A conference held at the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in France on June 22 provided a blueprint for a different approach toward Iran’s regime and people. This new approach, which was earlier marked in a statement by 117 former heads of state to the leaders of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and European Union member states, calls for an end to the long-held policy of appeasement toward Iran’s regime.
In the statement, the signatories write, “We urge your nations to stand with the Iranian people in their quest for change and to take decisive steps against the current regime. This includes blacklisting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and holding regime officials accountable for their crimes against humanity.”
Regarding the damage caused by the policy of appeasement toward the mullahs’ regime, the former world leaders warn, “Decades of apparent silence and inaction by the international community have helped fuel a culture of impunity in Iran. Since the 1980s, the authorities in Iran have executed tens of thousands of protesters and political prisoners. Tragically, in the summer of 1988 alone, over 30,000 political prisoners – the vast majority of whom were members of the opposition MEK – were brutally massacred.”
Regarding the desires of the Iranian people, the 117 former world leaders write that through their slogans, the Iranian people have “made it clear that they reject all forms of dictatorship, be it that of the deposed Shah or the current theocratic regime, and thus reject any association with either.”
The also recognize that for four decades, the democratic coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has “constantly and tirelessly pursued democratic change.”
“We believe the Ten-Point Plan articulated by the NCRI President, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, deserves support. Its commitment to free elections, freedom of assembly and expression, abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iran’s ethnicities, and a non-nuclear Iran is in line with our own democratic values,” they write.
Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstad, who spoke at the conference, said, “Today is the very first time that so many politicians are united to call for a new approach, a radical new approach towards Iran. And with this letter that we send to the world leaders of today, we ask them, in fact, to change strategy and to take decisive steps against the current regime in Tehran.”
Verhofstad stressed that past policies that tried to back one of the factions within the regime has failed. “Until now, certainly, in the West, we have always thought that it was important that the only way forward was not to slam the doors, to be ready for diplomacy, and to keep talking to Iran. We thought It would bring salvation and that the regime was made from bad guys to less bad guys, and that we would get results by continuing to talk to these so-called moderates of the regime. Well, we have to say today that this strategy, this approach was wrong. In fact, there are no moderates in the regime of Iran.”
Today, many world leaders have come to realize the critical threat that Iran’s regime poses to global peace and security.
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who also spoke at the event, said, “I’m here because I think. You need the world, but also, at the same time, the world needs your culture, your passion, and your resistance because we live in a time of radical change.”
Attendees at the conference echoed the sentiment that today, the Iranian Resistance has become the bulwark against the regime’s terrorism beyond Iran, beyond the Middle East, and across the globe.
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose country has been ravaged by war, said, “How could I leave My country in such a tragic situation and come here? Why did I do that? Well, I did that because I know firmly that the victory of the Iranian people is as important as the victory of the Ukrainian people for the world and everyone. Today, like the Ukrainians, you are standing for the entire world.”