OPINION
As the Assad regime has collapsed and the tyrant himself fled ahead of the revolutionary surge through Damascus, the audacity of Iran's clerical leadership — its president Masoud Pezeshkian and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi — soars to new heights of hypocrisy.
Their recent declarations championing the right of the Syrian people to self-determination, free from foreign interference, would seem noble — if they weren't so glaringly absurd, coming as they do from them.
The Iranian regime’s foreign ministry's statement last week — that the "decision on the future of Syria is the responsibility of the Syrian people alone, without destructive interference or external coercion" — is an ironic masterpiece of shamelessness, duplicity, and sheer gall.
It's almost as if the clerics believe we're all living under a rock, blissfully unaware of the Iran regime’s deep, dirty, and criminal entanglement in the Syrian quagmire over the last 14 years.
These murderous mullahs and their handymen in the IRGC were so engrossed in their role as puppeteers to Assad that their meddling contributed to the death of half a million Syrians, the displacement of millions, and the utter devastation of a nation.
All the while, they squandered over $50 billion of Iran’s wealth to prop up their puppet in Damascus, without which the Assad regime would have collapsed years earlier.
The regime’s relationship with Assad was not merely supportive; it was foundational to his ability to maintain power amidst a devastating conflict.
Tehran provided over $50 billion in economic and military support to Assad's regime.
The declaration by a high-ranking security official, Mehdi Ta’eb, that Syria was Iran’s "35th province" and that "if we lose Syria, we won’t be able to hold Tehran," starkly illustrates the strategic importance of Syria to the mullahs’ regional ambitions.
Moreover, Tehran’s commitment involved not only financial backing but substantial military support.
Estimates suggest that Iran orchestrated the deployment of 60,000 to 70,000 fighters from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and various Shiite and Sunni proxy militias.
It also facilitated Hezbollah's deep involvement in Syria, further internationalizing the conflict. The death of no fewer than 40 IRGC Brigadiers General in Syria reveals the extent of Iran’s meddling in Syrian affairs.
The fall of Bashar al-Assad not only marks the end of a brutal dictatorship but also reveals the profound hollowness and decay of a regime that sought to conceal its weakness by wielding power through unimaginable savagery against a beleaguered and defenseless nation, starkly illuminated by the harrowing and unbelievable scenes from the notorious Seydnaya prison in Damascus that have come to light in the past few days.
For the ayatollahs, Assad was more than an ally; he was a linchpin of their influence across the Mideast, a role more significant than even Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
This deep connection is evidenced by decades of frequent meetings and consultations between Assad and the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and every president and foreign minister since the 1980s.
Reflecting on Assad’s ouster, NCRI’s President-elect Maryam Rajavi remarked, "The dark days of this region are turning the page, and the time has come for the overthrow of the mullahs' regime. Now the 'strategic depth' of the religious dictatorship in Iran has collapsed."
As Syria turns a new leaf, it is crucial that the international community stays vigilant to ensure that the Syrian people themselves are at the helm of rebuilding their nation, free from the external manipulations that have long beleaguered them.
This pivotal moment offers a rare opportunity for true change — an opportunity that must not be wasted by those who have historically sought to control Syria from the shadows.
Meanwhile, as the curtain on Tehran’s interventionist theater falls, the global audience beholds the spectacle of its failure.
The day of reckoning, heralded by the Iranian people and the Resistance Units, is fast approaching, bearing the force of an inevitable, speeding bullet.
As Mrs. Rajavi keenly observed, "Now everyone can see how Assad's armed forces, which had the greatest support from the Iranian regime, were dismantled.
"The Revolutionary Guards and Khamenei's intelligence and security apparatus will not fare any better in the face of the Iranian people's uprising and organized resistance."
Echoing timeless truths, Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to independence decades ago, captured the enduring spirit of resistance against oppression:
"I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it — always," he aptly observed.
This sentiment resonates through time, reminding us that the historical verdict on such totalitarian regimes is rarely kind, and for Iran's current rulers, the bell tolls just as surely.
Ali Safavi (Safavi (@amsafavi) is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and President of Near East Policy Research, a research and policy analysis firm in Washington, DC.
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