A Window to the Fatherland

Tonight’s edition of A Window to the Fatherland starts with Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh reading one of his poems from the book of his collected works.

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

In tonight’s edition of A Window to the Fatherland, as with every other Thursday, we will speak to our special guest Dr. Mohsen Sazegara, who will update us on the latest news of Iran and the world, including the firing of Rex Tillerson by President Trump and replacing him with Mike Pompeo, as well as the imprisonment of Hamid Baghaie, former deputy to Ahmadinejad, and the resignation of Tehran’s Mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi.

Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:

The manner in which President Trump has fired his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been less than diplomatic. He should have been more appreciative of Tillerson’s service.

However, it should not have come as a surprise given the politicians’ differences of views on many issues. The way Trump has sacked Tillerson has been consistent with the way he has fired some of the previous members of his administration, which indicates that there are some rifts within his cabinet on several issues, chief amongst them the US foreign policy.

Despite the many errors of judgment during his tenure at the State Department, Tillerson was a staunch supporter of US foreign policy in so far as implementing it through diplomacy, rather than the use of force and pressure. This was most obvious with his approach towards the Iran and North Korea questions, the areas where Trump has taken a much harder stance about them.

Trump has clearly said that he has had a difference of view to that of Tillerson on the nuclear deal with Iran. The question now is that if Trump decides to purge all those many other advisors who might think and believe like Tillerson that US should give diplomacy more chance in solving international issues and replace them with hawkish politicians, the prospect of solving these issues through force and confrontations will be a matter of concern.

As for Iran, the US President will be deciding in May whether to stay in or leave the nuclear deal and later that month he is scheduled to meet with the North Koran leader Kim Jong-Un. President Trump might be calculating that if he abandons the nuclear deal he would be sending a strong message to North Korea that he is serious in his demand for stopping North Korea’s missile program. However, his advisors believe this would be a wrong approach and ending the nuclear deal would lead to undesirable consequences.

Who is Mike Pompeo, the new US Secretary of State?

Mike Pompeo, 54, the current CIA director whom President Trump has picked to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, was elected to Congress from Kansas in 2010 after a career in the Army, where he graduated from West Point and became a cavalry officer, and as a businessman.
In Congress, he developed close links with Republicans working on intelligence and played a prominent role in the Select Committee on issues ranging from Iran and North Korea to cyber wars and terrorist organisations. He has been known for his fierce opposition to the Iran nuclear deal and in 2016 President Trump picked him to head the CIA.

“Tremendous energy, tremendous intellect, we’re always on the same wavelength,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “The relationship has been very good, and that’s what I need as secretary of state.”
His appointment has yet to be approved by the US Senate.

Who is the first ever woman Head of CIA?

Gina Haspel has been named by President Trump to replace Mike Pompeo as the new Head of the CIA. She has 30 years of experience as an intelligence officer within the CIA and held several undercover overseas positions, for many of which she was Chief of Station and if approved by the Congress, will become the first ever woman to head the US spy agency.
It is said that in 2002, Haspel was assigned to oversee a secret CIA prison in Thailand, code-named Cat’s Eye, which had been set up to interrogate suspected Al-Qaida operatives by methods that allegedly are equal to torture.

The arrest and imprisonment of Hamid Baghaie

The arrest of Hamid Baghaie, Ahmadinejad’s former deputy has been confirmed by Tehran prosecutor’s office. He has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of 43 billion tomans, as well as several lashes.

Tehran mayor’s resignation

Dr. Najafi, a highly educated academic and one of the few remaining uncorrupt Iranian politicians has now officially resigned from his post as the mayor of Tehran. His resignation is directly related to the political pressure that the corrupt hardliners of the regime have put on him for issues ranging from; revealing the corruption of former Guard commander turned mayor Ghalibaf, Khamenei’s grudge against him for Najafi’s previous support for opposition figure Mahdi Karoubi, naming a street after Iran’s nationalist leader Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq and allowing a group of young girls to dance at a cultural event organized by his office.

Stay with us for this edition of A Window to the Fatherland and share it with your friends and relatives.

We look forward to hearing your views and comments about the issues covered in tonight’s program.