Iranian opposition leader Vahid Beheshti: Iran and Russia share common ideology
Vahid Beheshti (photo: Vitalii Nosach RBC-Ukraine)
Recently, Russia gained a new ally - Iran, which supplies it with drones and ballistic missiles to attack Ukraine. Moscow and Tehran collaborate in many areas, but what truly brings the two regimes closer is their shared ideology, according to Iranian oppositionist Vahid Beheshti. He was forced to leave his country 25 years ago and now resides in London.
In an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Vahid Beheshti discussed what Iran and Russia have in common, how they are attacking Western civilization from different directions, and how dangerous Iran remains.
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What Russia and Iran have in common
I have to go to the theories and the ideologues of Russia, in the brain of Vladimir Putin. There is someone whose name is Alexander Dugin. This person is going to Iran every two or three months.
Alexander Dugin says that the common denominator between the regime in Iran and the regime in Russia is both these regimes are anti-westernist. Alexander Dugin says in Russia there is the same ideology as Mahdiism in Iran. In his words, they believe as a branch of Orthodox Christianity, in the return of Katakhon. So they believe in this person, that he returns, same as Mahdi, same as Jesus.
So we can work shoulder-to-shoulder together. The Iranian regime fully comes behind Russia and provides killer drones and missiles to Russia in order to kill our brothers and sisters in Ukraine because they see attacking Ukraine as attacking the West. And as you see today Russia is supporting the Iranian regime in war with Israel, so they see this attack on Israel as attacking the West again.
How ideology influences Iran's actions
If you listen to their theories, they believe there are 12 saints. There is Mahdi, he is still alive after 1400 years and he will return, so they see the divine mission for themselves, that they are here to prepare the world for the appearance of their Imam, of Mahdi.
So what is the preparation for the appearance of the Imam? The world that we are living in at the moment with these modern democratic values, and human rights, from their point of view is representing evil. So for this reason they have to turn the modern world into an Islamic State, to caliphate.
For this, they need to destroy and demolish the Western civilization. And one step before that they have to destroy and demolish the state of Israel the Jewish people. So this is their ideology and mentality, this is their goal and mission. And that's why you see all these activities in the region and Europe and America. For this, they were very active in the past 35 years, 40 years.
I remember, 27 years ago they passed a law in their parliament to receive about 17 million dollars to make one movie which is called "The Land of Prophet Solomon" to demonize the Jewish people. And the same things to Westerners. Investment in Europe, in America. they created many different associations, charities, and Islamic centers, to brainwash our youth and radicalize them.
They invested billions to influence our politicians and our mainstream media. So they have unarmed proxies in which they are active and they have armed proxies, about 16, 17 of them in the region - Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hashd al-Shaabi, and others.
Iran is a "paper tiger"
If you see Pezishkian now coming to the United Nations and start talking about peace, this is not that they change their way, strategy, and ideology. This is because of the great military power of Israel.
If we see what Israel has done, the precise operation in Iran and outside of Iran. I am 100% sure the explosion of the helicopter of President Raisi was a very precise job of Israel. But the Iranian regime didn't have even the courage to announce that because if they said that was Israel's job, they had to retaliate.
The second one was the elimination of Ismail Haniyeh in the heart of Tehran. Israel could eliminate him anywhere in the world. But this is a very calculated and precise operation that took place in Iran, that day humiliated Khamenei and his regime. Ismail Haniyeh was the special guest of Khamenei so his security was even higher than the son of Ali Khamenei and Israel eliminated only him and his bodyguard, not anyone else.
I am the only Iranian, in the past 45 years who gave a speech in the Israeli parliament. There I said the Iranian regime is a paper tiger. We should not be afraid to target IRGC sites inside of Iran, the House of High Officials of the regime, and the nuclear sites of the regime.
Earlier, RBC-Ukraine wrote about Iran's capabilities to develop nuclear weapons and why the country's leadership is not taking the final step in this direction.
