Iran faces an explosive social situation because economy which is based on oil industry and trade and not on manufacturing activity went bankrupt because of American sanctions. People wish for a change but they cannot change the deal because they represent a sum of individuals and not an organized group .

By chance, economic failure hits as well militia and Bazar which are well-organized. Bazar is on bad terms with the power but it is scared of taking action. Situation is even tenser with militiamen among whom everybody is scared of reprisals against their family. The regime is unsteady. Its situation remains instable but everything stands up to scrutiny because nobody dares to make a move. This is mostly due to the fact that in 2009, Iranians reacted but they obtained no support from democratic States whose interest is to preserve this regime. One decisive factor for a regime change would be the West’s support and especially Western opinion. That’s the reason why when the Bazar went on strike short time ago, the regime which usually doesn’t tell about its stoning death sentences mentioned a case of imminent stoning in order to divert Western opinion from what could appear as an uprising carried out by the most important organized body of Iran. Westerners jumped at the chance and only told about it instead of mentioning the explosive situation of the Iranian society.

This much particular campaign is lead by recognized supporters of the United States and some well-known agents (or lobbyists) of the mullahs’ regime who are supporters of reforms instead of regime change. On the other side, the regime ensured the success of this campaign that made people forget about domestic situation thanks to judicial new developments and announcements that had over media coverage and concerned death sentence against various perceptible groups such as gays, Bahai and Christians. This didn’t please the campaign’s Western leaders because this imposed the necessity to change the regime and this is contrary to the will of the campaign’s Western sponsors.

That’s why we suddenly stopped hearing about this information that went through the silent censure of Western democratic States. Such sentencing was likely to induce pressures on the Iranian Jewish community : we could even read an article about the wonderful life of Jews under the mullahs’ regime. The goal was to remain focused on Sakineh in order to elude the domestic explosive situation or even to avoid saving lives for real.

Despite such precautions and efforts to remain focused on Sakineh, this campaign lost momentum and people who are not robots finally took interest to Iran and its explosive situation. Three days ago, there were only around 50 people in Paris, 12 in London or even 5 in Berlin who paid some attention for this campaign but more than 16,000 people read our letter about it. After those failed demonstrations and in order to save this campaign which is just a delusion, Tehran announced two other stoning sentences involving one man and one woman, Vali Janfeshani and Sarieh Ebadi, who were found guilty for extramarital relations. The couple has been jailed in Ouromieh (Rezayieh) since 2008.

Amazement ! The AFP which is always on the look-out for Iranian news didn’t echo those both revolting sentences. We didn’t notice as well anything on the website of Sakineh’s defenders because those both new condemnations show more explicitly that it’s absolutely necessary to stand by a regime change.

Tehran understood the message immediately : it hushed up stoning sentences that appeared problematic for its Western partners and it insulted Carla Bruni. Surprisingly every media echoed such fact. According to Westerners’ point of view, insults are more serious than the other both stoning sentences, the execution of a gay or the hanging of Iranians who converted to Christianity.

We need to end those manipulations. This won’t stop the regime’s fall but this will arouse some lasting hatred against the West. Stop it, stop it. Save lives : Sakineh but every other as well, especially some 70 millions of Iranians. They are observing you.

© WWW.IRAN-RESIST.ORG
The french version of this article :
 Iran : Les insultes à Carla, une diversion médiatique réussie
 (31 AOÛT 2010)