December 21, 2021
On December 16, American Mideast Coalition for Democracy met with anti-Islamic Republic of Iran regime activist Ali Mahdavi. Mr. Mahdavi began by discussing the history of Iran’s nuclear program which began as far back as the 1950s with the help of Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program. In the 1970s, Iran joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The US, France and Russia had all helped Iran with its nuclear technology during the Shah of Iran’s regime. However, during the Iran-Iraq war, Khomeini determined that the only way to win the war would be won was with the threat of nuclear weapons. Beginning in the 2000s, Iran began enriching uranium to the point of creating plutonium to use in nuclear weapons. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Iran also tried to buy nukes from the former Soviet states, especially Kazakhstan.
Mr. Mahdavi contends that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the real force behind the nuclear program and that Iran has spent over seven and one half billion dollars on it so far. In 2011, the International Atomic Energy Commission found evidence of a program to create a bomb. The flawed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) attempted to slow and even reverse Iran’s nuclear program. Mr. Mahdavi explained that there were two parts of the JCPOA – one public and one part secret. After President Trump pulled the US out of the JCPOA, Iran started pursuing nukes aggressively in several secret sites.
Although the Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif has maintained that Russia never wanted Iran to have a nuke and delayed their help many times, in 2004-5, the IRGC hired Russian scientists to create a warhead and detonation device. Pakistani and North Korean scientists have also been involved.
Mr. Mahdavi maintains that now Iran is stalling for time and only pretending to negotiate. He claims at the right time, they will announce their possession of a nuclear warhead and then withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They are insisting on impossible demands, for example they want the sunset provisions to remain, and all sanctions removed before agreeing to negotiate at all.
Questions: Will Israel bomb Iran’s nuclear sites?
Answer: Iran has so many secret sites, Israel could not possibly get them all.
Question: Why is Iran going through all this expense for a nuke?
Answer: Admitting a mistake is not easy. But, with a nuke, they can hold the region hostage to blackmail and no one will dare to attack them. Also, the nuke program is good business for some people.
Question: Do you think Iran will give nukes to its terrorist proxies or even to Venezuela?
Answer: Yes. They claim to have people armed and trained in 25 countries. Just think what they could do with small nukes delivered by drones. Europe is afraid of them and mistakenly think they can control them through negotiations.
Question: How can we help to support the people to overthrow the regime?
Answer: The main thing is to prevent the government from shutting down the internet, which is the most powerful form of communication ever devised.
Added from a member: Soviet control of Poland was broken with the xerox machine and satellite communication. We xeroxed newspapers from around the world and distributed them. Plus, the black market is hard to control. Forbidden books were also passed around secretly.
Answer: After Soleimani was taken out by President Trump, it was a big blow to the regime and he still hasn’t been replaced. Iranians historically rely on one leader. We are asking for a loan, not a gift. The people of Iran are the bullets – we need a gun barrel