Islamic Revolution turned Iran into democracy: American professor

American professor Richard Anderson Falk says the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran that toppled a US-backed regime turned the country into a democracy.

Interviewed by Press TV on the eve of the 42nd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Professor Falk said on Tuesday that the uprising had undoubtedly led to “a drastic change” in the form of governance in Iran.

“There is no question that the Islamic Revolution brought about a drastic transition from the Shah’s absolute rule taking the form of an imperial dynasty to the current Islamic constitutional order that has important democratic elements, including the periodic election of the President and members of the Majlis,” the American professor said.

He said there were also distinctive features of governance associated with the Islamic character of the Revolution, including the leadership exerted by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

“This feature of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a defining feature of its democratic style of governance, a leadership role that lasts indefinitely,” he said.

Commenting on Iran’s path to success in the past 42 years, the professor said that Iran had managed to withstand a range of threats thanks to four decades of social, economic, and military advancements.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has become a formidable presence in the region, withstanding a range of threats to its territorial integrity and political independence, most notably the Iraqi attack in 1980, which was encouraged and supported by Western powers, including the United States,” he said.

He said Iran had proven itself as “a notable anti-terrorist force more recently in its effective curtailment of the influence of Daesh in Syria and elsewhere in the region.”

Iran helped Syria and Iraq defeat Daesh militarily and retake occupied territory in the two countries in late 2017.

Falk also referred to Tehran’s ability to thwart former US president Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

“Iran has demonstrated a remarkable resilience in the face of such determined efforts by geopolitical forces to achieve ‘regime change,’” he said.

He also noted that Iran had managed to defeat counterrevolutionary challenges.

“This resilience contrasts with the experience of Arab countries after the Arab Spring upheavals of 2010-2011, where democratizing challenges, even when successful, did not survive counterrevolutionary challenges, relapsing into corrupt and oppressive regimes tied to the West,” he said.

Commenting on the failure of Trump’s policies against Iran, including the illegal sanctions imposed by Washington and the assassination of two of the symbols of the Islamic Republic’s power of defense and scientific development — Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh — Falk hailed the wisdom of the Iranian leadership.

“As suggested, Iran’s resilience in terms of these many provocations, including these criminal assassinations of General Soleimani and Dr. Fakhrizadeh in 2020, is a tribute to the deep roots of stability achieved by the Islamic Republic but also exhibits the composure of the Iranian leadership in withstanding temptations to either give political ground or be drawn into the devastation of a wider bloody war,” he said. “This composure was a sign of strength and foreign policy maturity rather than an indication of weakness or passivity.”

Falk said that Washington would like to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but “whether it will do so without accepting Israel’s demands for new conditions does not look hopeful at present.”

He stressed, however, that the accord “benefits Iran, the United States, as well as regional and world peace to follow a new policy path based on an ethic of reconciliation”.

Professor Richard Anderson Falk is the author or co-author of 20 books and the editor or co-editor of another 20 volumes. In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed him to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.”

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