Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

I was born in Iran, but I fled when I was just 17, leaving my home for the uncertainty of a life without family or friends, and enduring a dangerous desert crossing that forever changed my life. Although I love Iranians, I love the freedom and choices offered in the West more, and I want to protect them.

The decision to facilitate nuclear production under the Iranian-Islamic government puts us all at risk. The nuclear deal is not good for the Iranian people, the region or the world. It gives the mullahs power to suppress opposition and encourages them to continue to incite global terror.

Although I might not be a political analyst, I understand too well the dragon that rules Iran. I have suffered its fire and I have seen how this predator brings down its prey. I know what the Iranian-Islamic government stands for and to what extent it will go to promote its ideology.

Listen carefully when the mullahs preach during Friday lunch and prayers. They are not shy about declaring and promoting their intentions. When they say, “Death to England!” Death to America!” “ Death to Israel!”, they really mean it. This is not a fringe group.

The mullahs are experts at disguising their goals and they use the international stage as tools to spread their message. “Death to America” really means death to America and anything that America stands for. Do not take this lightly.

If we look back at the history of the Iranian-Islamic governments for the past 36 years, we witness a litany of horrors: the American hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the history of continued repression, assault on the rights of women, the practice of public hanging and stoning, the sanctioned rape of female prisoners, the suppression of the Green Movement—the list of human rights offenses is without end. To empower the development of this nuclear technology clearly supports a regime that shows no respect for human life.

By facilitating Iran’s nuclear capacity, we are feeding the dragon. If there were to be a war tomorrow, it would use conventional weapons, but in 10 years, Iran will have nuclear bombs. President Obama wants to use diplomacy to postpone or avoid bloodshed. His desire is to be commended. But history teaches that unless a schoolyard bully learns his lesson, he will go through life as a bully. In 1938, Britain and Germany signed the Munich Accord, agreeing never to go to war with each other again. Chamberlain was celebrated for establishing “peace for our time.” Less than a year later, WWII began. It would result in the deaths of approximately 3 percent of the world’s 1940 population. Documents alone do not make for peace when the signatories have a history of showing no faith, nor any tolerance for beliefs other than their own and they morally believe in the legitimate use of deception to achieve their long-term goals.

Economic experts believe that the financial benefits of the nuclear deal will be funneled to what Patrick Clawson of Businessinsider.com calls “foreign adventurism”—support for terrorism and foreign militias, bribes and soft-power broadcasting meant to undermine world peace. Perhaps it is not that the Iranian- Islamic regime is so clever, but that the rest of the world is oblivious and ostrich like. The dragon is roaring and we turn our heads away.

The Iranian-Islamic government has consistently demonstrated that it has the means and the will to defy international regulations and regulatory bodies. In fact, as far back as 2004, former Iranian chief nuclear negotiator and current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated, “While we were talking with the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in parts of the (nuclear) facility in Isfahan... In fact, by creating a calm environment, we were able to complete the work on Isfahan.”

As a people, Iranians are highly creative, proud of their heritage and distinct ethnic identity. Iranians speak a unique language, Farsi, which is different from Arabic or Arabic variations. They know their literature, cultural music, and poetry. Iranians know the history of their country and the story of their empire, once among the largest in the world. But the government of Iran is not the same as the people of Iran and it does not represent the mass of Iranians. It will do whatever it has to do to stay in power. It is not surprising that since the nuclear agreement was signed in July, the government has increased pressure on its opponents.

The greatest truths can be simply expressed. When a farmer plants a walnut tree, he knows that his actions will affect the next three generations, but the fourth will reap the benefits. The tree will grow and give shade, but only his great- great- grandchildren will enjoy the nut. Even empire-builders built with eyes on the future. When the ancient Romans established the roads that made their empire possible, they built with forethought: some of those roads are still in use today. For a deal to proposer it has to be a win-win for both, and the Iranian-Islamic government has mastered the game of tag, playing us for fools.

To offer the Iranian-Islamic government the right to build nuclear facilities of any kind is to focus on short-term gain. Our children will not thank us; our grandchildren will most likely curse us.

If we do not plant the seeds of peace, health and freedom, then we offer our descendants a bitter and mundane harvest. The history of the Iranian-Islamic government shows that since its inception, the mullahs have had neither peace, nor compassion, nor interest in tolerating any differences in point-of-view. Further, they insist on exporting their ideology to the region and the world at large. It is not “live and let live”, but, “I live and you die”.

This has nothing to do with political doctrine or economic statistics and equations. This is just common sense. We would not try to pacify a bully by giving him a loaded gun, so why are we permitting and encouraging Iran’s nuclear capability? Again, I am from there and know their mentality and was caught in their deception.

If we don’t stop this foolishness now, everybody is at risk. We need to make changes today or our children will reap a barren and bitter harvest, a scorched land, and an empty world.

Dr. Sima Goel is the author of “Fleeing the Hijab: A Jewish Woman’s Escape from Iran.”