Maryam Rajavi Message to NYC Summit- Onward to a Free and Democratic Iran

In a video message to this meeting, Maryam Rajavi elaborated on the rapid developments in Iran, with the looming prospect of a secular country free from religious tyranny. Following is the full text of these remarks:

Dear compatriots,
Distinguished personalities,
Members of Iranian communities in the United States,

You have organized a gathering that glows with unyielding resolve to secure a free Iran. Such gatherings around the world, added to the popular base of this resistance in Iran, in and of themselves manifest the roadmap for freedom and democracy in Iran.

Dear friends,

Today, I would like to briefly talk about the path to freedom and the Iranian Resistance‘s platform for the future of Iran.

Accelerating developments in Iran enhance the prospects of an Iran free of religious tyranny. Since the uprising of December 2017, Iranian society has essentially not stopped marching and protesting. In August, at least 27 cities in Iran rose up once again. The regime arrested over 1,000 protestors, but failed to stop the protest movements across Iran. As the Iranian Resistance’s Leader Massoud Rajavi has said: “This is an uprising until overthrow and until victory. … It will persist, it will spread, and it will deepen. It is linked with, and relies on, the organized resistance. And the inhuman enemy has no solutions or options to escape from it.”

Today, the ruling mullahs’ fear is amplified by the role of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and resistance units in leading and continuing the uprisings. Regime analysts say: “The definitive element in relation to the December 2017 riots is the organization of rioters. So-called Units of Rebellion have been created, which have both the ability to increase their forces and the potential to replace leaders on the spot.”

The roadmap for freedom reveals itself in these very uprisings, in ceaseless protests, and in the struggle of the Resistance Units.

At the same time, the regime is surrounded – politically and internationally, and in economic terms it is on the brink of collapse. Over the past 12 months, the national currency has lost two thirds of its value. Today, the regime has reached a point where its factions publicly threaten their president with physical elimination.

The mullahs have no way of escaping the siege imposed by an array of dangers, which is why they have activated the regime’s most senior officials in their bid to deal major blows to the Iranian Resistance, while accepting the significant political risks and costs that such a strategy entails. The discovery of a number of the regime’s terrorist and spying operations targeting the Iranian Resistance in Albania, France, and the U.S. in recent months; the arrest of a senior intelligence official who, while posing as a diplomat in Austria, was commanding a terrorist plot against the Resistance; and the recent warning of the French Foreign Ministry regarding the possibility of its diplomats being taken hostage by the regime as a means to secure the release of its terrorist-diplomat, are all instances of this modus operandi.

In addition, two weeks ago the mullahs launched a missile attack against headquarters of Iranian Kurdish parties in Iraq, leaving dozens of their officials and members martyred or injured. At the same time, in a despicable crime, the regime hanged three Kurdish activists after years of torture and imprisonment.

In committing these crimes, the mullahs are testing western governments. In such circumstances, a lack of resolve or a passive attitude by western governments will intensify the regime’s terrorist actions. This reality attests to the righteous nature of the struggle of the Iranian people and Iranian Resistance to overthrow this regime, and underscores the urgency of this struggle. Freedom in Iran and stability and security in the region and world are intertwined. The road to all goes through the overthrow of the velayat-e faqih regime (absolute clerical rule).

Dear friends, my compatriots,

I want to stress the path we have chosen and the horizon ahead of us as we strive to reach the Iranian people’s grand destination.

We seek popular sovereignty. We are fighting for the establishment of a republic based on the vote of the people. We consider the people’s free vote to be the sole criterion of legitimacy for national officials.

We stress human rights in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in accordance with conventions adopted by the United Nations.

Our plan includes the abolition of the death penalty.

The mullahs’ sharia edicts, which make up the legal precedent of the regime’s punitive laws, will have no place in tomorrow’s Iran.

We also stress the separation of religion and state.

Active and equal participation of women in the political leadership of society is the strategy of our Resistance, both as we persevere and struggle to overthrow the regime, and as we establish freedom, democracy and equality following the clerical regime’s downfall.

We have risen up to establish a new economic and social order based on freedom. Our roadmap includes the uprooting of poverty, expansion of social justice, and growth of the economic power of citizens, enabling all of them to have equal opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship.

Democracy in tomorrow’s Iran will be founded on the participation of its various ethnicities liberated from dictatorship. In this respect, the 12-point plan of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) for the autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan, adopted 35 years ago, continues to shine as one of the most comprehensive models in the world.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and all of the suppressive, espionage and inquisition-like institutions will be disbanded.

In the Iran of tomorrow, the regime’s policy of exporting terrorism will be replaced by peace and peaceful co-existence.

In accordance with the adopted plans of the NCRI, following the overthrow of the regime, a provisional government will be formed, responsible for transferring power to the Iranian people and for organizing free elections for the formation of a National Constituent Assembly within six months.

And finally, we seek a constitution based on freedom, democracy and equality.

This is the roadmap to freedom. This is the roadmap to build our homeland Iran and make it prosperous.

Dear Friends,

With regard to the United Nation’s Security Council decision to discuss Iran, among other issues, during its September 26th session, I must recall the demands of the Iranian Resistance underscored many years ago. It is an urgent imperative that the Security Council address the flagrant violations of human rights in Iran, especially the torture and massacre of political prisoners, and the regime’s export of terrorism and warmongering in the Middle East Region. It must adopt binding measures to compel the regime to halt its crimes.

Overthrow, democratic change and establishing a free Iran are the responsibility of our people and Resistance. To this end, supporting the Iranian people’s uprising for the overthrow of the regime will contribute to regional and global peace and coexistence.

The financial lifelines which fund the regime’s Supreme Leader and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps must be blocked. This is what the Iranian people demand, and it is indispensable to regional and global peace and security.

At the same time, we emphasize that the greatest danger posed by this regime is suppression at home. As such, firmness vis-à-vis the mullahs will only be effective when the violations of human rights, the Iranian people’s uprising and the mullahs’ terrorism are addressed in any discussion about Iran.

We call on the United States to expel the Iranian regime’s operatives from America. We urge western governments to shut down the regime’s embassies, which are control centers for espionage and terrorism; and to expel this regime’s criminal forces from Syria and Iraq.

Iran’s seat at the United Nations does not belong to the terrorist regime ruling it. That seat belongs to the Iranian people and Resistance.

In closing, I again salute your magnificent gathering.

Hail to freedom
Hail to the Iranian people