Former Iranian prisoner urges Trump to plan for post-Iran regime era transition
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Former Washington Post Tehran correspondent Jason Rezaian, who spent 544 days as a political prisoner in Iran, called on President Donald Trump to surprise the current Iranian regime and start planning for the post-Islamic Republic period.
One Tuesday’s columnRezaian explained that he was arrested by the Iranian government in 2014 and that this was due to his work covering nuclear negotiations with the USA. This news, he wrote, “ultimately resulted in me being taken hostage and used as leverage” in the negotiations he covered.
Rezaian, who now works as the Post’s director of press freedom initiatives, said it was the first time since he left Iran in 2016 that it allowed him to feel hope that he could one day return as protesters sought to overthrow Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his regime.
IRANIAN REGIME FIRED AT PROTESTERS WITH LIVE AMMUNITION, DOCTOR SAYS: ‘SHOT TO KILL’
U.S. journalist Jason Rezaian gestures next to his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, as they pose for media in front of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, on January 20, 2016. (AP)
The journalist argued that it was wrong to claim that the US had never used force on Iran before Trump took office.
“It is a fiction that the United States had never put pressure on Iran before Trump. Trump inherited an architecture that he expanded and enforced more tightly. However, it could be argued that what has been his most effective tool against Iran is the element of surprise that left Iran unable to predict what to do next, from approving the 2020 killing of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, or the bombing campaign Trump ordered of Iran’s nuclear facilities. June” he objected.
According to Rezaian, what Tehran has long benefited from in American leadership is “not weakness, but American consistency.”
“In Trump, the Islamic Republic has found its match: a much stronger opponent who, like its leaders, believes that the rules do not apply to him,” he said.
TRUMP SAID THE USA WILL TAKE ‘VERY STRONG ACTION’ AGAINST IRAN IF THE REGIME STARTS HANGING PROTESTERS
Anti-Iran regime protests are growing across the country as the Trump administration increases the number of demonstrators offering support. (Alex Brandon/AP; Fars News Agency via AP)
Although Rezaian generally avoids making predictions about Iran, he said “two things seem very clear” about the developing situation in the country.
“First, no matter how knowledgeable and educated most Iranians are, there is and will continue to be an understandable desire for revenge against the old guard for decades of harsh injustices. A law-based approach to accountability within Iran and in international courts will yield far greater gains than destroying the existing institutions that ordinary citizens rely on.” “Continuity is essential for an orderly transition.”
His second prediction was: “When the regime finally falls, the next person to lead Iran is almost certainly living there right now,” adding that it would be “unrealistic and frankly unfair” to expect the long-exiled son of the ousted Shah in 1979 – Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi – to take over as Khamenei’s successor.
“Whoever he is revealed to be, it is still anyone’s guess whether he will be able to better meet the needs of Iranians and ensure a brighter future than the country’s current authoritarian rulers,” he warned.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was photographed sitting next to a senior military officer in Iran. (Getty Images)
With the country’s potential new leadership still up in the air, Rezaian called on the Trump administration to “do what its predecessors have failed to do for decades: stop taking their cues from pundits and charlatans in Washington and build bridges with change-makers in Iran.”
On Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to continue protests and assured them that help was on the way; this likely pointed to US intervention in the conflict.
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“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – STATE YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Hide the names of the murderers and abusers. They will pay a high price. I have canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOP. HELP IS ON THE WAY. MIGA!!!” Embers Wrote at Truth Social.
