Following news of the Iranian government’s involvement in a plot to kidnap regime critic and human rights activist Masih Alinejad, MLI Senior Fellow Kaveh Shahrooz spoke with CBC’s Natasha Fatah about the plot and what it reveals about the regime in Tehran.
“It wasn’t much of a surprise, as much as it sounds like a Hollywood thriller, it very much is the ‘modus operandi’ of the Iranian regime,” says Shahrooz, who goes on to note that kidnappings and assassinations are very much real life for major critics of Iran.
“What’s important to keep in mind is that when tyrannical regimes – like Iran’s regime – when they engage in this behaviour, even when the plot is foiled and people find out about it, those regimes win,” argues Shahrooz. They win because their actions have the effect of “terrorizing everyone else in the diaspora. The Iranians who live outside of Iran are forced to look over their shoulders.”
