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go through Robert Inlaksh
The records of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdullahian on the Palestinian issue are significant.
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdullahian are to be replaced after a shocking helicopter crash in the Varzegen region.
While millions of Iranians across the country poured into the streets to mourn the deaths of the two men alongside other senior officials, and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) observed a moment of silence, their record on the Palestinian issue is appalling and very important to underline.
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi (1960-2024)
Ebrahim Raisi was born in the Iranian city of Mashhad, an important religious site in the country and home to the shrine of Imam Reza. He was educated at the prestigious religious seminary of Qom from around the age of 15, and subsequently studied with several important Islamic scholars. time.
Born into a family of clerics, Lacey took part in the protests that eventually led to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when the Iranian people overthrew the British- and American-backed dictator Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
What is often not pointed out is that the centrality of the Palestinian cause in the popular uprising that overthrew Iran’s tyrannical monarch was evident not only in the references to Palestine in the revolutionary movement itself, but also in the training of groups of revolutionaries by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
After Ebrahim Raisi earned his doctorate in Islamic jurisprudence and law from Shahid Motahari University, he quickly rose through the ranks to become deputy prosecutor in Tehran at the age of 25.
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It was in this role that he was charged as one of four judges on a secret panel that retried prisoners and sentenced thousands to death. Most of those executed were accused of carrying out terrorist activities on behalf of the notorious Muslim Mujahideen (MEK), which itself has killed some 16,000 Iranians in various bombings and shooting attacks and was in conflict with the Iraqi president during the Iran War Saddam Hussein stands together. The Iraq War.
Although he denied having played a role in the trials, he has been portrayed in the West as the “Butcher of Tehran,” a narrative supported by many in the Iranian diaspora who oppose the current Islamist government, many of whom support the return of the Iranian monarchy or support the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK).
Inside Iran, Raisi has a very different image, and while there are a range of opposition parties and individuals who speak out against him, he is seen in much of the country as someone who regularly travels to the people in the country’s poorest regions. As a result, many speculate that he could potentially replace Iran’s Supreme Leader, Khamenei.
When elected in 2021, Ebrahim Raisi ran as a religious conservative candidate and won on a platform of economic reform. In the Western media, he has been labeled a “hardliner” or “conservative”, mainly related to two key aspects of his status as a politician: his approach to foreign policy and his approach to religion.
However, the term “conservative” in Iran only applies to religious-social aspects, as people described by this term generally pursue socialist economic policies and have little to do with conservatives in the West.
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In terms of foreign policy, Ibrahim Raisi focused on “moving eastward” and abandoned attempts to align Iran with the West. This means strengthening Tehran’s ties with Moscow and Beijing, joining the BRICS economic alliance and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Another key aspect of Iran’s new foreign policy is a more resolute stance on regional resistance to Israeli and American hegemony.
Under Raisy, Iran will focus on developing stronger deterrence options as it fights a “shadow war” with Israel. Tehran will also speak out more frequently on behalf of the Palestinian people, further develop its relationship with Hamas, and seek to block the U.S.-planned Saudi-Israeli normalization deal, which became a major foreign policy goal before October 7.
After October 7, Ibrahim Raisi made the most resolute pro-Palestinian voice at the Arab-Islamic Summit triggered by the Gaza War, calling on all relevant countries to sanction Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people and speaking in support of armed force. The struggle against occupation.
It was also under President Raisi that the Islamic Republic launched its first direct attack on Israel from Iranian soil, in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of the consular part of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria.
Throughout the Gaza war, Iran has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Israeli genocide and has advanced a confrontational approach against Israel, assisting Palestinians in Gaza in coordination with its allies Hezbollah, the Palestinian Popular Mobilization Organization and Ansarallah resistance movement.
In his last speech in Azerbaijan, President Raisi turned his attention to the Palestinian issue and emphasized the strength of unity between the Iranian and Azerbaijani peoples, declaring that “the Palestinian cause is the primary issue of the Islamic world.”
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Hussein Amir Abdullahian (1964-2024)
Born in Damgan, Hussein Amir-Abdollahian began his career after earning a PhD in International Relations from the University of Tehran. He went on to build important relationships throughout West Asia and served in his first government role during the presidency of Ali Larijani.
Hussein Amir-Abdullahian subsequently served as Secretary-General of the Permanent Secretariat of the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, and subsequently as Managing Director of the Palestinian Strategic Dialogue Quarterly, where he served as Editor-in-Chief.
He is also known for his close relationship with Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The relationship is said to have originated when Amir-Abdullahian served as the foreign ministry’s Iraq expert after the U.S. military overthrew Saddam Hussein. When General Qassem Soleimani was appointed Quds Force commander, they were said to meet to discuss key regional issues.
Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020, is credited with helping the Palestinian resistance develop an effective strategy against Israeli forces, most notably his involvement in the construction of an elaborate underground complex in the Gaza Strip tunnel system.
Hussein Amir-Abdullahian is also a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as deputy foreign minister during the government of former President Hassan Rouhani. He reportedly feuded with then-Foreign Minister Javad Zarif over differences over the direction of Iran’s foreign policy.
In 2021, with the election of Raisi’s government, Amir-Abdullahian took office as Iran’s foreign minister, and Western media described him as a “hardliner” on foreign policy issues.
A staunch advocate of the Palestinian cause, he is seen as posing a particular threat to the regional ambitions of Israel and the United States because he is known to be committed to Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” idea. He has participated in various meetings with Hezbollah Secretary-General Said Hassan Nasrallah and others, and has also known leaders within the Palestinian resistance organization for a long time.
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He contributed to President Ibrahim Raisi’s policy of abandoning the West and establishing ties with the entire South beyond Russia and China, and he was considered instrumental in the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran played a key role.
At the start of the war in Gaza, Amir Abdullahian said Iran could be drawn into the conflict if Israel launched a ground invasion of the besieged coastal enclave. Subsequently, on October 14, he met with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha.
In November, he also arranged a meeting in Lebanon between Hamas Politburo member Khalil Al-Hayya, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Secretary General Ziad al-Nakhaleh. During the war, he traveled to Lebanon several times to coordinate with Lebanese and Palestinian resistance factions.
Hamas described Raisi and Amir Abdullahian as saying, “These leaders supported our people’s legitimate struggle against the Zionist entity, provided valuable support to the Palestinian resistance movement and participated in all forums and the field’s tireless efforts in solidarity with and support of our people in the Gaza Strip during the Al-Aqsa Floods campaign.”
(Palestine Chronicle)
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, author and documentary filmmaker. He focused on the Middle East, specifically Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
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