This idea was theorized into the formation
of the Guardian Council in the wake of the Islamic Revolution, which
once again saw foreign enemies seeking to weaken it.
The West had realized since before the days of the constitution uprising what role the clergy played in the Iranian society.
It
had witnessed people following the decrees of the clergy in past
events. Thus, Western colonialism has tried since those days to isolate
the cleric society in Iran.
But when the Guardian Council was launched inside the Islamic Republic of Iran, the U.S. and UK in particular tried to derail the revolutionary mode of thought by introducing outwardly modern phenomenon such as enlightenment and nationalism, aimed at driving people away from their clerical pivot.
One example was media barrage by the BBC and Radio France Internationale which on occasions broadcast programs that tried to undermine the Guardian Councils’ legitimacy as an observatory entity.
During the 2009 elections, BBC Persian TV channel in a report claimed that the councils’ supervision turned approbatory only after Imam Khomeini passed away, saying it used to be passive before that.
Not long after, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke against the council and claimed that the council is a barrier against democracy.
1. The foreign opponents of the clerical oversight before the revolution
During the sit-in in the UK Embassy, the embassy staff would imply to the protestors that achieving constitution required abandoning the clergy. Based on remaining memoirs, the wife of the UK charges d’affaires had told the protestors: "We killed our priests to get the constitution.” By that, she meant that in order to achieve constitution, the clergy would have to be omitted.
Also, the UK charges d’affaires proposed to change the name of the parliament from the Islamic Consultative Assembly to the National Consultative Assembly. This was again aimed at driving the clergy to the margin. It was evident that the UK intended to lessen the role of the clergy as observer over the Majlis. That is because as the ulema would have entered the scene, UK’s role in Iran would have been diminished.
Also, the UK proposed that a group set for translating the codes of European countries’ parliamentary rules as a bid to further lessen the role of the clergy in the Iranian Majlis.
After that, figures such as ayatollah Fazlollah Nouri tried to include a note in the constitution that would contain the Majlis legislations inside the province of Islam.
The second article of the constitution complement that called for the role of the clergy in overseeing the country’s legislation met opposition by the UK. Things got so intense that the mastermind of the complement ayatollah Nouri was put on agenda for assassination.
The article 3 of the constitution for Americans who were forced to defend their freedom with special care looks so ugly, American analyst Hooper Harris said, adding, for us there is nothing more dangerous than a committee of five clerics who would decide on the legality of the Majlis legislations.
The equality-loving movement of the constitution uprising was thus hampered by the efforts of the UK and the US as the leading opponents of the Islamic Iran.
2. The foreign opponents of the Guardian Council after the revolution
After the revolution, when the Assembly of Experts was launched and the Constitution drafter, the UK and US tried to derail the Islamic course of the revolution by offering outwardly modern and gaudy notions. The legislator defined the duty of the Guardian Council, like the second article of the Constitution amendment, to make sure of the Islamicity of the majlis legislations. The West, which saw that condition as a hurdle against its influence, started to put the Guardian Council under a heavy media barrage.
Foreign media tried to form a negative outlook toward the Guardian Council in the public eye. Radio BBC can be regarded one of the basic medium that was used by western powers to damage the Guardian Council. It published a report in the Iranian year 1377 that called the oversight of the Guardian council a sort of depriving people of their will. The same radio called the existence of the Guardian Council sign of a sort of political orientation.
Radio BBC would also resort to some Iranians living abroad who used to be in opposition to the policies of the Islamic Republic. One of such figures was Seyyed Hassan Shariatmadari, a founding member of the National Republicans living in Germany whom BBC would also conduct interviews with. BBC would try to lead the discussion in a direction it desired and imply to the audience that the Guardian Council acts in a politically interested way.
In the meantime, one has to remember the role of the media of the Zionist regime of Israel. In the Iranian year 1377, Radio Israel, unaware of the intricacies of the legal and sharia laws, said regarding the approbative oversight of the Guardian Council, "In fact the aim is to lead people away from the right to deciding their own government and their own fate and to use a term whose meaning they do not understand well, therefore not distinguishing if such oversight is basically good or not.”
During the Reform administration it was a pity that domestic media would also provide food for Westerners on the way to attack the Guardian Council. So much so that one could say the severest attacks against the Guardian Council were made in those days. During the 2009 presidential elections while it was no more than a few months since TV channel BBC Persian had been launched, on the 16th of the Iranian months of Ordibehesht, one month before the elections were to be held, the channel launched a report which lacked historical truth.
It was the report that claimed the Guardian Councils’ oversight on Iran’s legislative system had used to be passive during the life of late leader Imam Ruhollah Khomeini while it changed role to approbative oversight after the Imam died.
By attacking the Guardian Council, the West aimed at weakening this organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran and secularize the legislative system of the Majlis and the country. History has shown what the entrance of some Western-oriented figures such as Banisard could do with the course of the country. On the other hand, the West had realized through historical experience that the existence of the clergy which is bound to the sharia of Islam would always endanger its interests in Iran. Therefore, from very olden times, the West has tried to attack the Guardian Council and end its approbative oversight over Iran’s legislative system as a way to prepare the ground for infiltration into Iran.
