Iranian expats gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to express their support for the uprising of the Iranian people and their desire to live in a free and democratic republic. The event was marked with speeches by former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, American politicians and dignitaries, and Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The conference stressed the need for the international community to end the appeasement policy toward Iran’s regime. They also echoed the desire of the Iranian people to overthrow the mullahs’ rule and to avoid returning to the era of the Shah dictatorship.
The conference was also attended by the members of the MEK, who joined through video conference from Ashraf 3, Albania.
Maryam Rajavi: Iranians distance themselves from all forms of dictatorship
In her speech, Mrs. Rajavi said that Iran’s uprising has continued for six months, and the regime’s widespread crackdown on the protest movement, “Iran uprising remains the most significant threat to the existence of the regime.”
Mrs. Rajavi said that Iran will not return to its previous balance because “First, this uprising has roots in the explosive state of the society, poverty, unemployment, and above all the catastrophic situation of women. Second, the Resistance Units and a nationwide network of the organized resistance inside the country play a serious role in the uprising.”
At the same time, Mrs. Rajavi stressed that the regime’s overthrow requires “the presence of an organized force ready to make sacrifices.”
This is the role being played by Resistance Units, a network of MEK activists who are relentlessly carrying out anti-regime activities. “Despite the regime’s extensive arrests, increasing number of people joined the MEK Resistance Units during the uprising. Recently the Resistance Units undertook dozens of anti-regime operations daily, including burning regime symbols,” Mrs. Rajavi said.
Afraid of the threat posed by the MEK and the Resistance Units, the regime is using its so-called opponents to downplay the uprising.
“In this context, the regime seeks to overshadow the democratic alternative by promoting remnants of the previous regime, which is nothing but a ‘transition’ from the current regime to the former regime,” Mrs. Rajavi said.
The clerical regime will resort to any crime in effort to stop the uprising.
In the past three months, the regime has carried out a horrific crime by poisoning thousands of #IranianSchoolGirls nationwide through chemical attacks.
Despite this brutal https://t.co/Bx0Eq0hZHE… https://t.co/eE0ftGtJdx— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 11, 2023
However, the people of Iran have made it clear that they do not want to exchange one dictator for another. “The people strongly reject any kind of dictatorship, including the return to monarchy. One of the most widely chanted slogans has become ‘death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the mullahs,’” Mrs. Rajavi said. “Today the Iranian people are fully aware that they must distance themselves from all forms of dictatorship.”
The missing link in western policy is its exclusion of the Iranian people and the Resistance from the equation in Iran, Mrs. Rajavi stressed. “This has harmful effects not only on the people of Iran but also on the region and the world,” she said.
Meanwhile, she said that a recent resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives in “support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Republic of Iran” provides a framework for a principled policy.
“The resolution affirms that Congress ‘stands with the people of Iran who are legitimately defending their rights for freedom against repression,’” she said.
Mrs. Rajavi finished her speech by calling on the U.S. to “declare the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the regime as just, necessary, and legitimate” and “recognize the right of the rebellious youth to defend themselves against the terrorist Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).”
Mike Pence: Iranian people do not want to replace one dictator with another
In his speech at the event, former Vice President Mike Pence said, “The American people support your goal of establishing a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Iranian republic that derives its powers from the consent of the governed.”
Mr. Pence said that history has shown that “Appeasement has never worked, and it never will.”
Mr. Pence stressed that renewing the nuclear deal with Iran’s regime, which has become the focus of Western politicians, will lead to more terrorist, destruction, and destabilization in the region. And it will not block the regime’s path to the nuclear bomb.
“A renewed nuclear deal won’t benefit the people of Iran in any way, shape, or form. It will empower and enrich the regime that has tormented and tortured the Iranian people for generations,” he said. “So today, we call on the Biden administration to stand with the people of Iran, stand up for the cause of freedom and justice, and cease and desist all efforts in support of nuclear negotiations with Tehran. Peace is only possible with strength.”
Mr. Pence said that Ebrahim Raisi has been appointed as regime president for the sole reason of keeping the mullahs in power. “His crimes will not go unpunished. Ebrahim Raisi is unworthy of leading the great nation of Iran. He must be removed from office by the people of Iran and prosecuted for crimes against humanity and genocide,” he said, referring to Raisi’s role in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and his long history of human rights abuses.
.@Mike_Pence: On behalf of tens of millions of Americans of both political parties: Americans support your goal of establishing a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Iranian republic that derives its powers from the consent of the governed#IranRevolutionpic.twitter.com/u8o7ux68Gi
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 12, 2023
In his speech, Mr. Pence described the Resistance Units as “the wellspring of hope for the Iranian people.”
“They’re an engine for change from within during the uprisings and continued protests and every day they’re growing stronger while the regime grows weaker,” he said.
Mr. Pence said that while the regime has tried to lie to the world that there is no alternative to the mullahs’ rule, “There is an alternative, a well-organized, fully prepared, perfectly qualified, popularly supported alternative. And I want to thank Maryam Rajavi for her outstanding leadership and inspiration to the world.”
“The people of Iran want real change and real change is exactly what MEK offers,” Mr. Pence said. “Maryam Rajavi’s ten-point plan for the future of Iran will ensure freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and the freedom of every Iranian to choose their elected leaders.”
He also said that the regime has tried to trick the world into believing that Iranian protesters want to return to the Shah dictatorship.
“But we’re not confused by their lies. The Iranian people do not want to replace one dictator with another. The Iranian people want to be free,” Mr. Pence said.
Wesley Clark: A revolution is underway in Iran
“Iran has always been a central concern for the United States. And today, we’re living in historic times. Times of potentially great changes in Iran are going to become even more important for the United States,” said Gen. Wesley Clark, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
General Clark said that Iran’s protests show that a revolution is underway.
“The ayatollahs will pass. And this transformation of Iran is sparked by and built upon the greatest revolution of the 21st century: The power, the leadership, the courage, the wisdom of women,” Clark said, adding that to prove that people can govern themselves, they don’t need a dictator, a monarch or a tyrant.
“This organization is at the very heart of Iran’s future,” Gen. Clark said, referring to the MEK. “Your decades of resistance, sacrifice, steadfast determination, courage, and persistence. I think it’s unique in scale. In modern times, there’s never been anything like this, in our understanding of modern human history.”
.@GeneralClark: The #IranRevolution is already underway, step-by-step, with popular protests growing, determined. A popular Democratic secular program announced and offered in 100 different channels by Mrs. Rajavi and courageous student leaders.pic.twitter.com/u8o7ux68Gi
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 12, 2023
General Clark also expressed hope that the platform provided by the Iranian Resistance will help Iran to transition to a peaceful and prosperous country after the fall of the mullahs.
He said, “After this revolution, will you blossom into a new structure for a peaceful Iran, open to human imagination even as you provide the foundations for a new government? Will you rally the technocrats, the fence sitters, the still uncommitted, and the fearful millions into a new system that’s been fully articulated but has not yet been tested by the fires of fear and revenge? Will you be able to provide both justice and forgiveness to heal a great civilization? Will you bring its former enemies, to regret and repentance? Will you meet the needs and wishes of all the citizens of Iran?
“I believe the answers to these questions are in Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan.”
Gary Locke: The MEK and its leadership have paid a huge price
The people in the government of the U.S. “stand in full solidarity with the people of Iran and fully support their desire to be a free people,” said Governor Gary Locke, 36th United States Secretary of Commerce.
Gov. Locke said that the nationwide uprisings of recent years and protests of the last several months make it clear that the Iranian people want fundamental political change that will transform the current system of despotic religious fascism.
“The Iranian people deserve a government that respects democratic norms, and the rule of law and places the needs, dreams, and aspirations of the Iranian people above repression at home and terrorism abroad,” he said. “It’s therefore critical for the United States and other democracies around the world to stand with the Iranian people.”
Locke said Tehran must be treated like the pariah state it is and the international community must side with the Iranian people in their historic and heroic struggle for freedom and democracy.
.@GeneralClark: The #IranRevolution is already underway, step-by-step, with popular protests growing, determined. A popular Democratic secular program announced and offered in 100 different channels by Mrs. Rajavi and courageous student leaders.pic.twitter.com/u8o7ux68Gi
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 12, 2023
“International bodies, from the UN to the World Court, must hold regime leaders accountable for decades of crimes against humanity,” he said.
While the world watches nationwide protests in Iran, Gov. Locke stressed that these protests are a “visible manifestation and result of 40-plus years of organized resistance to the regime.”
“During this time, the MEK and its leadership have paid a huge price in blood. The role of women in the leadership ranks of the resistance and in fighting back against the clerics is clearly evident in the streets of Iran,” he said. “The revolution you are supporting is about bringing democracy and freedom to Iran. It is not about returning to the dark and brutal day days of the dictatorial monarchy of the Shah. The people of Iran have paid a heavy price in their resistance against two dictatorships, the current regime, and the Shah.”
Sam Brownback: The Iranian people can and will throw off their rulers
Senator Sam Brownback, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, said that the Iranian regime has already lost the hearts of its own people and is losing control of the country.
“The Iranian people can and will throw off their rulers,” he said. “We should not be supporting these regimes with our economies.”
Senator Brownback also stressed that under the banner of Islam, the regime is doing the most damage to Islam. “There is no compulsion under Islam. There is complete compulsion under the Iranian regime. If you have to force somebody to believe, that’s not a religion, that’s not a faith, that’s slavery,” he said.
Robert Torricelli: Our vision is Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan
Senator Robert Torricelli, who has been supporting the Iranian people’s cause for freedom for many decades, said that the situation in Iran has changed. “The pot has been boiling. Pressure has been building, it has been coming for years and it is about to boil over in a new revolution in Iran,” he said.
Senator Torricelli stressed that while the 1979 revolution was stolen by the mullahs, it will not happen again.
Senator Torricelli also had a few words to say about those who are trying to present themselves as main opposition figures while demonizing the NCRI and the MEK:
“I’ve seen this act before. The train starts leaving the station, headed to victory. And as it’s leaving, people try to grab on board. I got it. I got it. Be careful of it. Everyone is welcome to this cause everyone, Iranians and non-Iranians. The past is the past. We’re moving forward. But we are not exchanging a theocracy for another kleptocracy.
“To our friends who have lived the good life behind the gilded gates of their Beverly Hills homes, and those who have enjoyed the good life and the hills of Switzerland, we welcome you to the cause, but we have not fought, we have not died, we have not struggled to replace one dictatorship with another dictatorship. It will not happen this time.”
Torricelli also expressed his appreciation for the role that the MEK has played in the past four decades.
“To the leader of every revolutionary cell in Iran, everyone who organized, friends and neighbors, every member of the MEK in Iran who was sure that the struggle would go on, history will never forget you. We will never forget you. There are many heroes, but there are none like you in the MEK in Iran who have risked everything, whose very actions are cause for their execution,” he said.
He also stressed that it is not the time to back down from the principles and values that the Iranian Resistance has endorsed along its struggle.
“Just as the hour gets close to victory, there will always be those who say, it would be faster if we would compromise. It would be easier if we took a little less. It would be better if we broadened the coalition to those who have a different vision of the future,” he said. “Not this time. Our vision is clear. It is Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan. Iran will be democratic. Women will be respected with equal rights. It will be non-nuclear. It will be at peace with its neighbors and friends. It will assure quality-free life for the Iranian people. There will be no compromise. We will stand for no less.”