British Iranian urges use of pinpoint strikes to defeat regime
"You have an army of 80 million Iranians who are thirsty for freedom and democracy," human rights activist and dissident Vahid Beheshti tells Knesset
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
A British-based Iranian dissident, who has spent months campaigning outside the Foreign Office in London, has urged Israel to attack pinpointed sites in Iran, claiming that once it did so, that would help thousands of oppressed Iranians overthrow the regime.
Vahid Beheshti, a Coventry-based Iranian activist, spent 72 days on hunger strike in London in an effort to persuade Britain to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the same way it did with Hamas and Hizbollah.
But on his first visit to Israel, under the auspices of the right-of-centre Middle East Forum, Beheshti addressed a Knesset caucus — the Israel Victory Project — and told Knesset members that Israel “did not need to fear attacking Iranian bases in Iran”.
He told the caucus, which includes coalition and opposition politicians: “Do not be afraid. Attacking the heads of the Iranian leadership in Iran is the only language they understand. The good news is that you have an army of 80 million Iranians who are thirsty for freedom and democracy. Since 2009 they have been trying to overthrow the government but have not succeeded yet, because of the barbaric violence of the Iranian government”.
Beheshti invoked the Persian leader, Cyrus the Great, who had “freed the people of Israel from slavery and gave them the opportunity to rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem. We have a great history between Iranians and Israelis, many common interests: but more important, we have a common enemy.” He said his visit had also been backed by Ukrainian chief rabbi Moshe Azman.
He said he wanted “to do everything I can to see that [Israe[] is not on its knees in front of a bunch of Islamic terrorists, rapists and fascists.
Beheshti said he believed that the ruling Iranian regime was at its weakest in 44 years, and said that Israel’s war should be properly categorised as war with Iran.
The regime, he told Jewish News, had been “surprised” by Israel’s reaction to the Hamas attacks on October 7, anticipating “a total ceasefire within two months”.
He said Iran’s leaders had “miscalculated” and thought that a short war would shift world focus from what was happening inside Iran, and also destroy Israel’s relationships with Arab countries. “From the other side, they thought they could make Russia happy and divert world attention from the Russia-Ukraine war.
“They never expected Israel to go into Gaza. Now Iran is stuck: if they involve themselves directly in this war, if they are attacked by Israel and its allies, the Iranian people are going to come out again on the streets. On the other hand, if they don’t involve themselves in the war, they lose the trust of Hamas and Hizbollah and their other proxies.”
He added: “This is not a war with a small terrorist group, this is a war with Iran. The Iranian regime is the root of this problem. The solution is to hit the head of the octopus and support the Iranian people who want to overthrow the regime. One of those ways would be to target IRGC sites inside Iran, nuclear sites. The only language the regime understands is force. And targeting those sites, and the belief that they have external help, will give the Iranian people the ability to take to the streets again and finish the job for us from inside Iran. We have to use this opportunity to hit them now.”
Click here to view Vahid Beheshti addressing the Knesset.
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