Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, July 17, 2020—Iranians and supporters of the Iranian opposition movement the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held the largest online summit of the Iranian Resistance. The gathering linked simultaneous rallies in major cities in Europe, the United States, and Australia with more than 30,000 points connected, and it is the largest gathering of its kind in support of a free Iran.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s annual “Free Iran Summit” was held virtually. The event brought together supporters of a free Iran from more than 100 countries in five continents, including both in Iran and Ashraf 3, Albania, home to members of the MEK.
Nearly 1,000 prominent figures, politicians, and parliamentarians from five continents took part in the rally in solidarity and support of the Iranian people’s quest for freedom. Speakers included Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Senator Joe Lieberman; Michèle Alliot-Marie; Giulio Terzi; John Baird; Anna Fotyga; former Foreign Ministers of France, Italy, Canada, and Poland; former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey; former French Minister of Human Rights Rama Yade; Ambassadors Robert Joseph, Lincoln Bloomfield, and Kenneth Blackwell; dignitaries such as Ingrid Betancourt and Linda Chavez; and representatives from the European, German, French, and Italian parliaments.
The keynote speaker of the event was Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI.
Mrs. Rajavi started her speech by saying, “This summit echoes the voice of the Iranian people’s 40-year Resistance against religious dictatorship and fascism and for freedom and democracy. This is the voice of the largest, the longest, most sophisticated, and most serious organized resistance in Iran’s history…This summit echoes the calls for the clerical regime’s overthrow in the successive uprisings from December 2017 and January 2018 to November 2019 and January 2020…This summit is the voice of Resistance Units and rebellious cities across Iran who have put an end to a history of despair, incredulity, and inaptitude, and replace it with the pledge of ‘we can and we must.’”
We are determined to restore freedom and people’s sovereignty in #Iran, and this will happen #FreeIran2020 pic.twitter.com/exczUg3UfO
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 17, 2020
Mrs. Rajavi then emphasized three major pledges of the Iranian Resistance and said, “We have come together to underline our three monumental and historic commitments we pledge to bring to fruition.
“Our first commitment is that we, the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance, will overthrow the clerical regime and will take back Iran.
“Our second commitment is that we, the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance, will build a free and democratic Iran.
“And our third commitment is to remain faithful to our people’s sovereignty and vote; to not seek power at any cost, but to establish freedom and justice at any cost; to never return to the dictatorships of Shah and the mullahs. As the majority of elected lawmakers in Europe and the U.S. have pointed out, we want to establish a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran.”
We have not come to gain something for ourselves; we have come to sacrifice and pay the requisite price. We are determined to restore freedom and people’s sovereignty in #Iran, and this will happen #FreeIran2020 pic.twitter.com/UbqFvw1hw6
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 17, 2020
Mrs. Rajavi explained how 2017, 2018 and 2019 uprisings proved that the ruling theocracy is in a position to be overthrown and Iranian resistance and MEK resistance units have the key role and said, “These uprisings checkmated the Iranian regime’s apologists, advocates, lobby groups and paid operatives because they discredited their deception and lies.
“They kept saying that it would be inconceivable for the people of Iran to rise up and revolt to overthrow the mullahs.
“They kept saying that there would be no changes in Iran other than from within this very regime.
“And time and again, they repeated out the mullahs’ false claims about the MEK’s lack of popular support. They were searching for young and teenage MEK members and suddenly, saw throngs of young people overflowing in the streets of Iranian cities. They ran out of patience by arresting the elite and award-winning students [who supported the MEK].
“This explains why the mullahs and their herd of their interrogators and functionaries have unleashed their propaganda barrage and repression against the Resistance and the MEK. They see themselves in a state of being overthrows and are reeling over the reality that these uprisings and rebellious youth have adopted the roadmap and the strategy of the MEK.”
She went on to add that the mullahs have no solution and said, “In the wake of the uprisings in December 2017 and January 2018, Massoud Rajavi said: ‘To contain this uprising, the mullahs’ supreme leader has no options but to solve a number of economic, social, political and security problems, in which case it would pave the way for its overthrow.’
“This is precisely where the mullahs are most vulnerable. If they continue to pursue their current path and course of action, namely continue their belligerence, missile launches, terrorism, intimidation, and contraction, they will inevitably crash headfirst. And if they take any step back, namely, if they change their behavior and abandon their brutal suppression, terrorism, and belligerence, then they will undermine the very existence of the rule of the velayat-e faqih (absolute clerical rule)…The mullahs and their Revolutionary Guards had counted on the termination of the arms embargo on October 18, as was stipulated in the JCPOA. For this reason, the international community’s decision to snap back the sanctions was the coup de grace to the regime’s windfall achievements under the JCPOA and the policy of appeasement. Before all else, snapback would blow up the bubble of the regime’s longevity and confirm its downfall…The final word is that the mullahs have no solutions and their regime is doomed to fall in its entirety.”
Mrs. Rajavi elaborated on the regime’s strategy of inflicting mass human casualties during the coronavirus pandemic to fend off popular uprisings and the threat of overthrow, and concluded her speech by saying: “We pledged to overthrow the regime, take back Iran and restore all the violated and plundered rights of the people of Iran…Our people must enjoy the right to be healthy, to have shelter, jobs, organization and syndicates, the autonomy of ethnic minorities, the right to equal participation in running the society’s affairs, gender equality, and popular sovereignty…We urge all governments and the international bodies to stand with the people of Iran in this historic showdown with the greatest threat to the world’s peace and security…The recent resolution adopted by the majority in the US House of Representatives provides a credible model for all governments and the international community to follow regarding Iran and the Iranian people…”
