May 25, 2009 | 5:30 pm

Wake up America, there are no “reformists” in Iran’s regime!

Posted by Karmel Melamed

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(left to right; Iran's supposed reformists Mohammad Khatami and Mir Hossien Mousavi)

Day in and day out, I am simply disgusted to read and hear countless western news media reports of the supposed “reformists” or “moderates” in the Iranian government who will be running in the upcoming June 12th Iranian presidential race. The clear fact that these western media outlets repeatedly overlook is that there are NO REFORMISTS in the Iranian government! Those individuals who claim to be supposed moderates in the current Iranian regime are equally if not worse that the hardliners in that government. To call anyone in the Iranian regime a reformist or moderate is a misnomer as everyone associated with that government has been supporting international radical Islamic terrorism, human rights abuses and the advancement of nuclear weapons technology in Iran.

Perhaps the best example of the ruthlessness of the supposed “reformists” in Iran is the past president, Mohammad Khatami. He has been hailed in the West for years as the “ray of hope” in Iran’s totalitarian radical Islamic theocracy. Yet many Iranians living outside of Iran and who are familiar with Khatami, know very well that under his reign of terror during the 1990s’ more journalists, student opposition groups and human rights activists in Iran were imprisoned, tortured and executed, than under any of the previous Iranian presidents. During Khatami’s reign, Iran’s financial and military support for terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah did not stop nor decline— to the contrary, they rose! Khatami and these other Iranian government “reformists” at that time still called for the destruction of Israel and America. Khatami and other supposed “reformist” did relax some strict social Islamic laws on individuals in Iran, but these were merely a façade for the West to believe that somehow these Iranian government officials were not as bad as the other ayatollahs in the regime. For the record, during Khatami’s reign, 10 Jews trying to escape the country illegally through the border with Pakistan were arrested, imprisoned and have not been heard from since. Is imprisoning Jews who are seeking to leave the country for religious freedom signs of a moderate or reformist? I think not!

Today we have the same wanna-be, supposed “reformists” running for the presidency in Iran. The leading “reformist” candidate is Mir Hossien Mousavi, the fifth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989— a bloody era in Iran’s history where thousands of Iranian Muslim citizens, who were opposed to the radical Islamic style of government were routinely torture and executed. Mousavi is also a member of the High Council of Cultural Revolution, a group which over the last 30 years has regularly purged Iran’s academia of all Western and non-Islamic influences through torture and execution in order to bring it in line with their beliefs of radical Shiite Islam. Now does this person in all honesty sound like a “moderate” or a “reformer” who will change Iran’s government? I seriously doubt it.

Another supposed “moderate” running for the presidency in Iran is Mehdi Karroubi. He is an Iranian cleric who has criticized many hardliners in the Iranian government, but at the same time he still supports the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Interestingly, Karroubi calls himself a follower of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the ruthless dictator who gave birth to Iran’s radical Islamic regime 30 years ago! Again, this person also does not sound like some who is “moderate” or will change Iran’s current radical regime.

In the end, the Western news media outlets have it wrong. There are no “reformists” in Iran’s current regime—all the Iranian government officials are evil sponsors of terrorism, human rights abuses and want to advance Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. All of these alleged “reformists” and “moderates” are just as dangerous as their hardliner competitors in the government and the Obama Administration and the U.S. population must not be fooled into believing otherwise! More, importantly, none of these “reformists” candidates have publicly nor privately called for an end to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. This clearly makes them no different than the current insane Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Finally after all is said and done with the Iranian presidential elections this coming June, one must also not forget that whether a “reformist” or “hardliner” is elected in Iran, it will make no difference as to Iran’s foreign policy since the regime is still controlled by the Supreme Leader, Khamenei who has the last say as to what will be done.

Iran’s Supreme Leader and dictator Ali Khamenei standing in front of a photo of the late Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini.