The unprecedented strength of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Paris and Albania has severely alarmed the Iranian regime. It has also raised a pertinent question, can the Iranian regime be reformed within?
The signs so far are not encouraging. Tehran sent its foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to Paris to prevent the annual gathering of opposition figures. As French officials found the regime’s position very weak, they ended up signing a contract for the benefit of the French oil giant Total.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief Kayhan daily, known as the mouthpiece of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote an article titled “Humiliated and Rewarded”, which mentioned the Total contract being signed at the same time as the PMOI gathering in Paris.
“The remarks of former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner at a PMOI meeting one day after Zarif’s return from France is another sign of the French government's insistence on humiliating our nation,” he wrote.
