Time to pause, not celebrate confrontation in Iran

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing with reference to the letter to the editor ‘Moral clarity on Iran’. Let me state clearly. You will not find many Muslims defending the authoritarian rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. Religion was used as a tool to cement political power. This should be condemned.

But I feel the larger issue is being overlooked. The main problem in our world today is not just individual regimes. It’s the behaviour of global superpowers. Powerful nations claim they are acting for freedom and human rights, but their actions often create more instability than stability.

Even a strict or authoritarian government knows it must keep its people reasonably content to survive. If food prices rise sharply, jobs disappear, and medicine becomes scarce, unrest will naturally follow. In Iran’s case, decades of heavy sanctions from powerful Western countries have deeply damaged the economy. Sanctions do not just hurt leaders. They hurt ordinary families.

We have seen similar pressure in places like Cuba. Economic hardship plays a major role, which is often caused by major superpowers. There is also a clear pattern in recent history. When superpowers decide that a country does not align with their interests, they intervene.

Look at what happened after interventions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. The state institutions were dismantled by force, creating a vacuum filled by militias and armed groups. The same western powers created space for groups like ISIS to emerge.

CHAOTIC ENDING

When powerful nations remove governments for their own interests, the result is often chaos. And that chaos can then justify long term foreign influence and control.

Iran has large oil and gas reserves and a key position in the Middle East. To believe that global powers are acting only out of concern for human rights ignores political reality. Strategic interests are always part of the calculation.

The deeper issue today is that superpowers often apply selective justice. They condemn some governments while supporting others with similar records. They speak about freedom while supporting contradicting policies.

So instead of celebrating confrontation or possible regime-collapse as “liberation”, we should pause.

History shows that externally driven collapse often leads to destruction and instability. The ones who suffer most are ordinary citizens.

The real need is for the superpowers to recognise their role in creating instability and to choose a wiser path.

TARIQ AZEEM

Imam & Missionary

Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat

Jamaica