Politico: “Communist Romania’s Endgame Lessons for Iran”

In a very documented post, Politico tries to compare the end of the communism in Romania with the current situation in Iran. Is this a too far fetched comparison from Politico’s journalists? Not at all, if we carefully read the article, as the history seems to be repeating, at least up to a certain point.

Are there any resemblances between the two regimes and situations? Let’s analyze along with Politico the irony and the strange coincidence of it all..

The events which led to the Romanian Revolution from 1989 found Ceausescu in an official visit to…Iran. This is the first coincidence. At that time, in Romania there were speculations about the true nature of his visit, starting from “Ceausescu wanted to hide his gold in Iran” to “Ceausescu asked Iranian mercenaries to help him keep the power”.

The truth about his visit in Iran is more simple than some might believe: he was officially invited during this year and, while no other president wanted to welcome Ceausescu, while no president was hurrying to visit the Iran president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Ceausescu simply accepted the invitation and was welcomed as an honored guest in Tehran. A few days later he was ousted from power and executed in Romania, following his return to the country.

The supreme clerical leader of Iran during Ceausescu’s official visit in 1989 was…Ali Khamenei, the same supreme leader as nowadays. After the embarrassment Iran diplomacy suffered for receiving Ceausescu, Khamenei was the one who cleared up the mess and calmed down the hot spirits, making a call for unity over the national debacle over Ceausescu’s visit.

Politico says the resemblance of the situation from the Communist Romania and cleric Iran is striking. Then, Ceausescu had Securitate, the most feared East-European state security force. Now, Khamenei has the Revolutionary Guards. Securitate had control over the economy, exports, imports and strong currencies, Revolutionary Guards have power over border traffic, including merchandise and goods, but also fuel and drugs. Ceausescu was hated by its people, who demonstrated against him, now the Iranian people took to the streets to ask for “death for the tyrant”.

Will Khamenei have the same end as Ceausescu? Politico says it’s not the only option to end the crisis:The Romania scenario for Iran is not inevitable, but it would be prudent to prepare for it.

What will happen? Only future will tell.