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Iran has a plan for the world. It is the scheme of the Iranian regime to spread terror as far as it can. Shamefully, it appears to have carried out the reprehensible act of assassinating the brave political writer and analyst Hisham Al-Hashimi in Baghdad last week.

Al-Hashimi had written an article exposing the corruption attributable to the Hezbollah branch in Iraq known as Kata’ib Hezbollah. He paid a heavy price for his courage. But Al-Hashimi was not the first victim of the terror of Iran and Hezbollah. There was Adel Shaker Al-Tamimi and Shawqi Al-Hadad, who were killed for exposing Iran’s terror and tyranny in Iraq. There was an assassination attempt against Raddii Al-Teii after he called for the curbing of Iran’s influence in Iraq. And the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph indicated that the terror previously promoted by Qassem Soleimani has been taken over by other units in the extensive network of terror and criminal activities pioneered by Iran’s Quds Force.

As Iraq suffers from Iranian terrorism against its people, with operations planned and launched from its own territory, Lebanon has also been a victim thanks to Hezbollah. In 1982, the group started a series of kidnappings of foreigners, holding them hostage for many years. In 1983, it attacked the American Embassy in Beirut and the US and French barracks, killing hundreds of people.

Meanwhile, throughout the 1980s, Kuwait was traumatized by assassination attempts and bombings that were flagrant acts of terror engineered by Iran, Hezbollah and the Islamic Dawa Party. In 1984, on the orders of Ayatollah Khomeini, more than 1,200 Arabs from the Iranian region of Ahwaz were killed, not to mention the random executions that often take place there.

The Kurds were to be the next victims of Iran’s terror campaign, as the regime’s agents assassinated political leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou in Vienna in 1989. A year later in Geneva, the Iranians killed the brother of Massoud Rajavi, the leader of Mujahedin-e Khalq. In addition, since 2018, Iran has been spreading its terror to Iraqi Kurdistan. An example of this was the killing of the head of the military wing of the PKK, Khorshed Aziz Tamoon.

The assassinations of many professionals, writers, artists, civil society activists, intellectuals and others in Basra and Baghdad also bear the prints of Iran and its terrorist brainchild, the Quds Force. The list of terrorist incidents carried out by Iran itself or by its proxies is horrifying. Surely, Iran’s terror will go on, and it will be fueled by the many extremist groups affiliated with it.

Since the advent of Iran’s revolution in 1979, the regime has fostered a culture of anti-modernity that has relegated human behavior to its nadir. It is a regime that persecutes its own people. It is a government that seeks legitimacy through arbitrary arrests, torture, kidnapping, and killing. It has erected detention camps and training grounds for terrorists. A full examination of Iran’s barbarism cannot be covered in this article because the chronology of its violence and dangerous behavior is longer than most people think or realize.

The essence of Iran’s terror is found in its claims that it is a government bestowed by God. To paraphrase what was believed in medieval Europe — that the monarchy had a divine right to rule — the regime of Iran insists that it has a divine right to reign by terror. Hence, in its leaders’ way of thinking, any government that differs from it — never mind being opposed to it — has to be threatened, intimidated and eradicated.

The list of terrorist incidents carried out by Iran itself or by its proxies is horrifying.

Maria Maalouf

One feature of Iran’s terror is that it does not require much to prove who is behind it, because it is obvious and evident to everyone that Tehran’s aims are to hurt other people and countries. Regrettably, Iran’s terrorism has far-reaching results that the world has to live with. This should not be the case anymore. The whole world has to pronounce its determination to end Iran’s terror.

Nations throughout their histories have always affirmed many rights, especially the right of self-determination. Iran is unique because it has to confirm its right to promote terrorism.

If Iran’s totalitarian regime has doctrines in foreign policy that all stem from terror and violence, it should not deceive the world anymore because its terrorism has no limits.

• Maria Maalouf is a Lebanese journalist, broadcaster, publisher and writer. She holds an MA in political sociology from the University of Lyon. Twitter: @bilarakib