There are several reasons why the articulation of such a foreign policy vision has become very important. One is that as the drumbeats of a possible war with Iran get louder and debate over it gets more heated, the Green Movement must make its position regarding possible military attacks on Iran absolutely transparent. Second, neoconservatives in the United States have been busy trying to present the Green Movement as a pro-American development. Michael Weiss of the Weekly Standard, the mouthpiece of the neoconservatives, recently asserted that Shiva Nazar Ahari, the courageous human rights defender and advocate of children’s rights is “clearly pro-West and philo-American,” an absurd claim. On the basis of this and similar absurdities, some neoconservatives, the Israel lobby, and their Iranian minions speak as if at least part of the Green Movement will support military attacks on Iran as a way of toppling the Islamic Republic. Such claims must be countered. Third, again, as the confrontation between the hardliners and the Western powers centers around Iran’s nuclear program and its antagonism toward Israel, it is essential for the Green Movement to articulate its views and remove any ambiguities regarding how it stands on these issues.
