Iran elections don’t matter, Waller tells Alhurra TV

Iran’s elections are illegitimate because all candidates are approved by the mullahs who control the regime, an IWP professor tells a US public diplomacy TV channel.

(Institute of World Politics news release) “It doesn’t matter who wins the presidential elections in Iran,” IWP Provost J. Michael Waller says on Alhurra, an Arabic-language satellite TV channel broadcast to the Middle East. “Every presidential candidate must be vetted and approved by the ayatollahs running the Islamic Republic. There are no ‘moderates.’ Even former President Rafsanjani, a mullah who was a regime insider, was banned from running.”

Alhurra, broadcast from the United States, is the world’s largest Arabic-language news organization. It is taxpayer-funded and run by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) for public diplomacy messaging to Arabic-speaking audiences. Alhurra correspondent Khalil Bentoulia, a native of Algeria who has lived in Iran, visited IWP to interview Dr. Waller for his comments on the June 14 elections.

Dr. Waller, a scholar-practitioner in public diplomacy and political warfare, has worked with elements of the Iranian opposition who support regime change.

BBG journalists inside Iran covering the election are facing physical threats to themselves and their families.

Alhurra broadcasts in Arabic, which is not widely spoken in Iran. The main BBG Persian-language media into Iran are Radio Farda and VOA-Persian.