It was a positive development for the Congress to hear testimony from an Iranian opposition leader last week, says Ross Amin, vice president of the Organization of Iranian American Communities.
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), testified on Wednesday before the House Terrorism, Non-proliferation, and Trade subcommittee.
Rajavi testified that Sunni and Shiite differences matter less that the desire of both to establish an Islamic empire – or caliphate – to enforce Sharia law.
"Aggressiveness and the penchant for violence primarily characterize Islamic fundamentalism," she testified. "As such, searching for moderates among its adherents is an illusion."
Amin called her insights "valuable" and "long overdue."
"Media outlets around the world are obsessively focused on the prospect of an Iran nuclear deal," Amin said. "Meanwhile, Iran remains at the center of most of the crises that are rattling the entire Middle East."
Amin called in "unconscionable" that the voices of the Iranian people have been "marginalized" in the recent nuclear talks.
"Absent from the debate is whether progressive Iranians believe the regime can be trusted to uphold a nuclear deal," he said.
It was the NCRI that revealed the first details of Iran's clandestine nuclear program in 2003, he said, and this past February it disclosed that its intelligence network inside Iran had discovered a formerly undisclosed nuclear enrichment site outside of Tehran.
The NCRI has been warning of the Islamic extremism since 1993, but was ignored as "alarmist" until the 9/11 attacks, Amin said.
America's concern about the Islamic State (ISIS) is not different from what its concern should be about the mullahs who run Iran's theocratic state and sponsor proxy wars throughout the region, he said.
"Earnest support for the NCRI and Mrs. Rajavi would empower moderate Muslim voices in the Middle East while giving them political ammunition for their fight against the extremist forces that are wreaking havoc throughout the region," he said.
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