The mistake committed by the Americans in particular, and by the West in general, of reducing the blood-spattered 2.5-year Syrian crisis to merely the issue of Bashar Al-Assad's chemical arsenal is likely to be repeated with Iran. Indeed, by reducing the various crises connected to the latter to the nuclear issue alone, Western powers are providing yet another example of their disregard for the region's real problems and their tendency to suffice themselves with seeking to resolve only the issues that affect them and bother their only real ally: Israel. It is true that the Iranian nuclear issue represents a source of concern for various countries in the region and the world. Yet there are other issues, apart from enrichment levels and the possibility of obtaining a nuclear bomb, which must also be included in Iran's newly-arisen "moderation", if Rohani's leadership seeks to prove that it is serious about alleviating the tension with the Arab World. Otherwise, the flexibility being displayed consists merely of diplomatic expressions and oratory rhetoric. Indeed, "good neighborliness" has certain conditions that must be met and certain standards that must be respected. The real test would be for Iran to stop interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries, at times in the name of Palestine and Jerusalem, and at others in the name of Islam and Muslims. Of course, no one minds for Iranians to support the people of Palestine out of Islamic solidarity, as long as the true purpose of this is not to share in the Palestinians' independent decision-making or to incite one Palestinian faction against another, as has in effect taken place. Iran must also especially stop seeking to turn Shiites, whether they are a minority or a majority, into militias in their own countries, conspiring under its orders, following its apparatus and implementing its program, instead of being an integral part of those countries' peoples, as had been the case before the advent of Khomeinism, with the same rules applying to them as to others, rather than them turning into "states" within their states, as is the case with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various armed organizations in Iraq. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 erupted for purely internal reasons, including poverty, oppression, and the lack of freedoms, and unleashed latent capabilities among the Iranian people, who had long suffered from tyranny. Yet it was not, at the beginning, an Islamic revolution. Rather, it included the participation, in a fundamental way, of Leftists, Liberals, and Secularists, who later paid with their lives the price for religious clerics seizing power. Some of them are still scattered in the four corners of the world, and notably in neighboring Iraq. And despite the fact that the oppression of the Shah's regime did not distinguish between the Leftists and the religious, those who monopolized power after it were quick to forget what they had been subjected to. Here they are today, supporting another dictator in Damascus, who surpasses the Shah in his bloodthirstiness and disregard for his people, under the pretext of slogans that aim only at providing cover to their desire to share in the "cake" of the Arab World and to impose recognition of Iran as a "regional superpower" alongside Israel. The Arabs have never sought to interfere in Iran's affairs, or to voice their opinion on who governs the Iranians and how they govern them. Indeed, with the exception of the war waged by Saddam Hussein's regime in response to Tehran's decision to "export" its revolution beyond its borders, as he considered his regime to be targeted by this decision, which later proved to be true, there is no evidence that the Arabs have ever gotten themselves involved in the particularities of the Islamic Republic. The most they have ever demanded, and continue to demand, is for Iran to leave them be and leave their peoples the freedom to choose without incitement or interference.
