Via JihadWatch
Militants from some 40 countries across the globe are trekking to Teheran for a 10-day "revolutionary jamboree" in which "a new strategy to confront the American Great Satan" will be hammered out. The event is scheduled to start on February 1 to mark the 25th anniversary of the return to Iran from exile of the late Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini. It is not clear how many foreign militants will attend, but the official media promise a massive turnout to underline the Islamic Republic’s position as the "throbbing heart of world resistance to American arrogance."
The guest list reads like a who’s who of global terrorism. In fact, most of the organizations attending the event, labeled "Ten-Days of Dawn," are branded by the United States and some European Union members as terrorist outfits. These include 17 branches of the Hizbullah, a worldwide militant Shi’ite movement created by Teheran in 1983.
| I thought they only shared names. This makes it look like they're all connected. Silly me. |
Today, Teheran is a magnet for militant groups from many different national and ideological backgrounds. The Islamic Republic’s hospitality cuts across even religious divides. Thus militant Sunni organizations, including two linked to al-Qaida - Ansar al-Islam and Hizb e Islami - enjoy Iranian hospitality. They are joined by Latin American guerrilla outfits, clandestine Irish organizations, Basque and Corsican separatists, and a variety of leftist groups from Trotskyites to Guevarists. Teheran today is also the only capital where all the Palestinian militant movements have offices and, in some cases, training and financial facilities. Iranian officials claim that the presence of these terror organizations in Iran is limited to "cultural and information activities."
| Just like they are in Syria, in fact... |
The militants’ offices are known as daftar ertebat, which means "contact bureau," while the training offered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards is presented as "courses in self-defense." Many in Teheran believe that unless the Iranian regime modifies aspects of its behavior, notably in its relations with terrorist organizations, it might find itself in military conflict with the US.
| I think that's the general idea. |
Until at least last December, one idea was to either cancel the event or curtail it to a one-day prayer session in Khomeini’s mausoleum in Teheran. That idea was vetoed by the "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei, who believes that any show of weakness by the regime could encourage its numerous opponents inside and outside the country. Thus Khamenei plans to use the global jamboree to show that Iran is still a revolutionary force and that he alone, and not the ineffective President Muhammad Khatami, calls the shots in Teheran.
| I think everybody realizes that, anyway. But I guess Fearless Leader's ego needs stroked... |
Khamenei also hopes that the next elections, to be held 10 days after the revolutionary jamboree ends, will produce a new parliamentary majority that shares his strategy. His game plan is to unify the regime by cutting the so-called "reformists" down to size and adopting a wait-and-see tactic until after the American presidential election.
| Brilliant. Simply brilliant. |
The militants who are going to Teheran this week are likely to be told that they must lie as low as possible for the next few months without abandoning any of their radical goals. The Teheran gathering is also expected to deepen the recent informal alliances made between Islamist militant groups and a variety of communist, anarchist and environmentalist militant groups against the "American common enemy." It is against that background that the question "What to do with Iran?" must be debated. Today, Iran is ready to offer all the behavioral changes required of it by Washington and the EU. But it cannot change its nature. And there is no guarantee that this particular beast will not bite again - and hard - as soon as it feels that it is no longer threatened. A scorpion does not sting because it is naughty; that is dictated by its nature. |