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Yazdi, Iranian Foreign Minister Turned Dissident, Stood up for His Ideals

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Yazdi, Iranian Foreign Minister Turned Dissident, Stood up for His Ideals September 17, 2017 15 News & Analysis Iran Obituary Yazdi, Iranian foreign minister turned dissident, stood up for his ideals Gareth Smyth As an activist outside Iran for 20 tinue the politics of Mohammed years before the revolution, Yazdi Mossadegh, the prime minister knew leading Iranian opposition ousted in 1953 by a US- and British- London figures such as philosopher Ali Sha- backed military coup after he na- riati and Mostafa Chamran, later tionalised Iran’s oil. hortly after the 1979 Irani- defence minister, before he became Like Mossadegh, Yazdi regard- an Revolution toppled the spokesman for Khomeini when he ed Washington’s role in 1953 as a shah of Iran, Syrian For- left Iraq in 1978 for a new base in departure from the principles on eign Minister Abdul Halim Neauphle-le-Château, just outside which the United States was found- Khaddam visited Tehran Paris. When the army refused to ed. Yazdi had emigrated to America Sand presented Iran’s new foreign quell demonstrations in Iran and in 1960, became a US citizen and minister, Ebrahim Yazdi, with a the shah fled, Yazdi returned home for much of the 1970s was a medi- pistol. Startled by the gift — and with Khomeini but would last less cal doctor in Houston. His approach perhaps by the Ba’athist mindset it than a year as revolutionary Iran’s was far more nuanced than slogans revealed — Yazdi placed it in a cup- first foreign minister. such as “Death to America” and he board and forgot about it. looked forward to a day when Teh- Years later, when Yazdi was a ran and Washington could enjoy re- leading dissident, security police lations based on respect. found the gun while searching his Yazdi opposed Likewise, his efforts to find a poli- house and Yazdi was charged with velayet-e faqih and tics inspired but not dominated by illegal possession of a weapon. The had the courage to religious beliefs reflect a challenge story, which he told during a meet- do so in Tehran, far wider than Iran. Whether Yazdi ing in Tehran, exemplifies his ab- rather than choose was a secularist depends on how horrence of the brutal side of poli- the term is defined but, while a de- tics. exile, as a leading vout Muslim, he opposed velayet-e Obituaries on Yazdi, who died figure in a loyal faqih and had the courage to do so in August at 85, were polarised be- opposition. in Tehran, rather than choose exile, tween those portraying a man of as a leading figure in a loyal opposi- Insufficiently radical. A file picture shows the late head of the great principle, almost an Iranian In November 1979, when militant tion. outlawed Iran Freedom Movement (IFM) Ebrahim Yazdi in Tehran. Nelson Mandela, and those dis- students in Tehran stormed the US The Freedom Movement, which (AFP) paraging him as a naïve dupe who Embassy, Yazdi went to Qom to Yazdi led after Bazargan’s death became a close ally of Ayatollah seek advice from Khomeini, who in 1995, retained a quasi-legal sta- views thus: “The Iranian people are his ideals.” The US refusal of a visa Ruhollah Khomeini during his exile told him to remove them. How- tus but Yazdi was arrested several 97% Muslim and this must be re- was “unfortunate,” Sick told the and supported the revolution in the ever, when Yazdi had completed times, and, in 2011 at the age of flected in any democratic constitu- IranWire website. “[But] given the name of democracy only to become the three-hour drive to Tehran, he 80, was sentenced to eight years in tion. The first draft constitution [in history, that is not something that one of its victims. heard on the radio that Khomeini prison, although he was soon re- 1979] did not contain the idea of ve- should particularly surprise us. Perhaps both these views have had come out in support of the leased on health grounds. layet-e faqih and no one said it was Iran’s actions towards the US, the some truth or rather are two sides students. For Khomeini to call the During his last illness, he was un-Islamic. Ayatollah Khomeini hostage crisis, even though Yazdi of the same coin. It seems scarcely embassy a “lair of espionage” was a denied a US visa to receive cancer was of a far higher calibre than his opposed it — those things have left credible that an intelligent per- turning point for the revolution and treatment, despite the efforts of successor [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] scars and he was a victim of that son could not have realised that for Yazdi, who resigned alongside Gary Sick, professor of internation- and yet, after Imam Khomeini’s politics, both in Iran and in the US.” Khomeini’s intention was to imple- Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan. al affairs at Columbia University death, the leader was given greater ment his theory of velayat-e faqih Yazdi regarded the United States and the principal White House aide power.” Gareth Smyth is a regular and being about direct clerical rule, as flawed, not evil. He had joined on Iran during the revolution and Just after Yazdi’s death, Sick re- contributor to The Arab Weekly. He even if its form might change over the Freedom Movement of Iran, hostage crisis. called him as a man “who never was chief correspondent in Iran for time. formed in 1961 by Bazargan to con- In 2004, Yazdi explained his backed away from his ideas and the Financial Times in 2003-07. Rohani’s second-term curse n the United States, legend “experiences from 1980.” This was a has it that presidents suffer reference to the political crisis lead- from a so-called second-term ing to impeachment of President Ali Alfoneh curse. It is said to make them Abolhassan Banisadr, who went less successful in their second into exile in France. is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at term than in their first. In Undeterred by Khamenei’s state- Rafik Hariri Centre for the Middle Iran, this is not legend but ments, Rohani delivered a key East at The Atlantic Council. Ifact. And it is a particularly dire one speech to businessmen in June for President Hassan Rohani, whose in which he criticised what he difficulties are set to be compound- described as the IRGC’s parasiti- ed by a power struggle in Tehran as cal role in Iran’s economy. He said: political factions prepare them- “The intention was to hand over selves for Supreme Leader Ayatol- the economy to the people, and the lah Ali Khamenei’s successor. government should abstain from Khamenei’s second term in office economic activity. What did we do? ended badly in 1989 when he tried In parts, we have transferred the to defuse the diplomatic crisis economy from an unarmed part of between Iran and the European the government to an armed part of Union by offering to accept Salman the government! This is no privati- Rushdie’s apologies for the distress sation!” He went on to describe the caused by his controversial novel Dire term. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (L) and private sector’s fear of “that part The Satanic Verses. Grand Ayatol- President Hassan Rohani in Tehran, last August. of the government which is not lah Ruhollah Khomeini reacted to (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader) only armed, but also has media and this act of clemency by issuing a everything in its power and no one written statement publicly humili- dares to compete with them.” ating Khamenei: “Even if Rushdie in his second term as president Corps (IRGC) are wary of tinkering Less than 24 hours after Rohani’s repents and becomes the ascetic of (2009-2013) after Khamenei took with the system too much for fear of speech, the IRGC retaliated. At the age, all Muslims are obliged to note of the ambitious and inde- a Soviet-style collapse. the Quds [Jerusalem] Day rally in send him to hell by all means avail- pendent-minded leader’s penchant Rohani’s relations with Khamenei Tehran on June 23, Rohani was able!” for bypassing other parts of the sys- and the IRGC are on a dangerous faced with an angry mob scream- As for former Iranian President tem, including the supreme leader. trajectory. On June 8, less than a ing: “Death to the hypocrite,” a title Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, he too Rohani appears to be no differ- month after the presidential elec- usually reserved for the Mojahedin- Rohani’s went off the rails in his second term ent from his predecessors. On May tion, Khamenei declared war on e Khalq organisation, and “Death to (1993-1997). Khamenei, who by that 19, he was reelected president with Rohani. Addressing the country’s American cleric.” difficulties are set time had solidified his position as 57.14% of the vote. His victory was a youth, the supreme leader said: Rohani tried to deescalate the to be compounded supreme leader, effectively blocked crushing blow to Ebrahim Raisi, the “Whenever you feel that there is conflict with the IRGC and hosted the Rafsanjani government’s at- main challenger who was widely something wrong with the central Major-Generals Mohammad-Ali by a power tempt to liberalise the economy. believed to be Khamenei’s favourite organisation and that it cannot Jafari and Qassem Soleimani, as struggle in Tehran The hapless former President for president and also as a potential work properly, you are free to fire well as other leading commanders as political Mohammad Khatami’s attempts at supreme leader.
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