Iranian MP: Our national security is being damaged on the streets of our cities

Iranian MP: Our national security is being damaged on the streets of our cities

Protesters hurl stones against riot police during a demonstration in Tehran ( Photo archive)

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Jan. 10, 2019 - Last Sunday, Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, an Iranian MP from the so-called reformist faction, while questioning the high costs for Iran’s foreign policy—read costs for exporting fundamentalism to the region and supporting terrorist groups around the globe—said in an open session of the Iranian parliament: “Our national security isn’t damaged by our enemies but on the streets of our own cities.”

Since nationwide protests over economic grievances erupted in late 2017, different ruling factions have taken to blame each other for the current situation.

“In our foreign policy, we have much unnecessary high costs. Although our regional influence is important, but we should not forget one thing,” Rahimi Jahanabadi said.

Comparing the current situation of the Iranian regime with the final period of the Soviet Union, he said: “Sometimes, unnecessary costs may pin us down on the streets of Tehran. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it had 13 thousand nuclear warheads, influence and presence in more than 20 countries, and the Mir space station, but it was torn down on the streets of Moscow and its security and territorial integrity were destroyed.”

“Today, the people have difficulties in making ends meet, to feed their children, to feed the hungry of this country, if we can’t remedy the unnecessary costs for foreign policies, the unnecessary costs for internal policies, our national security will be damaged not by our enemies but rather on the streets of our own cities.”

One of the famous slogans Iranians have been shouting in their demonstrations is, “No to Gaza, no to Lebanon! I’ll sacrifice my life for Iran.”

This is the popular way of the Iranian streets of saying that wasting our money in foreign ventures is enough. Think about Iran, its people, and our national interests.

In the same parliamentary session, Mohammadreza Badamchian, another Iranian MP, said: “Iran’s economy is currently in a bad situation. The numbers in the employment section are alarming.”

“Since April 2018 until the end of August, more than 40 percent of the workforce in the private sector have been dismissed and are unemployed,” he added.

Badamchian said: “Let’s judge our record. How does our 40-year economic record look like? How come we don’t see all the progress by other, even those whose countries haven’t been more than a desert until recently?... The people are burning in the fire of our mismanagement…”

Analysts believe that in tandem with growing discontent among the population and the falling economy of Iran, over the coming years, its parliament will be the stage for unprecedent revelations and criticism for the past four decades of the Islamic Republic.