The Iranian elections were a complete charade!

For past month it has been frustrating to see how American and European news media outlets have been naïve and stupid enough to give coverage to the latest presidential “election” in Iran that was nothing more than a charade. There was nothing democratic, fair or just about the latest “election” in Iran. If one looks more closely at this race, it is clear that the election was based on one-sided, dictatorial and repressive laws set by Iran’s radical fundamentalist Islamic regime. While the Islamic cleric, Hassan Rouhani was proclaimed the new president of Iran, the election was just a façade to make the West believe that Iran is allowing for people’s voices to be heard in a “democratic” manner. Yet in reality the country is still run by a brutal dictatorship under the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The entire regime set up by Iran’s fundamentalist Shiite Muslim clerics is based on all the real power of the government lying with the Supreme Leader. In 1979 when the regime was established by the Ayatollah Khomeini, the government was crafted under the doctrine of “the Guardianship of the Theologians” (also known in Farsi as ‘Velaayat-eh Fagheeh’). Basically this doctrine states that the average man or individual has not created laws and all laws were created by almighty God. Therefore according to the ruling clerics in Iran, the country’s average citizens are “not qualified enough” or basically too stupid to interpret the laws of God and hence the masses “need” one Ayatollah or a council of Shiite Muslim clerics to interpret God’s laws for the population. So one is left wondering what part of this ass backwards system of government in Iran is democratic where only one religious leader or a group of religious leaders make all of the country’s laws?

Moreover, the Iranian “elections” were entirely bogus and undemocratic because more than 700 individuals applied to run for the position, but only eight individuals that were “acceptable” to the Supreme Leader were permitted to run. This is ridiculous! Again this does not sound like a legitimate free, open and democratic election when only eight people hand-picked by the Supreme Leader are allowed to run and everyone else is totally shut out. All of the eight candidates were approved by the Supreme Leader, so no doubt they share some, if not all of his totalitarian and radical Islamic views. Besides, in a country where the Supreme Leader has so much power and authority, I doubt very much he would permit anyone who does not share his radical fundamentalist Islamic views to obtain any power or even figure-head status. So one is left wondering why the hell the news media in the U.S. and Europe continue to focus on the Iranian elections and give coverage to the race as if it were democratic and fair like elections in the West? Clearly the Iranian regime’s leadership is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the world with this sham election in order to give legitimacy to their evil reign in Iran. Likewise, experts familiar with the Iranian regime have repeatedly stated that the “presidents” under the Iranian regime today have less power than the prime ministers during the reign of the late Shah of Iran. All the legal loopholes for the power of the presidency were closed in the current Iranian constitution in order to prevent the “phony government” which is “run by the president” from having any real power. In reality, all of the real power of the regime lies with the Supreme Leader and a select group of Islamic clerics that have allegiances to the Supreme Leader and make major policy decisions dealing with foreign affairs, nuclear issues, major military affairs, major economic issues and major cultural issues such as free speech, free expression and women’s rights. While the “phony government” in Iran may have some leeway in operating the lower level day to day activities in the country, again they do not call any of the major shots in Iran. In fact, the Supreme Leader, has his own “advisers” paralleling every governmental ministry in Iran. These individual advisers, who only answer to the Supreme Leader, are the ones who help make all major policy decisions in Iran’s regime and dictate them down to the phony ministries whose leaders are merely puppets. This is clearly not a democracy, nor anything nearly close to a democracy!

As for Rouhani, it is a clear misnomer for the media in the U.S. and Europe to refer to him as a “moderate”. While he may not have been as radical and to the right of some of the other eight presidential candidates in Iran, the man is by no “moderate” by Western standards. First of all, Rouhani is a formally trained fundamentalist Shiite Islamic cleric who was following the Iranian regime’s founder, the late Ayatollah Khomeini back in 1965 when Khomeini was not in power and preaching anti-Western ideology all over Iran. Next, Rouhani was among the primary henchmen of Khomeini following the establishment of the regime in 1979 and helped organize the Iranian military and stabilize the regime’s radical Islamic government institutions that are currently in place in Iran. His effort clearly cemented the power and strength of Khomeini and the Islamic clerics who had toppled the government of the late Shah in Iran. In addition, for 16 years from 1989 to 2005, Rouhani served as the direct representative of the Supreme Leader Khamenei on the Supreme National Security Council in Iran which is a small group of Islamic clerics making all of the major security decisions of the Iranian regime. Again, if Rouhani is a supposed “moderate”, then why the hell was he directly tied to the Supreme Leader for so many years? All of Rouhani’s past close ties to the Iranian Supreme Leader and the Ayatollah Khomeini are crystal clear evidence that this man is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and is just as radical and evil as the Supreme Leader as well as all of the other clerics who run the current Iranian regime.

The current U.S. administration should not allow itself to be fooled into believing that for some reason Rouhani can be trusted and tough sanctions can be removed from the Iranian regime. Rouhani, like his predecessors and the entire Iranian regime’s leadership will not back down on their pursuit of nuclear weapons no matter what. If anything, the current tight U.S. sanctions on Iran must be ratcheted up so the regime can collapse and a democratic government can be put in place in Iran.