In a January 28, 2022 article in the online daily Sotaliraq.com, journalist Mona Salem Al-Jabouri wrote that the Iranian leaders belong to a unique species of liars who know they are lying and know that their addressees know they are lying, yet are not embarrassed or ashamed of this. An especially conspicuous example of this, she said, is Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who, upon assuming office, called on the countries of the region to oppose foreign intervention while Iran itself was and is boldly intervening in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and committing terrible crimes there. Therefore, it would be better for Abdollahian to remain silent and keep his lies to himself and his regime, she concluded.
Mona Salem Al-Jabouri (Source: Ashraf-news.com)
The following are translated excerpts from her article:[1]
"They say about liars that their memory is weak and tends to betray them and expose their shame and the truth of their lies. [In most cases], when you confront a liar with his lie and condemn him for what he said or says he naturally feels not only embarrassment but shame. But when it comes to the leaders and officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the situation is completely different and presents us with people of a new sort: expert liars whose methods and manner of lying are beyond anyone's ability to emulate or compete with. It looks like [Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein] Amir-Abdollahian is set to top the list of expert liars whose lies are especially radical and far-reaching!
"The leaders and officials of the Iranian regime do not belong to the first and familiar kind of liars who are embarrassed and ashamed when their lie is revealed and they are exposed in public. They belong to the kind [of liars] who know full well that everyone knows they are lying. This was perfectly true of Minister Abdollahian when he spoke after the so-called National Conference of Iran and Its Neighbors… Like a wolf pretending to be an innocent lamb, he said that the top priority for the government of [Iranian President] Ebrahim Raisi is [Iran's] neighbors and establishing ties with them that have geographical, legal and cultural implications. Even more derisible was his claim that there is need to confront the foreign intervention in the region.[2]
"The most ironic aspect of all is that Abdollahian, a former commander in [Iran's Islamic] Revolutionary Guards [Corps], who has abilities in the sphere of exporting extremism and terror to the countries of the region and was involved in many activities of this sort, claims falsely and fraudulently that 'the top priority for Ebrahim Raisi's government is [Iran's] neighbors and establishing ties with them.' [He says this] even though he himself, immediately upon becoming foreign minister, stressed the need to cultivate the [Iranian] regime's proxies in the countries of the region, help them and support them, and it appears that, in President Raisi's era, the Iranian regime is continuing this policy as usual. When Abdollahian continues to lie and says that 'there is need to confront the foreign intervention in the region,' what intervention is he referring to, this man who knows better than anyone that there is no country or regime in the world who enters the countries of the region and intervenes in them with complete insolence [like Iran does]? [He also knows that] the atrocious crimes and massacres that were perpetrated by the Revolutionary Guards [Corps] and by its terrorist Qods Force – especially in the era of [Qods Force commander Qassem] Soleimani – against the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen are known to all. Therefore, it would be better for Abdollahian to remain silent and keep his lies to himself and his regime!"
[1] Sotalira.com, January 28, 2022.
[2] At the closing of the conference, Abdollahian said: "One of the top priorities since the new government began operating has been interaction with [Iran's] neighbors. The Raisi government is trying to interact and dialogue with the neighbors in order to maximize the existing capabilities, realize the suspended abilities and improve the bilateral relations… A policy focused on [relations with] the neighbors and which prioritizes cooperation with them naturally has geographical, legal, political, economic and cultural implications…Iran's greatest challenge in realizing [this] policy is finding ways to give meaning to [the principle of] regionality without the presence of any countries from outside the region [that seek] to harm the security of its countries." ISNA (Iran), January 24, 2022
