Now that the first step to confronting Iran has been taken, we must look at a wider foreign policy on Iran.

Many policymakers once viewed the Iran deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) JCPOA), as the best way to dealing with the major problems in the Middle East, but the reality is that Iran has so many more problems than just its nuclear weapons development.

This has long been the advice of the Iranian opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), who said that the only way to truly denuclearise Iran would be through regime change by the Iranian people.

Regime change is one of the NCRI’s main ways to improve Iran, as it would remove all of Iran’s current threats and bring about peace in the region.
NCRI President Maryam Rajavi said: “[Regime change is] a requisite for regional peace, democracy, security, and stability.”

Of course, they are not alone. In recent months, tens of thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets to protest the ruling mullahs and openly call for regime change.

This means that since December, US foreign policy on Iran has been forced to take a huge turn. That’s probably one of Trump’s reasons for withdrawing as cutting off the mullahs funds by putting them under sanctions will allow the Iranian people to overthrow the Regime at an unforeseen pace.

The Iranian Regime has been rattled by these protests, so rattled that they’ve actually told the truth about the role of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in helping to organise the anti-regime uprising. The mullahs typically hate acknowledging that the MEK has any power in Iran, where the political party is banned, but new President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have broken protocol.

Despite the Regime’s brutal crackdown, which has left dozens dead and over 8,000 imprisoned, the protests are continuing with thousands risking their freedom and their lives to openly call for the deaths of regime leaders.

The international community’s intense focus on the Iranian Regime’s nuclear programme has left them unable to tackle other issues, like human rights and an interventionist military policy. Hopefully this will change following the US withdrawal.

Now is the time to focus on those other issues, in order to save the lives of those who are most at risk from the mullahs: the Iranian people.

Rajavi told the Iran Freedom Convention for Human Rights and Democracy in Washington that the Iranian people “are calling on the international community, in particular the West, to support their uprising for the overthrow of the Iranian regime.”

It should be clear that the nuclear deal is failing the Iranian people and the world as a whole, so international policy should shift accordingly.