Donald Trump’s “big talk and bullying” might be the only language Ayatollah Khamenei’s murderous regime in Iran understands, former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said tonight.
Dr Willams said Trump’s “personality” and bullying presidential style would help put Iran on the back foot in the international arena. Dr Williams made the claim as he stepped in to help two pro-democracy campaigners who face being put to death by the regime in hours.
The 74-year-old, who now lives in Swansea, also called on Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy to urgently intervene to stop the execution of 70-year-old Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, 48.
In an exclusive interview for Express.co.uk Dr Williams said: “I don’t think Trump has got a strategy but he can definitely bring his personality to bear.
“I’m worried about the lack of long-term strategy, but perhaps right now that is a luxury we can’t afford, we need to use anything that works.
“I think there is an element of bullies only understanding the language of a bully – but I think talking big will only get you so far, it does not take it to the next stage … that requires diplomacy.”
Dr Williams is aiding an international coalition of politicians, statesmen and women, and academics, which has been urgently convened in an attempt to save the men.
He said in the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy must bring immediate pressure to bear on the murderous regime in Iran, which is the world’s biggest state killer.
He added: “Mr Lammy should not let this slip. He should send a message – don’t pretend this doesn’t matter.
“These men, and other dissidents in Iranian prisons need to know they are not forgotten.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson would only say: “We have repeatedly called on Iran to establish a moratorium on executions. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle.”
Dr Williams, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002-12 said he feared the US and UK’s misguided military ventures in Iraq had made them wary of foreign intervention on any level and added: “A lot of our vision of what we thought of as an international order is being nibbled away at. We are wary, perhaps too wary, of reckless intervention probably because of Iraq. In Iraq we were not wary enough but now we are too wary.
“It’s difficult to know if we can make a difference, but we must try.
“I also think we are a bit stymied as to what we do with Iran. No-one outside Iran really knows where the pressure points are so we really need to listen to the people and actors like Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.”
The two pro-democracy campaigners facing the death sentence have been tortured and held in solitary confinement since their arrests in September for speaking out against “supreme leader” Ayatollah Khamenei and his hated Islamic Republic.
In the last 24 hours they have been moved to the notorious Qezelhessar Prison where state executions are routinely carried out.
Executions traditionally take place on Tuesdays in Iran – known as “execution Tuesdays” – meaning the men may only have hours to live.
Dr Williams told the Express: “I think it is very important – Iran should not get to torture dissidents, it’s horrific.
“Summary executions are simply not something the international community should put up with.”
Amnesty International also today launched an appeal calling on its members to lobby the Iranian regime to save the lives of Ehsani and Hassani.
Dr Williams is among scores of high profile names calling on both the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and head of state bring pressure to bear on Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian theocracy to lift the execution threat.
Both men were initially convicted in an unjust trial presided over by the notorious Judge Iman Afshari of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on 16 September 2024. The charges against them included “rebellion”, waging war against God (moharebeh), spreading corruption on earth (efsad-fil-arz), membership of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, gathering and colluding against national security, possession of classified information, and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
Afshari helps run Iran’s Revolutionary Court – a separate system from the country’s judicial courts – which deals primarily with political prisoners and dissidents who disagree with Tehran’s ideological agenda enforcing the tenets of radical Shiite Islam.
Both the court and Afshari are well-known for relying on trumped-up evidence, evidence collated through torture, or no evidence at all to hand down death sentences, life prison terms or lashes.