Iran: Fighting over the corpse of the Regime

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Sunday December 20, 2009 15:08 by John Cornford

Yassamine Mather and Chris Strafford write on how internal squabbles continue to plague the Islamist Regime. Meanwhile the opposition movement continues to radicalise and surge ahead. They point to need to oppose sanctions against Iran saying: Sanctions against Iran are a stepping stone to military aggression. Full text at link.

Each day that goes by, the gap between the protesters and the leaders of the ‘green movement’ increases. The statements of Moussavi, Khatami and Karroubi expressing allegiance to Khomeini will not go down well with many of their own supporters. Moussavi is clearly concerned that he is losing control of the protests, as he keeps warning everyone about the threat of “radicalism”. On Monday December 15 he said: “If people’s questions were answered and they were not confronted violently, we would not see some of the controversial moves today ... People want an end to the security-obsessed atmosphere: in such an atmosphere radicalism grows.”

It is quite clear that the regime is seeking to use the threat of more sanctions and military action by the US or Israel to strengthen its faltering position, and the left should be very clear: any further sanctions that are imposed on Iran will hit those elements that are capable of bringing substantial change in Iran - the working class and the poor. Gordon Brown has already said that further sanction have to be implemented. This is something the anti-war movement must take seriously. Sanctions against Iran are a stepping stone to military aggression.