Much of the Western world has celebrated the post presidency life of Jimmy Carter, owing to his work on behalf of Habitat for Humanity, global human rights, and other projects, says Lisa Daftari.
But Daftari, founding editor of TheForeignDesk.com, says the former president needs to apologize to the people of Iran to “rectify his legacy from his time in office.”
Disastrous Chain of Events
Carter, who is under hospice care in Georgia, is well-remembered for the 444-day Iran hostage crisis that came to define him as president. What many do not know, Daftari says, is that Carter aided the takeover of the country by Islamic fundamentalists through the “disastrous undermining and lack of support for the legitimate ruler of Iran, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.”
In 2016, the BBC obtained documents detailing how the “Carter administration paved [the] way” for Khomeini’s return to Iran from exile. Carter administration officials familiar with the BBC report have not challenged its authenticity. Supporting the toppling of shah was an historic blunder, one with reverberations that are still felt throughout Iran and the rest of the Middle East to this day.
That, she says, set off a chain of events that consigned Iran to a brutal, oppressive regime that “has systematically annihilated the Persian culture, its economy, and the human dignity of its people ever since.”
Daftari notes: “In 2016, the BBC obtained documents detailing how the “Carter administration paved [the] way” for Khomeini’s return to Iran from exile. Carter administration officials familiar with the BBC report have not challenged its authenticity. Supporting the toppling of shah was an historic blunder, one with reverberations that are still felt throughout Iran and the rest of the Middle East to this day.”
According to Daftari, Iranians today are fondly remembering the shah, who died in 1980. They are also calling for the shah’s exiled son, Prince Reza Pahlavi, to return to Iran as their potential new leader.
Still, Daftari acknowledges there is no end in sight for Iran’s current fundamentalist regime, and because of that, “Iran and the world are owed a profound, heartfelt apology.”
It should come from Jimmy Carter, she says.
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