Iran even summoned the Polish Charge d’Affaires Wojciech Unolt to the Foreign Ministry to criticise Poland’s hosting of the conference.

To those unfamiliar with the Regime, it may seem strange that the Regime would react this way over a conference to address “terrorism and extremism, missile development and proliferation, maritime trade and security, and threats posed by proxy groups across the region”, but the sad truth is that Iran sees a stable, peaceful Middle East as the antithesis to its plans for regional domination. The Regime’s reaction signals that the mullahs know they are responsible for the majority of conflict in the Middle East and that the days of global appeasement of the Regime are over, something that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explained on January 10 was now US policy.

He said: “The nations of the Middle East will never enjoy security, achieve economic stability, or advance the dreams of its peoples if Iran’s revolutionary regime persists on its current course.”

The Iranian Regime is at an impasse right now, with this increased international scrutiny coming at the same time as nationwide unrest, meaning there is nowhere for the Iranian Regime to seek shelter from the storm they created for themselves. So the Regime is trying to downplay the significance of both, with the hope that both problems will go away quietly, but neither will.

The reaction from Zarif and the Foreign Ministry shows that the Regime knows that this is the beginning of the end for the Regime, with the general consensus being that the world will soon recognise how misguided the policy of appeasement towards the Regime has been.

This is also a signal of weakening relations between Iran and the EU, especially in light on the new sanctions the EU levied against Iran earlier this month and the intense criticism from other EU members states about Iranian terrorism in their backyards.

Reza Shafiee, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), wrote: “It is true that the Iranian people can no longer stand the regime and it’s also true that the main Iranian opposition is the source of great fear for Khamenei and his cronies. The volatile state of the country plus the prospect of an end to the appeasement policy and on top of that a viable alternative to organising the protests in Iran is certainly a terrifying outlook for the regime in 2019.”