By: Mohammad Mohaddessin

Democracy in the Middle East and the Islamic world has been taken hostage by Islamic fundamentalism whose heart beats in Tehran under the clerical rule. Making use of its economic, political, diplomatic and terrorist leverage, the mullahs are taking advantage of the religious sentiments of Muslims around the world to derail the democratic processes in their communities and impose their brand of  Islamic fundamentalism in those countries.

The Iranian Resistance has repeatedly warned of this threat over the past decade. This phenomenon had a premature and aborted emergence in Algeria, Jordan, Egypt and other Moslem countries in the past, but the clerical regime's active meddling in Iraq and unimaginable rigging in the recent elections in that country attest to this reality.

By exploiting the current situation in Iraq, Tehran has been trying to ensure the victory of its own candidates as part of an effort to establish a fundamentalist state in that country. The clerics look to Iraq as a spring board to dominate the Middle East and the Islamic world.

Having failed to achieve this goal in the eight-year war with Iraq, which left at least a million Iranian casualties, the mullahs are now making use of democratic and electoral process brought about by the U.S. and the coalition to achieve their goal.

This is while the Iranian regime and its agents are extremely detested by a vast majority of Iraqis. Contrary to what some say, pro-Tehran candidates would not be in a position to influence the political life in Iraq without the Iranian regime's interference. Iranians notwithstanding, no other nation has suffered more than the Iraqis from an Iranian style Islamic rule.

The mullahs’ meddling in Iraq has not been a secret and in the 33 months since the downfall of the previous Iraqi government. Right from the start, Iran regime’s officials openly claimed to be the winners of the war. They said that the U.S. had paved the way for the mullahs into Iraq by removing its old enemy, the Baathist regime in that country and neutralizing its main opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).

Tehran is convinced that the West, in particular the U.S., is doomed to accept the regime's nuclear ambitions because failure to do so it would make it more vulnerable in Iraq in face of Tehran's influence in that country.

Democracy and peace are an anathema to the Islamic fundamentalism. The ruling fundamentalist regime in Iran relies on the absolute rule of the clergy on the one hand and the idea of an Islamic empire and export of terrorism and fundamentalism on the other.

As such, so long as the mullahs’ are in power in Tehran, they will neither allow the realization of democracy in Iraq and peace in the Middle East. Recent remarks by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against Israel are consistent with Tehran's policy of inciting chaos in the Middle East. But for geopolitical, strategic and religious reasons its domination of Iraq lies at the core of the regime’s policy for it would expedite its advance in other areas.

Inaction vis-à-vis Islamic fundamentalism and ignoring its threat, particularly to Iraq, is a recipe for a disaster; it would increase the chances of Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons. It is therefore crucial today, as never before, to form a united front comprising all democratic forces to counter the threat of religious fascism to peace and democracy in the region and the Islamic world.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran