Maryam Rajavi: The Iranian people are united in overthrowing the regime

Commemoration of martyrs of the Iran uprising

Rebellious youths,
Resistance units,
Protestors who have risen up to overthrow the Velayat-e Faqih theocratic regime,
People of Iran, who cannot tolerate these circumstances and who have sacrificed more than 250 martyrs during six days of battles in the streets,
Thousands of courageous people who have been wounded and injured while confronting the regime,
Valiant heroes who stood up to the criminal revolutionary guards and intelligence agents amid fire and blood, but still managed to make them flee the scene and in many instances liberated parts of the occupied cities of Iran,

In the past six days, you advanced the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom by leaps and bounds. You turned this injured and grieving country into a rebellious land, and Iran that has arisen for freedom. You hoisted the flags of uprising to overthrow the regime. You cried out the feelings of your compatriots in chants like, “For 40 years we shed bloodied tears, enough is enough, we’ll take a stand.”
Yes, there are now armies of thousands of brave youths rising up in cities across Iran thanks to the sacrifices made by the victims of the massacre in Ashraf, the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, and the 120,000 martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for freedom.
Today, amidst the river of blood that is flowing in the streets, amidst the fire and smoke bellowing from the vast and unprecedented standoff, and amidst the ruling henchmen’s screams of fear, the prospect of victory and freedom is becoming ever brighter.
Thousands of salutes to you, rebellious youths, who have once again made the people of Iran proud.
Your resistance, fighting spirit and unremitting attacks on the enemy has brought them to their knees.
Panicked and desperate, the enemy viciously fired a barrage of bullets targeting your heads and chests, which are filled with love.

But you refused to stop. You turned every street and alley into a fortress and a stronghold for uprising and revolution.
Hail to the martyrs, the Iranian people’s heroes. Brave youth and fearless teenagers who terrified the criminal Revolutionary Guard Corps in Shiraz, Mahshahr, Marivan, Karaj, Sirjan, Eslamshahr, Shahriar, Fardis, Ahvaz, Isfahan, and the blood-drenched Behbahan.

I praise all the men and women who aided these young warriors with everything in their power, and the doctors and nurses who attended to the wounded.
I also thank those who gave them refuge, for giving youth food and water in the streets, and for giving them financial support.

Sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers,
What you did is a source of honor and pride for the Iranian people.
Do not allow sadness or sorrow overcome you. Turn your pains and wounds into greater fury, determination, and power for continuing the protests and resistance.
Your endurance and battles, and the vicious and deliberate use of live ammunition by the IRGC, Bassijis, and plainclothes agents, have outraged the world.
Once again, the world witnessed the brutality, savagery and ruthlessness of the religious fascism.
And the world praised your iron resolve to overthrow a regime that is the enemy of all the peoples in the Middle East and is hated and despised universally in the world.
Look at these pictures.
Look at these brave and martyred young people.
Of course, the savagery of the mullahs and their criminal IRGC and Bassijis who target our children in the head and chest, was no surprise. What was amazing and what drew praise and admiration from the rest of the world was the courage and attacks of Iran’s young people and the roaring tides of uprisings and revolution in Iran’s rebellious cities.
So, despite 40 years of suffering by our people, let us honor them with one minute of applause in order to show the true feelings of our people towards the martyrs of Iran uprising, whose memory will never vanish.

Sisters and brothers,
Dear compatriots,
This truth was once and for all confirmed that the situation in Iran, which is characterized by uprisings for overthrowing the regime, is not going to revert back to what it was in the past.

Dictators in the final phase of their rule ultimately reach a point at which they have no options or solutions and their policies end up backfiring.
On September 8, 1978, the Shah slaughtered protestors and stepped into a path which led to his downfall.
Today, Khamenei has stepped into the same path by issuing the order to open fire on rebellious youths. Rouhani has also set aside all the niceties about “moderation,” which he touted during his election campaign, and has bluntly called for suppression of the people whose first and last demand is the ovFwoerthrow of this religious fascism.
This is a shared and joint course for Khamenei, Rouhani and other regime leaders. All of them are sitting together in a sinking ship.
The recent developments gave rise to one of those rare but decisive moments which determine both the fate of the clerical regime as well as the popular movement and uprising.
Unable to abandon its policy of exporting terrorism and warmongering, as well as its unpatriotic nuclear and missile projects, the clerical regime resorted to further aggressions and attacks against tankers and oil installations in the region in a bid to counter sanctions and international isolation in the context of its foreign policy.
Domestically, the regime conducted an assault on people’s livelihood. They made official their theft and plunder of people’s wealth. Last year, they increased the exchange rate between the national currency and the dollar and pocketed huge profits. This year, they increased the price of fuel in order to impose a greater degree of poverty and inflation on people, and to grab the money required for the people’s suppression from the people’s own pockets, especially the pockets of the most poverty-stricken sectors of society. Meanwhile, the enormous capital, mega profits and astronomical embezzlements worth billions of dollars and a major factor in the economic ruin in the country, have been left untouched.

Just as Rouhani stands with Khamenei in opening fire on defenseless people, he is also his accomplice and complicit in plundering people’s assets and exerting additional economic pressure on them. A few days ago, Rouhani said they also plan to increase taxes to 150 trillion tomans. This is yet another unbelievable step in extortion from people. It has been and continues to be the regime’s policy to compensate for their lack of funds and empty coffins by plundering the people. But this policy sparked an explosion of discontent.

Another significant fact is that the regime failed in all its political and suppressive designs and plans to prevent the eruption of the uprising. This time, in contrast to the uprising in December 2017, the regime was not at all caught by surprise. The regime’s leaders, including Khamenei himself, had thoroughly deliberated about the fuel price hike and its consequences. The issue had been repeatedly discussed in the Economic Coordination Council among the heads of the three branches.
The regime’s criminal supreme leader had already warned that 2019 is the year when “the enemy will implement its plans.” The State Security Force (SSF), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the paramilitary Bassij were already prepared and on alert.
The regime’s intelligence and security agencies had repeatedly bragged about their command of the movements of the enemy. Based on their numerous political and security calculations, they thought that there would be some protests that could be contained.
A member of the mullahs’ Majlis (parliament), named Motahari, said, “As for the increase in the price of fuel, I thought that there would certainly be some reaction, but I never thought it would be to such an extent.”
In reality, Khamenei and the regime’s leaders made two major miscalculations:
First, they never thought that they would confront the volcano of people’s fury in such dimensions and with such quality.
Second, they did not think that their suppressive and security measures would be insufficient in dealing with the protests.

Another reality that I would like to point out is this: what unfolded in the past six days was that the struggle at any cost for the overthrow of the Velayat-e Faqih regime became ubiquitous and embraced by the entire population.
In every city, there is a long list of IRGC and Bassij bases, SSF stations, banks, religious seminaries, offices of Khamenei’s representatives, governorates, city halls, and IRGC-backed financial institutions which have been attacked by young people in those cities. State-run media have reported that in some cities and towns, like Baharestan (Isfahan), every single center tied to the regime has been attacked.
State-run media reported: “The scope of mischief… was so extensive, and the actions were so professionally performed, that one could think that a trained, equipped network with strong financial and intelligence backing was involved… Now, it has become clear that the mischief had been completely organized and that the rioters’ goal went beyond creating chaos.”

Another state-run media outlet underscored “women’s prominent role” in the uprisings. It wrote, “In numerous areas, particularly in Tehran’s suburbs, women between 30 to 35 years of age, played a special role in leading the riots.”

These admissions paint a small picture of a great uprising; displaying a moment in which the people yearning and thirsting for freedom find the opportunity to unleash their enormous power. From courageous young women who lead the protesters to rebellious and defiant youth who have risen up to uproot the reactionary and suppressive order. Yes, the mullahs and their IRGC are right to be terrified because this is a volcano that will sweep away the entire regime.

Fellow compatriots, dear sisters and brothers,
The uprisings that took place in recent days across Iran proved that the strategy of resistance units and rebellious cities is correct and that it will certainly succeed.
In 2013, four years before the December 2017 uprising, the Iranian Resistance’s Leader Massoud Rajavi announced the strategy of 1,000 Ashrafs and bastions of rebellion and resistance units.
The December 2017-January 2018 uprising, and its subsequent protest movements which culminated in the Iran uprising in recent days, show that the conditions are ripe and simmering for flourishing and spread of resistance units. In light of the acute and deep-seated discontent among the people, many Iranian cities are ready to rebel and break out of the mullahs’ reign.
In his messages after the December 2017-January 2018 uprising, Massoud Rajavi said, “Lifting the torch of uprising in resistance units at any opportunity, any time and any place is the order of the day and an urgent revolutionary and patriotic duty.” He said, “The Iranian people’s fate in the war of liberation will be determined by resistance units and rebellious cities.”
And in response to the question, how could these flames of resistance be pulled together in order to create a volcano that can uproot and overthrow the regime, Massoud Rajavi said, “The real, essential and genuine answer is and has always been in maximum rebellion and in a fight that is a hundred times greater, until such time that the resistance units evolve into the National Liberation Army in order to shatter the inhumane enemy’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
Last November, Massoud announced the phase of maximum alert and said, “Resistance units enter the scene as triggers of uprisings.” And today, everyone witnesses such scenes.
Today, the strategy of resistance units and rebellious cities plainly plays out in Iran’s rebellious cities from Tehran Province to Khuzestan, Isfahan, Yazd, Kerman, Kurdistan, Gilan and Mazandaran.
The regime’s theorists had this to say about the uprisings of the past several days: “A new phenomenon” has emerged. They wrote: “Tehran’s satellite towns were the focal points of riots.” Petrified, they point to people “who now feel that they have reached the end of the line.”
Yes, the same people who have reached the end of the line, those who do not have anything to lose, are the very people who establish the resistance units and the rebellious cities. They are the ones who pave the way for ending the regime’s disgraceful rule.
Their message to the regime is clear. They say: You answered every form of expression and every protest with repression, torture and execution. Now, here you are. Our answer lies in the fiery rage of defiant masses who say we do not want the Velayat-e Faqih regime.
You secretly decide behind closed doors to steal from the empty pockets of the people and to get your hands on more money. Here, you are. Our answer lies in the attacks by rebellious youths against hundreds of banks that have mushroomed all across Iran.
You have beheaded people’s freedoms and sovereignty. Our answer is the Liberation Army which is rising up to establish the people’s sovereignty.

Dear compatriots,
Immediately after the eruption of nationwide uprisings in December 2017-January 2018, the Iranian Resistance reiterated that neither the regime’s nor the broader social conditions in Iran will ever revert back to the pre-uprising equilibrium. The uprising in recent days offered further proof of this reality.
Of course, the mullahs have tried hard and they will continue to do so. They have resorted to terrorism, to demonization of the Iranian people and Resistance, to belligerence and warmongering in the region and in the Persian Gulf, and to the unimpeded suppression of people all across the country. But they have no way out of a crisis that triggers their overthrow.
Today, the regime’s intelligence officials claim that “the instigators of recent incidents who sought to foment insecurity have been arrested in many parts of the country.” But they either do not know or plead ignorance that discontent and uprisings have reached a tipping point at which they are constantly producing more and more of such instigators, namely, the rebellious youths and the resistance units.
The entire issue is that the Velayat-e Faqih regime has reached the end of the line. Therefore, I must reiterate that supporting the arisen people, backing the rebellious youths and resistance units is a patriotic and national duty.

Therefore,
1. I urge my fellow compatriots to actively participate in the memorial services of martyrs, everywhere, in any manner and to any extent possible.
2. Do not forget to attend to the wounded, cure their wounds, and help the families who have lost their guardians.
3. Protests and strikes at anytime and anywhere are essential for the continuation and expansion of the uprising.
4. The enemy is mobilizing all its forces, heads of branches and propaganda to launch a counter attack, to terrorize the public and to plot various schemes. But these methods are no longer effective. Do not fear their tricks and bellows. National solidarity and cooperation are the best response.
5. World governments and the international community must set aside all considerations and reservations about the regime. They should demand an immediate halt to the killings and arrests. If the regime does not comply, they must readily pull the trigger of UN Security Council sanctions.
The UNSC must declare Khamenei and Rouhani as criminals committing crimes against humanity. They must face justice for this massive suppression and bloodshed. The international community must also strongly condemn the mullahs’ internet terrorism and assist the people of Iran in circumventing this inhuman blockade.
6. The clerical regime is making every effort and using all means to conceal the truth about the death toll. The United Nations must immediately dispatch fact-finding missions to Iran to investigate the number of those killed, injured and imprisoned.

Yes, a rebellious Iran is rising up
Hail to the martyrs
Hail to rebels rising up for freedom
Hail to the Iran uprising to overthrow the regime