I support Sen. Tom Cotton/ the GOP-47, and their March 9, 2015 “Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” as a means of clarifying, and then ending the self-destructive “negotiations” (elaborated here; here/here; and here) with a Shiite theocratic regime whose ugly and dangerous ideological pillars are: jihadism, Islamic Jew-hatred, and the active dehumanization of all non-Muslims via “najis”—“uncleanliness of the infidel”—doctrine. (elaborated here; here/here)
The doctrine of “najis” is very much alive as evidenced by Iranian theocratic leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s 2013 tweet about Israel as an “unclean rabid dog,” and his 2013 fatwa against “unclean” Bahai –a religious minority within Iran—that has increased their dehumanizing persecution. Here is the description of what happened to an innocent Bahai family flower business after Khamenei’s 2013 fatwa.
Parva Rahmanian’s family used to run a flower shop in Iran – until the government revoked their business license. The reason given was simple: as Baha’is, they were “unclean”—and so were their floral designs. The uncleanliness of the Baha’is was, to the world’s great shock and outrage, the subject of a recent (2013) fatwa by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which stated “Any communication, friendship, or association with the Baha’i, a damned sect, must be avoided.” Subsequently, Parva Rahmanian and her family “received a letter from the Justice Bureau saying that as a florist one’s hands get wet while decorating flowers, and given that Baha’is are considered unclean by the high-ranking clerics…, the work permit was revoked”
Such dehumanizing hatred, unsurprisingly, engenders persecution, often severe, of all Iran’s non-Muslim religious minorities, notably Baha’i, but also Christians, as well. Discrimination against the latter was the focus of a British All Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief joint report on The Persecution of Christians in Iran, just issued (March 2015).
This straightforward, if grim report hoped that by “cataloguing the abuse of Christians during Rouhani’s presidency”—deemed a moderate and reformist—the Parliamentarians might draw attention to the lack of freedom of religion in Iran, and encourage the government to prioritize this issue in all dialogues with the Islamic Republic.