By Sarah Stern | April 1, 2022 | Published in JNS

The United States has done much to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin in order for this ruthless megalomaniac to feel a small degree of pain for the tremendous suffering he has inflicted upon the Ukrainian people. Among these measures includes an attempt to hermetically seal off—or at least drastically reduce—oil exports from Russia, including sanctioning certain companies involved with the Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline.

Yet as we are trying to neuter one evil, we have been virtually groveling to empower another. At the very same time Putin was declaring his malevolent intentions on Ukraine—and even during the invasion and ensuing war—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has demanded a “written guarantee” that sanctions imposed on Iran “do not in any way damage our right to free and full economic and investment cooperation, and military-technical cooperation with the Islamic State.”

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Perhaps no one knows the evils of the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran better than the Iranian Diaspora.  Many have witnessed loved ones and watched while tens of thousands dissidents, human rights activists, members of religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community face “show trials. ” These usually last no more than a few moments and frequently result in torture and execution. 

If this “nuclear deal” goes through, who are we empowering? Why are we ignoring the voices of thousands of courageous Iranian dissidents who despise the regime by cementing the rule of this repressive, brutal theocracy seeking global hegemony? 

Why are we trying to isolate one evil, Russia, while empowering another, the Islamic Republic of Iran? And what can we possibly do about it? 

Here to answer these questions is Cameron Khansarina, Policy Director of the National Union for Democracy in Iran.