Khoury to moqawama: Iranian Revolution Inspired the Oppressed People Against West-Backed Regimes

30 years following the Islamic revolution in Iran, which toppled the Shah regime, a regime that oppressed its people for long and acted as a Western proxy in the country, the countries of the Arab world have begun to follow the lead of their Iranian fellow brothers.

Still in the atmosphere of the revolution, as the wave has been rumbling across the Arab world, with Bahrain as the latest arena for popular protests following Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Mauritania, many analysts refer these revolutions to their mother, Iran's Islamic revolution.

In an interview with moqawama.org, Lebanese political analyst Roni Khoury, who has visited the Islamic Republic of Iran several times already, said that with all what is going on in the Arab world, the Iranian revolution becomes, once again, a model that inspires the oppressed people against those unpopular regimes backed up by the west to maintain themselves despite the will of their population. 

"Thanks to the successful outcome of the Iranian revolution and to its capacity to maintain itself in face of the western coalition, hope to succeed and conviction to fight and resist was triggered into the mind of each resistant in the Arab world," Khoury said.

He pointed out that the Iranian Revolution has brought change to the region, saying "One of the most striking changes the Iranian revolution has brought to the region, is the ability of the system to maintain itself, independent from the persons. The Arab world who rarely witnessed the existence of past presidents but got used to perpetual ones, realized that Islam and democracy coexist."

He also underlined that the Iranian revolution and its leaders have enabled a smooth transformation in the region "The death (martyrdom) of Imam Khomeini has paved the way to elections and successors all of which were able to maintain the system established by the Iranian revolution. Iranian leaders were able to leave traces behind and their disappearance did not lead to any collapse but rather to smooth transformation and evolution. The Arab world cannot but learn from this model, and Arab leaders in place will definitely fear it as it contradicts the slogans that helped them to stay in place for so long."