the demands of the Syrian people, whatever they are," he said. 

"Killing protesters in any country should be condemned, whether in Syria, Bahrain, Libya or Egypt," said Qodratullah Alikhani, a reformist lawmaker. "The demands of the people should be heeded in any country."

-- Roula Hajjar in Beirut and Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran

Photo: Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speak through an interpreter in Tehran during an earlier meeting. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency

Comments

[Wayne Beckett]

Of course all cries of democracy suffer at the hands of Geo-strategic hypocrites.! People now are just fed up with the spin of choosing sides. It's either Cowboy corporate greed or theocratic zealots and terrorists! Hey wake up guys! The people are now dicating a third way! A higher ethical imperative way! It's called DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM and A PURE TRUTH that can't be brought off my right wing neo-con Western greed nor religious Middle Eastern extremists! The Internet and THE people have put paid to all your power corrupt lies and won't put up with it any longer! Stay blind and deliberately ignorant to the THIRD WAY at YOUR peril!!!

[Archibald]

Tragically, the Revolutions of the Summer of ’48 were crushed, and the rise of European democracies was repressed by 100 to 150 years (Germany and Italy after WWII and Poland etc until the fall of the USSR).
I hope that the rise of democratic Arab states will not be suppressed for 150 years.
Whether the US permits the UN to consider a vote on the recognition of the State of Palestine will determine American’s Middle East destiny and the fate of rise of democracy in the Middle East.
A US vote to oppose Palestinian statehood is a vote for Persian extremism.
Support Arab and Persian Democracy.

[kamran]

Iran has a democracy - not a liberal western-style democracy - but an Islamic democracy that does have very competitive elections with high voter turnouts even if it is not as representative as middle-class Iranians would like.

[newageblues]

"We respect the demands of [Syria’s] people," he said. "We consider the use of violence againt the people of any country unacceptable. We call on all regional regimes to address the demands of their people."

What incredible gall, they managed to outdo themselves with this statement.

[Tony]

looks like interpol and the hague is going to be even more busy than busy

[John]

Hahahaha. The Ashkenazi and Anglo-Christian media is the one that is squirming here as they try to bolster the credibility of 5 CIA agents holding english language protest signs in "Syria"

[kooshy]

Ramin Jan man ,once more you are at it again, but really since you write under “Babylon and beyond” column, could you please check to see if Bahrain is in the beyond section, or your job requires to keep it behind, that is behind the curtain.

I know, my comments never gets the permission to be published , but it’s still good to chat with you

Good luck

[Anonymot]

Is it naivete or ignorance or just appealing to a good headline to pick up readers? Iran is not squirming. This is the sort of claptrap we expect from the VOA or Fox. Everyone in decision-making positions recognizes that the U.S. promoted these "revolutions" for "democracy" in hopes of getting at Iran and satisfying Netanyahoo.. If all goes well, a couple of the countries may really end up bettered, Egypt above all. However, no one has any idea at all who will take over from the actual governments: new corrupters, al Quaida, incompetents, etc. Stop dumping propoganda on us.

[MichaelFromSeattle]

PNAC is alive and well.

[Pirouz]

Well, let's be fair about this.

MSM coverage here in te US has been pretty sparse concerning Bahrain. And there's certainly been no official US outrage over KSA troops invading Bahrain and shooting protesters.

And let's' keep it real, shall we? There is a representative element to the Iranian political system. And there are term limits for the president.

So let's keep things in perspective, shall we? And stop throwing stones at our own glass houses.

[Victor Purinton]

Here's hoping the Iranian dictatorship falls. They are dishonorable scum.

[Patriotson]

What a bunch of horse puck. Iran has killed hundreds of their people for doing exactly what the other arabic countries are doing. syria is just another country that the people are tired of being yoked by ruthless leaders who would rather kill than protect. Democracy is a natural outcry of a people who will not tollerate criminals and despots who are keeping the people trodded down and controlled. Long live the revoluti0n and down with the Syrian; Iranian despots.

[john dahodi]

Iran did the right thing in advising Syria to heed the public voice and let democracy take a root in that autocratic nation. It will be best for Assad and Iran and Syrians to be a model democracy rather than the puppet of any one. Keep in mind that democratic Syria will be much more powerful to defend Syria and fight with her enemies including Israel.

[skm]

Just like the western media have turned a blind eye to the rapes, killings and atrocities by the Bahraini dictatorship. Could it be because the Bahraini dictator is a US ally? The words pot and kettle come to mind.