Several former heads of state convened at a conference in Paris, France on Thursday, June 22 to announce their support for the Iranian people’s uprising and their organized Resistance.
The attendants were among the 117 former world leaders who recently wrote a letter to President Joe Biden of the United States and the leaders of the 27 Member States of the European Union, expressing their support for the Ten-Point Plan presented by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). They emphasized their belief that the future of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people themselves and recognized the NCRI’s decades-long pursuit of democratic change in Iran.
The former world leaders highlighted the Ten-Point Plan’s dedication to principles such as 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. They stated that these principles align with their own democratic values.
In her speech at the event, Mrs. Rajavi said the initiative by former heads of state to call upon world leaders to take decisive actions against the religious fascism ruling Iran and standing by the Iranian people “marks a turning point in the international approach towards the issue of Iran.”
I appreciate the initiative of the majority of French parliamentarians in support of the #Iranian people's struggle for a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state.
With such a model, #European governments, especially #France , should adopt a policy to… pic.twitter.com/oqP0LEYFHk— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 21, 2023
“The clerical regime in Iran has also engaged in exporting terrorism, warmongering, and religious fundamentalism beyond Iran’s borders. It is no coincidence that such a large number of world dignitaries have joined your initiative against the regime,” she said.
Mrs. Rajavi said that the regime is in its final phase, and the uprising that began in September 2022 showed that “the Iranian people want to overthrow the ruling regime and are prepared to make sacrifices to achieve this goal.”
She also emphasized the leading role of women in the uprisings, “following 40 years of struggle by freedom-loving PMOI women and other combatant women against this brutal regime.”
Mrs. Rajavi said that as a result of the West’s appeasement policy, the regime has started a new phase of destructive and aggressive activities, ranging from moving closer to acquiring nuclear weapons to involvement in the massacre and destruction of Ukraine.
“The continuation of the appeasement policy has emboldened the regime in pursuing its destructive policies,” she said.
Speaking on the Iranian Resistance’s platform for regime change, Mrs. Rajavi stressed that the Resistance’s adherence to its principles of struggle including independence, liberty, popular sovereignty, and the rejection of the Shah and the mullahs’ dictatorships have turned the Iranian Resistance into the focal point of the Iranian people’s trust.
“We never compromise our values to gain or preserve power,” she said. “The most important thing for us is creating conditions where the people of Iran can freely determine their own destiny.”
Regarding the international community’s approach toward the regime, Mrs. Rajavi underlined a few key policies by which world leaders can stand on the side of the Iranian people in their struggle for freedom and democracy:
1- Designating the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and confronting the IRGC presence beyond Iranian borders, including in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
2- Recognizing the right of the Iranian people to defend themselves against the IRGC and to overthrow the regime and establish a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state.
3- Activating the snapback mechanism according to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, implementing the six UN Security Council Resolutions, shutting down all nuclear and missile programs in breach of UN resolutions, and conducting unconditional inspections of the regime’s nuclear and missile facilities.
4- Referring the dossier of the brutal and systematic violations of human rights in Iran to the UN Security Council and bringing to justice the regime’s leaders for 40 years of genocide and crimes against humanity.
5- Cutting off regular economic deals and imposing comprehensive sanctions, particularly oil and banking sanctions, to cut the regime’s lifelines that only finance the oppression of the Iranian people, development of nuclear weapons, terrorism and regional interventions.
6- Identifying the regime as a threat to global peace and security, subject to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
.@guyverhofstadt: We thought that we would get results by continuing to talk to these so-called moderates of the regime. We have to say today that this strategy & approach was wrong. In fact, there are no moderates in the regime of Iran. #FreeIran2023https://t.co/N2wllpOzzf
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 22, 2023
Guy Verhofstadt, the former Prime Minister of Belgium, said the letter by former world leaders is a “promise that we will not be silent until the regime of the mullahs is gone in this world and until there are free and democratic elections organized in Iran.”
Verhofstadt stressed that the long-tried policy of approaching the so-called moderates in Iran has failed. “We have to say today that this strategy, this approach was wrong. In fact, there are no moderates in the regime of Iran. There is no one,” he said.
“It’s certainly a moment that has to be used by the international community… and especially by Europe, to switch the strategy, to switch the current approach towards Iran,” Verhofstadt said.
Verhofstadt said that Europe should expand its sanctions against Iran’s regime. “I think it’s absolutely necessary that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and their paramilitary units responsible for that error should be urgently blacklisted by the EU, but also by all the 27 member states of the EU, as a terrorist organization,” he said.
The former Belgian Prime Minister added that this policy should be complemented with support for the people of Iran. “The Iranian people and all democratic organizations in Iran and in exile have the knowledge, skills, courage, have the determination to turn their country into another country, into a modern democracy, and therefore, all initiatives such as Mrs. Rajavi’s ten points plan, which include free elections, freedom of expression, abolition of the death penalty, separation of church and state, and gender equality, deserve or full support in the aftermath of Iran,” he said.
.@matteorenzi: 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.#FreeIran2023https://t.co/0wWE5anL8Z
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 22, 2023
“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,” said Matteo Renzi, the former Prime Minister of Italy. “Thinking about what happened in the last nine months in your country is unacceptable, immoral, and not simply legal. Thinking about young people dying simply for protests against the regime is unacceptable, of course, but I think that is only the first part of our reflection. We need a new Iran in the global world.”
.@YuliaTymoshenko: I'm here as 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. #FreeIran2023https://t.co/gNibj8D96W
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 22, 2023
“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,” said Yulia Tymoshenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine. “Today, like the Ukrainians, you are standing for the entire world. I came here because of what I’m observing and watching that today, in the modern world, a new international line of dictators is forming.”
“A month ago, our Parliament adopted a resolution. And has introduced the harshest sanctions against the Iranian regime. All of our Parliament voted unilaterally, and now I’m here with you because I want that letter that the leaders of the other countries have signed that would give a new impulse to all other peoples. To accept and adopt the same resolution, the same decision, and to introduce the harshest sanctions against the Iranian regime.
“I also believe that there is something very symbolic that your people’s resistance movement was spearheaded by a wonderful woman Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. I had just met her when I came here for the first time. But I’ve observed her activity remotely. And I saw what kind of confidence she’s shining to everyone. She is an incredibly strong woman. I would like to wish you, Mrs. Rajavi, not just a victory, but I want you to become the soul of your people, so they will follow you. And so, with your leadership, they would show the whole world that evil is weak. Yes. I know that it is important to fight the regime and win, but the most important thing is to show your people the path to the future. A bright, happy, shiny path. And you have that. You have a plan for the future, Iran. The ten-point plan, which are very strong points that are going to change Iran fundamentally, and this plan for the future of Iran is worth it.
.@Andrej_Kiska: It is important for the Iranian regime to understand that the world is closely watching its actions and will never tolerate and forget the violation of human rights. #FreeIran2023https://t.co/NhtdRPvWDU
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 22, 2023
Andrej Kiska, the former President of Slovakia, said that it is important for the Iranian regime to understand that the world is closely watching its actions and will never tolerate and forget the violation of human rights and the oppression of its people.
“The Iranian people deserve the right to live in a free and democratic country,” he said. “Where power rests in the hands of citizens who protect their best interests without any discrimination, it is our responsibility as democratic leaders and citizens to support their efforts and work together to achieve the goal.”