CRISIS IN GAZA
WUSA TV Interview with Mr. Jafarzadeh, January 7 2009
Foreign Affairs Analyst and Iran Expert
Transcript
Mike Walter: In discussing the developments in Gaza we have
with us Alireza Jafarzadeh, a Middle East expert and author
of The Iran Threat. Let me ask you about, where do we stand
now? A lot of people have been saying that Iran may be
involved; there may be some mischief behind all of this.
What’s your take on that?
Alireza Jafarzadeh: Well, certainly Iran is heavily
involved. The fact that a senior official of the Iranian
regime you just mentioned, Ali Larijani, who is a former
chief nuclear negotiator of Iran, he’s the Speaker of the
Parliament, he’s very close to the supreme leader Ali
Khamenei, he’s traveling to Damascus trying to broker peace,
is very much telling itself. Iran is not an Arab country,
has no borders with any of the conflicting parties, yet
they’re right in the middle of this. The whole purpose is to
ensure Hamas and other parties who are one way or the other
involved in the conflict of the support coming from Tehran,
encouraging them to continue their fight without giving in.
And also, Tehran has been very vocal in urging a lot of Arab
countries and populations to participate and help escalate
the violence. They’re saying that all of the resources of
the country—and I think by resources they mean also
arms—should be provided to escalate the violence because
they see this as a big fight in the region that could, at
the end of the day, give bigger leverage to Iran and their
proxy groups in the region, and that leverage can be useful
as far as Tehran is concerned.
Mike Walter: I want to touch on that for just a second, but
an interesting thing that you brought up and I’d like to
have you maybe amplify on that: we’re hearing now that some
of the rockets may be coming from Lebanon. Do you think that
is because of the urging of Iran? As you said they’re
suggesting others get involved, and does this have
implications that we may be seeing even more people involved
in this conflict?
Alireza Jafarzadeh: Well, senior Iran officials and key
players in Tehran have made it very clear that they talk
specifically about the missile capabilities of the players
in the region. The former commander of the Revolutionary
Guards who continues to be a major player said that the real
missile capability of Hamas is yet to be displayed, and he
talked about other players who would weigh in. So, I think
if you put all of them together, that would translate into
Iran backing a number of countries, organizations, and
parties in the region who are interested in escalating the
violence there.
Mike Walter: Now, and you were mentioning that Iran has its
own issues; now talk to me about that, and this may be one
of the reasons that this is going on.
Alireza Jafarzadeh: Certainly, the reason that Tehran is
involved in all of this, and they want to be right at the
center of it is because it serves their purpose. The reason
it serves their purpose is that by getting involved, it
could give them the upper hand in the region; it could give
them a much bigger say that would offset the trouble that
Tehran is facing internally. As we speak, there’s a lot of
dissent going on in the country, especially on the part of
the younger generation: women, student organizations who are
raising their voice against the entirety of this regime.
They want an end to the rule of the clerics in Iran and they
want to see a democratic system. That’s why Tehran wants to
say, “Okay look, we have a bigger, more urgent problem on
our plate, and we are going to deal with the developments in
Gaza, we’re going to deal with the developments in the
region; trying to put aside the more urgent, real issue,
which is the desire of the Iranian people to change the
regime and establish democracy and human rights in the
country.
Mike Walter: Alireza, thank you for coming in and talking to
us; we’d love to have you back again, very illuminating…
Alireza Jafarzadeh: Thank you very much.
Alireza Jafarzadeh is a FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs
Analyst and the author of "The
Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear
Crisis" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
Jafarzadeh has revealed Iran's terrorist network in Iraq and
its terror training camps since 2003. He first disclosed the
existence of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and the
Arak heavy water facility in August 2002.
