Editor’s Note:
The following Op-Ed piece is by Bijan Kian. The Honorable Bijan R. Kian is a globally recognized senior commercial diplomat, business leader and international banker. Twice confirmed by the Senate of the United States, he served under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama as a member of the Board of Directors of the Export Import Bank of the United States and a member of the White House Business Council. In 2013, he concluded two years of service as a Senior Fellow for Global Public Policy at the United States Naval Postgraduate School. A graduate of Brighton University in the United Kingdom, Mr. Kian has continued his studies at Oxford and Harvard.
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by Bijan R. Kian
Facebook and Twitter are illegal in Iran. That doesn’t automatically block Iranians’ access to these social media outlets. A little bird (no pun intended) told me the same cyber guardsmen who block access to certain pages on the Internet, secretly share block buster programs along with filter breaker codes and keys to their friends who in turn, share the codes and keys with their friends, and as a result, it is possible to access Facebook and Twitter in Iran.
These clever workarounds don’t make life any easier for Mr. Zarif, Iran’s new Foreign Minister (FM) in President Rouhani’s cabinet. He posts on Facebook and tweets illegally! Kayhan, the ultra right daily newspaper, attacked Mr. Zarif for having placed a post on Facebook that read “I hope there aren’t voices in sync with Israel inside.” Israel opposes premature lifting of sanctions, and what Zarif meant to convey was that Iranians who oppose reconciliation with Washington are in sync with Israel! The article reminds the FM squarely that accessing Facebook is against the law. Perhaps, it serves as a warning that the Foreign Minister could be called to court or even go to jail for illegal use of the Internet.
Mr. Rouhani himself has not been immune to Kayhan’s attacks. Another article right next to the one attacking FM Zarif, peppered Rouhani with criticism of his speech at the confirmation hearing of Mr. Sajjadi, his third nominee for the post of the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs. Kayhan’s salvos targeted the Iranian President for saying: Iranians who went to the polls in Iran’s last presidential election said “no” to arrogance and violence and said “yes” to rationality and wisdom. The article authoritatively asked Mr. Rouhani to take his divisive statement back.
With Mr. Rouhani’s emergence as the new smiling president of the Islamic Republic, I turned on my Iranian calibrated truth detector. One hundred days after activating the system, I remain skeptical about his intentions and his powers to enact any change. At the same time, for the benefit of the doubt, I wonder: What if he decides to be a Gorbachev or a Yelstin in Iran? How much of a fantasy is it to imagine Rouhani sitting on a tank refusing to take orders from the Supreme Leader? What are the chances that such a fantasy turn into reality? What are the chances that the revolutionary guardsmen suddenly realize that business as usual is no longer possible. IRGC controls the economy but in order for that control to have any value, they need to do business with the world economy. That does not seem possible with the tightening noose of sanctions. What if the IRGC thinks to itself: “Why not cause the change, keep control and turn the business machine back on?”
After all, the guardsmen carry the guns, money and the real power in Iran. Moreover, the Supreme Leader’s currency, namely his legitimacy, has devalued drastically. Of course, if the IRGC were to cause change and keep control, they would need a smiling president and an eloquent English speaking FM. In that case, they would see nothing wrong with backing the new president and his top diplomat.
Pipe dream? May be all of this is just wishful desire to see the Iranian people free themselves from the chains of tyranny and terror placed on them by the man-made concept of God on earth or “Velayat’e Faghih” – the Supreme Leader’s claim to being Supreme. There is, however, one single act that could buy Mr. Rouhani significant instant credit—he could advocate for a law that would make access to the Internet free of all filters and restrictions. Such a law is not likely to pass the current parliament, but Mr. Rouhani can be credited for launching a national debate on free access to information. He could make an argument that morality cannot be legislated and that Iranians are smart and decent enough to manage their own access to the web. So, as an Iranian-American whose pride of his Iranian heritage is permanently coupled with his American love of freedom, I borrow a phrase from the 40th president of the United States and shout from the top of my lungs: MR. ROUHANI, BRING DOWN THAT ELECTRONIC WALL !
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