“If I leave, Iran will go down. If Iran goes down, the Middle East will go down. If the Middle East goes down, the world will suffer.” Thirty-eight years ago, the Shah of Iran uttered these words, foreseeing the far-reaching implications of his departure from Iran. As it turned out, the West stopped supporting its chief ally in the Middle East, France welcomed Ayatollah Khomeini to Paris, the BBC aired programs spreading propaganda and rumors about Iranian politics, and the U.S. betrayed its friend and ally, all in the name of economic interests. World leaders at the time did not realize or understand that which the Shah warned, turmoil that would persist relentlessly for decades.

As much as one would hate to see even one innocent life wasted in the wake of the Paris attacks, we should all remember that it was France who promoted Mr. Khomeini with 24/7 coverage while he was in the Neauphle-le-Chateau; it was France who flew Khomeini to Iran; and it was in the streets of Paris that Iranian opposition leaders after the revolution were executed military style, beheaded ruthlessly. Yet these assassins were not brought to justice. But rather, they were sent to Iran as part of a hostage swap, and of course the world sat by watching idly.

When Governor Reagan was running against Carter during the 1980 presidential election, he said that the manner in which the U.S. treated the Shah is a black page in American history. Yet ironically, after winning the election, he sent Mr. Rumsfeld, the US special envoy, to Iraq to encourage Saddam Hussein to attack Iran while also handing over intelligence on Iran’s military secrets. The Iran-Iraq War ended with approximately one million Iranian casualties and three million wounded or disabled. Unfortunately, due to a lack of knowledge and understanding, the West promoted a ruthless dictator in Hussein.

And when we preached about the dangers of Islamic ideology on Capitol Hill, our lawmakers laughed at us. The industrialized world has to understand that it cannot strangle the Middle East as consumers forever.

I am so sorry to see the world in such turmoil. Let's hope for better days.

Dr. Saeed Ganji

NUFDI

President, Chairman