Never again

As any visitor to this site knows, I've argued frequently and loudly against Washington's attitudes toward Tehran, and in favor of Iran's right under international treaty to pursue the development of a peaceful nuclear fuel cycle. A great deal of that argument has been in support of the Iranian President's claim to want to modernize his nation.

On that note, unfortunately, it would appear that I've made a gave error in judgment.

A report from Canada's National Post states today that the Iranian Parliament has passed a new law requiring a uniform dress code for all of that nation's citizens, and establishing special "insignia" to be worn by all non-muslims. The Post notes:

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth...

Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."

Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year.

It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.

Such an act by a 21st Century nation is simply indefensible. It specifically invites comparisons to Hitler's Germany, and is - at the very least - yet another gross political blunder by a government that demands to be taken seriously on the world stage.

At the worst - and it doesn't get much worse than this - such an overtly barbaric law calls into doubt the long-term plans for "peace" of Iran's ruling class. It must be met with an outpouring of international outrage and condemnation. It is the kind of "first step" toward the ghettoization, persecution, and even elimination of a targeted population that cannot be tolerated by the global community.

It is, in a word, reprehensible.

Do I now think we should immediately and pre-emptively attack Iran? No. Do I continue to believe that we must open direct lines of communication with Tehran to address a host of disagreements, including this latest idiocy? Yes - perhaps now more than ever.

But will I willingly swallow Iran's claims that it simply wants to be a force for peace and progress in its geographical area? Will I accept at face value Iranian arguments that it has no aims of regional "ethnic cleansing," and that the anti-Semitic sentiments of its President have been overblown or taken wholly out of context? Not on your life. Not if the Iranian leadership seems eager to implement the social constructs of the Nazi party.

Never again.