“Don’t let people forget about them because people forget things very quickly. The American people need to be reminded, they paid for that. It has become such a huge embarrassment for America. America is still founding them, but they say they are fighting them. They found them so that they can fight them,” says Mark Glenn in an exclusive interview to Mehr News on latest developments in the region as well as Iran nuclear talks.
Below is the full text of the interview:
How do you evaluate the US decision on reaching an agreement in Iran’s nuclear talks? Will they allow Iran to have what they desire?
The US is sitting with anger of what happened in 1979, so they cannot allow this to stand. They sought to destroy Iran through the backdoor. They destroyed Iraq through 20 years of war.
What they hope is to destroy Iran through cultural subversion. So I predict what they will try to do is that they will tell Iranians ok you can enrich your uranium but you have to open your media to Western media, Hollywood, all of that. You can enrich your uranium but you have to open your banks up to western banking influences. You can have your uranium enrichment but cut off ties with Syria. So the United States is not just going to give Iran this recognition that Iran deserves a nuclear power. There would be things attached to it, and eventually these things, if enough of them are tied around the neck of the Iran, will suffocate her and it would cause long-term damage to Iran, socially, culturally, morally and politically.
After the recent midterm election in which the Republicans won the majority of both chambers of the Congress, there has been many talks that Obama administration has lost the chance and it is bad for Iran nuclear talks and they need to reach a deal by next year when the new Congress members will take the seats. Do you think this party difference would affect the negotiations or it's just a stick to forcing Iranian into a compromise?
That’s a good point. I take a much more severe approach to this and it is simple: Benjamin Netanyahu does not want the United States to negotiate with Iran. And he has to blow something up in order to destroy these talks and he will do it. If Israel notices these talks are going to go forward and something will be produced, Netanyahu is going to do something serious, something big, something which will influence the talks and will begin the discussion of 'we have to go to war against these people.' I hate to be so apocalyptic with my predictions but I think I understand the mindset of Benjamin Netanyahu and know him pretty well.
If they were willing to attack the US ship in 1967 and killed 34 American sailors, they will do anything. The last country they did that to the United States, two nuclear bombs were dropped on their cities. So Israel could do that and if Israel can get away with that, will do it again; so I believe Netanyahu is the big question. Whatever Obama may do, whatever the Congress may do, is secondary to Netanyahu. Does that make sense? He’s crazy.
So maybe we can connect it to the situation in the Middle East and the situation currently we have in Syria, Iraq and also Yemen and other places in the Middle East. I actually have two questions. One is in regard to the points you just made; do you think Israel might do something in the region to somehow fight against Iran? And my more general question is about Iran and the US in the region and Middle East. It seems, at least to me as an Iranian, that Iran has the upper hand in the region.
Well, I don’t think Israel would launch a war against Iran, because Iran is too big and too powerful, and Hezbollah proved it back in 2006. And it was a humiliating defeat for Israel so imagine what Iran would do, if Israel does anything. She is going to set up a situation where the United States and other western countries and Iran are going at it. Attacking an American ship and blaming it on Iran, attack the American installation across the Persian Gulf, blame it on Iran, shoot down an American plane, attacking his ISIL fighters, blame it on Iran, and what makes the situation more dangerous, is the fact that Russia now is a player on this, Russia has drawn the lines and has said we would not tolerate America doing these things, and so this can get out of hand very quickly to very dangerous situation we all face right now.
I like to know your idea about the IRGC commander Major General Ghasem Soleimani. More images of him has recently poured into the media, especially after the events in Iraq, showing him besides Iraqi and Kurd fighters. This release of pictures was mostly seen after the coalition's claims of fighting ISIL. Has it appeared on western media too, and what's your take on that?
I haven’t seen it on the American media. But Obviously Iran wants to show the world that she is involved in this fight against these western-backed terrorists. That’s the thing to remember. ISIL is a creation of the US and Israel. So Iran’s coming forwards at this time and showing that she is involved in this fight against these people till only strengthen Iran’s stature in the Middle East, and we go a long way to destroy this schism that exists between Iran and Arabs.
Iran would like to bring all of the Middle East to one big family. And of course Israel and America don’t want it to happen in order to keep everyone divided and separate. So Iran obviously has an interest in this because everybody is talking about ISIL, the whole world can acknowledge these people as dangerous, so Iran coming out and showing her willingness to engage these people, can only work in her favor.
What do you think about the future of the region, I mean mostly in regards to the ISIL.
I think the most important thing that Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and every country should keep in their mind is defeating ISIL and it should be reminded constantly to the world that those terrorists are the product of American and Israeli and western training and money. Don’t let people forget about them because people forget things very quickly. The American people need to be reminded: 'You paid for that, we did this,' so that it becomes such a huge embarrassment for America. America was confronting these terrorists whom it is still funding, we say we are fighting them, but we’re still funding them. We fund them so that we can fight them, to have an excuse to get closer and closer to the Basher Al-Assad regime, which is the real goal, is to cut their life vein between Iran and Hezbollah. Syria is the door way for that. So that’s what this is all about. When I think that strategically the most important thing is to constantly remind people of it that the wild dog is being fed by them.
Would you expect ISIL to be defeated? Would the US or Israel, or Arab countries in the region which are apparently supporting ISIL, would they accept the defeat of ISIL, would they let either the coalition or the Iraqi and Syrian armies supported by Iran to defeat ISIL?
If they give what they want which is the destruction of the Assad regime, then, yes they would destroy ISIL, if they get what they want!
But Iran says Assad as an elected, legitimate leader should remain in power and supports Syria and Iraq against ISIL; So do you think the US would accept it or it will have a competition with Iran in the region?
No I don’t think that US will just quit and go away, unless the political situation goes so bad that they have to quit in case enough American people wake up and understand that this dirty world is their own country’s mess. Or Netanyahu does something so stupid, so bad that enough American people know about this, he pulls off another 9/11 and this time American people know about it, then the United States would be forced to let these things.
My final question is about American politics, how do you see next two years of Obama’s administration and the next presidential elections, do you have any assessment about potential candidates?
Again, again, at the rest of repeating myself, the big question here is Netanyahu, about the American politics, Benjamin Netanyahu blows something up, really big, and he gets away with that. Then the right wingers are going to take over the American congress and presidency, there would be somebody insane like John McCain who will give the Israelis all the things they want. So there is no way to predict what will happen, because there is this insane creature out there. He’s willing to do anything to get his way, so the one prediction that I can make is that no matter what happens, it is going to be nasty.
Mark Glenn is an American author and journalist in Idaho who has co-founded Crescent and Cross Solidarity Movement. He regularly writes on different topics on The Ugly Truth.
Interview by Hamid Reza
LR/HRGH
MNA
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