Iran must heed Rafsanjani’s advice

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is one of the most famous and seasoned politicians of Iran. Being experienced does not make him the most influential politician as he faced harassment and suffered humiliation during the tenure of Ahmadinejad.
Despite all that, Rafsanjani remains the voice of reason and wisdom in Iran. Even without being in a position of power, his opinion remains important. Iran, today, is being ruled by the Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary elite unit, that has transformed from a force serving a theocratic authority to an army served by religious men.
During Ahmadinejad’s era, the Revolutionary Guard expanded its authority over investment centers, oil companies and other security and militant bodies. Since Hassan Rowhani’s election as the president, Rafsanjani has become more comfortable in propagating his moderate views. Only last week, he called for a real cooperation with Saudi Arabia to end regional tensions.
Considering the region’s current situation, this advice holds great importance. Reconciliation is very important for the inhabitants of this volatile region continuously living under perpetual fears of wars and political violence.
Domestically, however, Rafsanjani’s views might not be able to convince a frenzied leadership, which appears to be only interested in managing almost all the wars in the region. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran today feels the heat of its intervention in the region’s battles. Politicians like Rafsanjani and Rowhani reached the throne without a scepter. The key decision-making positions are in the hands of extremist elements. Nevertheless, Rafsanjani’s call for mending ties is not useless as it might help Iran’s pessimists to understand their problems. As a country, Iran has a great nation and is rich in natural resources. The reason behind the sufferings of Iranians is their leadership’s continuous policy of Don Quixot-like confrontations since the revolution.
Iran perhaps is one of the few countries that has opted to remain closed at a time when much bigger powers abandoned their policies and adopted a reconciliatory approach. Some of the countries had views similar to those that inspired the Iranian revolution.
The Iranians are poor and are forced to live under kind of a siege. If Tehran decided to shift its political views toward more openness and offered to reconcile with the countries of the region, we would see a greater state enjoying more respect and influence in the area and the world. To put things in perspective, Turkey is one model to consider. The Turkish republic has far less resources than Iran, yet enjoys a special status as a state and citizens’ conditions. However, Turkey wasn’t forced to send one soldier or spend any financial resources in any regional wars expect for protecting its own borders.
Unlike Turks, Iranians have been suffering for the past three decades because of their leaders’ policies who dream of regional dominance. Some of the groups Iran supports like the Assad regime, Hezbollah, Hamas, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Sudan’s dictator, Yemen’s Houthis and some rebels in the Gulf areas don’t mean anything for the Iranian people. Does any Iranian see any benefit? Definitely no.
So, Rafsanjani’s recommendation to reconcile with Saudi Arabia is a wise decision that will benefit everyone and end the misery of millions of Syrians, Lebanese, Yemenis, Afghans and others. As to why Iran, not Saudi Arabia, is responsible for the initiative, it’s because the Iranian leadership holds the fire torch. I am confident that Saudi Arabia is ready to be friendly with Iran and not only a neutral neighbor.
During a visit to the Kingdom, Rafsanjani moved without any restrictions and met whomever he wished to meet. Despite this warm relationship, the problem continued because the leadership in Tehran was not interested in a real reconciliation and misused the agreements signed during Rafsanjani’s tenure. The airline bureau was even used as an office for government’s activities.
The Iranian leadership can ignore Rafsanjani’s calls and miss out on the opportunity. A day will come, however, and the people will be fed up with the life of misery and military adventures especially when the only output of these games is to build personal glories for some leaders.

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