THE regime in Tehran is commemorating the 40th anniversary of toppling the Shah. This is happening at a time Iran is becoming more isolated – while its leaders continue to brag about occupying four Arab capitals, destroying both Israel and the United States of America, and engaging in space war through empty slogans which people in the region have by now become accustomed to.

Iranians paid and continue to pay dearly because of their regime’s policies – isolation, starvation and deprivation of national wealth in a scheme based on delusions, hatred and vengeance.

Looking at the Shah era, the series of destructions started with the late Khomeini’s elimination of everyone who stood with him and supported him in his coup in 1978/1979. Tehran witnessed explosions immediately after the coup succeeded, as well as assassinations or escape from the guillotine including the first president of Iran – Abul-Hassan Banisadr.

The regime in Iran has been interfering in the internal affairs of neighboring countries for the last 40 years. It started with the personal vengeance on Iraq for Khomeini through the war which continued for eight years, resulting in about one million deaths from both sides.

The regime orchestrated bombings in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other countries. It instigated creedal and sectarian sedition between people in the region.

Before Khomeini, Iran had enjoyed good economic relations with the region and the world. Its citizens had access to a significant number of countries. Everything changed today as its citizens are shunned and other countries suspect them of being terrorists.

Before the ouster of the Shah, the exchange rate between the US dollar and Iranian rial was 71. Amid political clashes with the world and the economic boycott, the value of Iranian toman is about 47,000 rials. The poverty rate at the time was three percent, while it is 34 percent today with about eight million Iranians living below the poverty line.

Youths constitute 63 percent of Iran’s population and 65 percent of them are unemployed. Poverty greatly contributes to the high rate of divorce, while the number of people who shun marriage continues to increase and this led to an alarming increase in the number of moral crimes. This is in addition to the stagnation of agriculture and industry as a result of leaders possessing these two sectors.

Due to such a miserable image of what Iran has become during the reign of the Mullah, the observatory circle recorded 11,000 protests, sit-ins and strikes in various aspects last year.

This means flexing muscles and showing off weapons are nothing more than a message addressed to Iranians internally, not outside. It also means that anyone who attempts to go against the practices of the regime will face oppression which has reached the point of executing about 120,000 people on the streets in the last 40 years due to their stances against the regime.

This brutal clerical regime does not hesitate in committing horrific crimes for the survival of its elite that live with middle-age mentality, ruling a civilized and great nation.

Iran is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Khomeini coup. In reality, it is a celebration of disgrace and shame, not victory. It is a celebration of dancing on the corpses of Iranians who were oppressed, assassinated and starved. They are still striving to oust the oppressive regime despite the harsh repercussions of attempts to do so in the past.

They did all this to get out of the dark tunnel which put Iran outside this era and history. Instead, Iran turned into an incubator for hatching terrorists.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief, Arab Times