Caitlin Johnstone

In July of last year neoconservative death cultist John Bolton, now the National Security Advisor of the United States, gave a speech at the Grand Gathering of Iranians for Free Iran in which he openly called for regime change in Tehran.

Bolton, who is so stupid, crazy and evil that he remains one of the only high-profile individuals on this planet who still insists that the Iraq invasion was a great idea, spoke about the need to prevent the Iranian government from achieving “an arc of control” through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. He decried the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), claiming that Iran was still a nuclear threat under the existing agreement, and spoke glowingly of aggressive sanctions against Tehran. He concluded his speech with the following statement:

“There is a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs, and that opposition is centered in this room today. I had said for over 10 years since coming to these events, that the declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran. The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself. And that’s why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!”

Whoa there, Grandpa Clusterbomb. Back up a bit.

“There is a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs, and that opposition is centered in this room today.”

Who was that in that room? Who were those people applauding so enthusiastically to Bolton’s regime change rhetoric? Who are these people Mustache Satan sees as a “viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs”?

Well that’s actually where it gets even more freaky, believe it or not.

These Grand Gatherings of Iranians events are actually put on by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, also known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq or MEK, a group of a few thousand members who vocally oppose the Iranian government. The MEK is widely considered a cult, using very cult-like methods of indoctrination including exerting control over the personal and sex lives of its members and forcing them to go through weekly “ideological cleansings”.

Previously listed as a terrorist organization by the US government because it has killed Americans and has an extensive history of committing acts of terrorism, in 2012 the MEK was taken off the State Department’s terrorist list by Secretary of State and virulent Iran hawk Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s job, incidentally, is currently occupied by another notorious Iran hawk in Mike Pompeo.

As noted in 2012 by the New York Times, a bizarre amount of lobbying went into getting MEK taken off the terror list, the provocative nature of which was justified by the claim that “United States-Iran relations are already at such a low point that it is unlikely to make them much worse.” Among those lobbying for the move was former CIA Director James “Ha ha, of course we meddle in foreign democracies” Woolsey and other CIA affiliates.

This would be the same CIA, by the way, which recently ramped up covert operations in Iran under the guidance of aggressive Iran hawk “Ayatollah Mike” D’Andrea.

The MEK reportedly has weirdly deep pockets which have enabled it to spend millions of dollars rehabilitating its image in recent years, and to pay out sizable fees for panelists and speeches by experts willing to advocate in favor of its regime change agenda. Rudy Giuliani, currently one of President Trump’s attorneys, led a “regime change” chant at another MEK event in March.

So the US president has just authorized aggressive sanctions against Iran after a highly dishonest speech to the American people, and now there’s a well-funded extremist group all set and groomed to become the “viable opposition” to the government of that country with the blessings of the CIA and the president’s bloodthirsty National Security Advisor.

Sound familiar? Maybe sorta kinda exactly the same as what we’ve seen in the buildups to staged coups on Syria, Libya and Ukraine?

Americans have been reluctant to consent to boots on the ground in the Middle East since Iraq, which is why the US war machine has been switching its emphasis to psyops, armed regional militant groups, and airstrikes/drone warfare. But just because there are no flag-draped coffins flying home doesn’t mean that America will be any less culpable if violence erupts in Iran in the wake of crushing, destabilizing Iran sanctions. It will have been deliberate, and the bloodshed, suffering and chaos caused will be on this administration’s hands.

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