Invoking Shah Abbas Safavid today

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

It is natural that there are differences in reading the security scene and the future of the country, and even the regime in Iran, with the accumulation of these existential threats and challenges to it.

Our colleague Musa Sharifi, an expert on Iranian affairs, reviewed some of these disputes and tensions within the bowels of the Iranian Khomeini regime.

Moussa referred to the speech of the Secretary-General of the “Building Cadres” Party, affiliated with Hashemi Rafsanjani’s movement and the reformists, Sayyed Hossein Marashi, with the Khabar Online news agency, in which he said the most important words: “It must be clear that Iran is more important than any other issue, as it is more important than uranium enrichment... Preserving Iran and the Islamic Republic system must be at the forefront of priorities.”

Marashi stressed that the country needs security and a strong economy, and the country cannot be managed in light of inflation, which is currently heading towards very high levels, and people want to be able to secure their livelihoods.

To be clear, the man is a member of the regime, and he speaks in this spirit, and therefore he reviewed pages of Safavid Iranian history in order to give historical depth to his opinion. He said: “During the reign of Shah Abbas (died 1629 AD), Iran faced three serious military threats; The Ottomans in the west, the Uzbeks in the east, and the Portuguese in the south... Shah Abbas did not decide to enter into a confrontation with the three powers at the same time. Rather, he arranged his priorities and began confronting his weakest enemies, which were the Uzbeks. In order to be able to focus his capabilities in the east and defeat the Uzbeks, he first concluded a truce with the Ottomans.

The question here is: Who are the Uzbeks, who are the Ottomans, and who are the Portuguese in our situation and today?!

He says that Shah Abbas defeated everyone in the end, but by arranging and timing the confrontations with his opponents. He focused on the Uzbeks (Sunnis) in the east of the country, then neutralized the Ottomans for 18 years, then returned to them and regained the capital, Tabriz, and finally confronted the Portuguese and expelled them from the port of Gombroun, which is today the port of Bandar Abbas.

I will not delve into the accuracy of Marashi’s reading of history. What is important is that this is how he sees it, and what is more important is that he is trying to conjure history in order to play it today in the present. Therefore, we ask again: Who are the Uzbeks, Banu Othman, and Banu Portugal in our scene today?!

We are watching Iran's bombing, missiles, drones, and militias in the region, focusing on whom! We know what and who Brother Marashi means.

But after all that, it remains that these differences between the people of the regime in priorities, and that maintaining the regime is more important than nuclear, so is abandoning the Iraqi, Lebanese and Yemeni militias more important than nuclear, and equal to maintaining the regime itself?!

Quoted from "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat"