RUTHFULLY YOURS

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — THE world is watching Iran for signs of change, hoping it will evolve from a rogue revolutionary state into a respectable member of the international community. But Iran, rather than confronting the isolation it has created for itself, opts to obscure its dangerous sectarian and expansionist policies, as well as its support for terrorism, by leveling unsubstantiated charges against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

It is important to understand why Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are committed to resisting Iranian expansion and responding forcefully to Iran’s acts of aggression.

Superficially, Iran may appear to have changed. We acknowledge Iran’s initial actions regarding the agreement to suspend its program to develop a nuclear weapon. Certainly, we know that a large segment of the Iranian population wants greater openness internally and better relations with neighboring countries and the world. But the government does not.

The Iranian government’s behavior has been consistent since the 1979 revolution. The constitution that Iran adopted states the objective of exporting the revolution. As a consequence, Iran has supported violent extremist groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and sectarian militias in Iraq. Iran or its proxies have been blamed for terrorist attacks around the world, including the bombings of the United States Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, and the assassinations in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin in 1992. And by some estimates Iranian-backed forces have killed over 1,100 American troops in Iraq since 2003.

The Saudis are changing their tune with respect to Israel. Jubeir is water carrier for the robed tyrants…rsk
Iran uses attacks on diplomatic sites as an instrument of its foreign policy. The 1979 takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran was only the beginning. Since then, embassies of Britain, Denmark, Kuwait, France, Russia and Saudi Arabia have been attacked in Iran or abroad by Iranian proxies. Foreign diplomats and domestic political opponents have been assassinated around the world.

We just handed over hundreds of billions of dollars to the Islamist regime of Iran and its military establishment — which shouts “Death to America” from the rooftops. The regime openly threatens US security and scuttles US national interests in the region. This give-away to the Mullahs is going to be marked as one of the most catastrophic deals of our generation.

The ruling clerics of Iran will now begin to receive relief from major United Nations Security Council sanctions as well as unilateral Western sanctions. They will immediately receive roughly $90 billion. European countries will lift sanctions on major industries, such as gold and metal. The White House will remove major Iranian entities and individuals from the sanctions list. More fundamentally, the lifting of these sanctions will allow the Iranian regime to re-enter the international banking world, and sell oil on the global market.

There is also one major loophole. If Iran decided to resume its nuclear proliferation after sanctions are lifted, there is no adequate UNSC mechanism to roll back sanctions. Because of the geopolitical rivalry between the West, Russia, and China, getting Moscow and Beijing back on the same page is not going to be easy.

In addition, as the European firms will be investing in Iran’s oil and gas markets, they will have less incentive to join the US in pushing for re-imposition of sanctions if Iran heads towards building a nuclear bomb. More than 190 waivers have already been granted by the State Department.

An estimated 40,000 cars are burned in France every year — a destruction often attributed to rival Muslim gangs. Every day, more than 80 cars are burned.

The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, called for the number of mosques in France to be doubled over the next two years. Boubakeur said that 2,200 mosques are “not enough” for the “seven million Muslims living in France.” He demanded that unused churches be converted into mosques.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls revealed in April that more than 1,550 French citizens or residents are involved in terrorist networks in Syria and Iraq.

“Can we not talk about subjects that split opinion? If you talk about immigration, you are a xenophobe. If you talk about security, you are a fascist. If you talk about Islam, you are an Islamophobe.” – Henri Guaino, MP.

“Those who denounce the illegal behavior of fundamentalists are more likely to be sued than the fundamentalists who behave illegally.” – Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front party.

The Muslim population of France reached 6.5 million in 2015, or around 10% of the overall population of 66 million. In real terms, France has the largest Muslim population in the European Union, just above Germany.

Although French law prohibits the collection of official statistics about the race or religion of its citizens, this estimate is based on several studies that attempted to calculate the number of people in France whose origins are from Muslim-majority countries.