The Iranian regime exploited Europe's desire for diplomatic rapprochement in the 1990s. It engaged in peace talks while simultaneously carrying out assassinations on European soil, viewing the dialogue not as a path to peace but as political cover that provided impunity for its crimes.
Despite a long history of documented terrorism, Iran has successfully manipulated global opinion by consistently erasing its past crimes from public memory. This allows the regime to present itself as a blank slate or a victim, entering diplomatic negotiations from a position of perceived innocence.
The last book review Christopher Hitchens wrote before his death was for Roya Hakakian's "Assassins of the Turquoise Palace." This poignant fact highlights the book's significance, as Hitchens' writing was 'visionary' for its early and accurate identification of the Iranian regime's murderous nature.
In the 1990s, as Iran's assassinations occurred across Europe, German and other European officials actively hid or excused Tehran's actions. This willful blindness was driven by economic interests, as Europe's exports to Iran reached a historic peak, making the prosecutor's inconvenient findings 'unwelcome.'
The podcast reveals a stunning paradox: one of the Islamic Republic's henchmen lived in Germany and organized assassinations while his disabled daughter depended on the German National Health Service. This illustrates the regime's deep cynicism and its ability to condemn and exploit the Western systems it seeks to undermine.
Unlike adversarial systems, Germany's inquisitorial model, where judges review evidence presented by a prosecutor who then steps back, proved crucial. This structure created a process that was 'influence proof,' allowing the court to indict a foreign government despite immense political pressure to abandon the trial.