Speech of Maryam Rajavi -Grand gathering –Paris

In the name of God,
In the name of Iran and the Iranian people
In the name of freedom, in the name of Resistance and the liberation army
In the name of the martyrs and political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and perseverance

I hail of all you who have come here from five continents around the world.
And greetings to you personalities, spokespersons and representatives of 69 countries who have come here to voice solidarity with the Iranian people and Resistance.

I would also like to honor the memory of a great defender of justice and human rights, the late Mr. Maurice Boscavert, mayor of Taverny.

And greetings to the Mojahedin, from Ashraf Rajavi and Moussa Khiabani to Sedigheh and Neda and Gholamreza Khosravi, the trailblazers and heroes of the 33-year struggle against religious fundamentalism.

Hail to the arisen people of Syria and Iraq and their campaign for freedom and democracy and against terrorism and fundamentalism.

Dear Compatriots,

We stand at a very sensitive juncture of history of Iran and the Middle East. This turning point has been impacted by the most important reality of the present time: the final phase of the velayat-e faqih regime has arrived.

The eruption of popular rage among the Iraqi people has deeply disturbed the trend of occupation of Iraq by the velayat-e faqih regime.

The 11-year investment of the mullahs’ regime in Iraq has evaporated. The mullahs, who seek to avoid drinking the chalice of poison of the nuclear agreement, are now grappling with the consequences of the poison of their defeat in Iraq.

Owing to its unique geopolitical status, Iraq was considered the most significant prey for the religious dictatorship ruling Iran since day one in order to export its fundamentalism and terrorism. Khomeini’s eight-year war, characterized by the motto of “Liberating Quds through Karbala,” was waged with an eye occupy Iraq and its holy shrines.

At the time, the National Liberation Army of Iran, carried out 100 military operations, eventually liberated the town of Mehran and prepared itself for the march towards Tehran, forcing Khomeini to drink, in his own words, the chalice of poison of the ceasefire.

The devastating war thus ended. However, 15 years later, subsequent to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iran’s ruling religious dictatorship saw its long-held dream realized. The terrorist Quds Force and its paid operatives, the names of 32,000 of whom we exposed, took control of the Iraqi people’s destiny.

Incidentally, what are Qassem Soliemani, the Quds Force commander, and 200 other IRGC commanders doing in Iraq today?

More than a decade ago, millions of Iraqis signed statements, underscoring that they first faced a “hidden war and an undeclared occupation” by the Iranian regime, which then evolved into an open occupation and even led to the bombing of the holy Shrine in Samarra.

At the time, 5.2 million Iraqis demanded the eviction of the Iranian regime from their country.

In December 2006, Ahmadinejad said, “Iran was the beneficiary of the windfall gains of the occupation of the two neighboring countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.” And in August 2008, Ali Larijani declared that all those who rule Iraq “listen to what we say” and “are our friends.”

And this is an April 2004 document that shows the ruling al-Dawa party in Iraq requesting weapons from the terrorist Quds Force

American, European and Arab dignitaries present here have said repeatedly in recent years that Iraq was handed over to the mullahs on a silver platter. As such today Iraq is a country with
– a government under the thumb of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader;
– repressed freethinkers and intellectuals;
– a destroyed Christian community;
– a slaughtered Sunni population;
– daily bombings, assassinations and explosions;
– twenty-six assaults on Ashraf and Liberty coupled with a deadly siege;
– many martyrs, wounded and hostages as well as a mass and illegal detention.

In August 2007, General Odierno said that 73 percent of US casualties in Iraq were due to attacks by pro-Iranian militias.

Indeed, the United States made a historic blunder by considering the ruling religious dictatorship as part of the solution and by acquiescing to its joint governance of Iraq.

Conversely, the combatants of Iran’s freedom who were not a party to the conflict in Iraq were heavily bombed and their weapons were confiscated in return for a betrayed promise of protection.

Over the past several years, especially since February 2010, the Iraqi people staged hundreds of demonstrations, demanding the expulsion of the Iranian regime from Iraq. Peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations continued for more than a year in six Iraqi provinces. Opposition to the Iranian regime’s dominance of Iraq became the primary issue of contention in that country.

The uprisings in Mosul and other Iraqi cities caught everyone, first and foremost Khamenei, off guard and shook the Revolutionary Guards. The Iranian regime made vain attempts to confront the Iraqi people’s uprising by characterizing the rebellion of millions of Iraqis as terrorism and actions of extremist groups. This was while tribal leaders and the people of Iraq have for weeks repeatedly condemned any form of extremism and terrorism as well as any assault and aggression against civilians.

The have underscored that they themselves had been at war with terrorism and Al-Qaeda in Iraq previously and are prepared to do so again. But, one cannot ignore the terrorism by the Maliki government and the Iranian regime, which is the root cause of this situation.

Regardless of the prevailing analysis or opinions on the present situation, there is widespread consensus internationally that the current state of affairs in Iraq emanates from Maliki’s authoritarian and suppressive policies.

Therefore, there is only one solution, and that is to oust Maliki, to evict the Iranian regime from Iraq and to establish a democratic and inclusive government instead.

Here, I must emphasize that the only outcome of negotiating with, or seeking assistance from, the religious dictatorship would be that the Iraqi people will sink further into the carnage and civil war.

Eleven years ago, I said that the danger of the mullahs dominating Iraq was a hundred times more dangerous than the nuclear threat posed by Tehran. Time proved this to be correct. Now, the negative consequences of the mullahs’ losing Iraq are a hundred times more lethal than their retreat in the nuclear arena.

In all these years, similar to the nuclear revelations it has made, the Iranian Resistance led the way by exposing the Iranian regime’s meddling and the atrocities it commits in Iraq. Despite paying a heavy price, the Iranian Resistance confronted the ogre of fundamentalism and insisted that the Iranian regime is the main enemy of the people of Iran and the entire region and must be overthrown.

Hail to the heroes of such perseverance, especially the 52 martyrs of Camp Ashraf, led by the distinguished women, Zohreh Gha’emi, Giti Givechian, Mitra Bagherzadeh, Jila Tolou, Maryam Hosseini and Fatemeh Kamyab, to whom this gathering is dedicated.

Allow me here to underscore the responsibility of the United States and the UN Secretary General regarding the security, protection and safety of the Mojahedin who are held as prisoners at Camp Liberty.

We have repeatedly called on the United States to transfer the residents of Liberty to the US or to a European country even on a temporary basis. We are prepared to pay for all the expenses of such relocation. This is a practical solution and there is a precedent of doing this by the US in the past in Iraqi Kurdistan and in the Balkans.

There is no doubt that attacks against Liberty could not have been launched without the Iraq government’s intervention and prior coordination.

At the very least, therefore, the United States must prevent the Iraqi regime from carrying out attacks or aggression against Liberty or imposing restrictions on its residents.

It must guarantee the security of Camp Liberty, work to end the inhumane siege against it and compel the Iraqi government to release seven Ashraf hostages.

Additionally, the refugee rights of the residents of Liberty must be upheld to the last person.
The UN must, particularly in the current circumstances in Iraq, station a unit of Blue Helmets at Liberty.

Dear Compatriots, friends,

I said that the final phase of the religious dictatorship has arrived, which reveals itself in five major developments:

The Iranian people’s preparedness to rise up and attain freedom, the widening rift at the pinnacle of the Iranian regime, the mullahs’ retreat from their nuclear bomb project and the regime’s plunge into two devastating wars in Iraq and Syria.

And most importantly, the readiness of a Resistance movement which can steer the developments toward overthrowing the religious dictatorship and the liberation of the Iranian people and their country.

Last year, Khamenei failed to impose his own candidate during the sham presidential elections. Fearing a popular uprising, he relinquished the presidency to the rival faction’s candidate. The hidden side of Khamenei’s paranoia was his fear of a Resistance which had nine months earlier succeed in revoking the U.S. terrorist label against it.

Rouhani took office with the slogan of moderation, and the regime’s advocates jubilantly claimed that Tehran had found a solution to overcome the crisis it was facing. We said, to the contrary, the ruling theocracy has grown even weaker than before.

Nevertheless, the ball is still in the regime’s court. Let us really see what it will do in regards to freedom and human rights, the nuclear weapons program, and the intransigent policies it pursues in Iraq and Syria. In eight short months, Rouhani has gone through the path that took Khatami eight years:

He has neither brought the Iranian people economic prosperity nor human rights; and neither stability nor strength for the regime. Instead, the degree of suppression and the number of executions have dramatically increased.

About half of the government budget is spent on domestic repression and warmongering because the regime is fearful of popular protests and uprisings.

Today, 67 percent of industrial units are shut down. The official currency has plummeted by 80 percent. The banking sector is bankrupt. Agriculture is destroyed. Half of the cities suffer from water shortages. The environment is in ruins. And poverty is so pervasive that most citizens are forced to rely on subsidies equaling only 42 cents a day.

The ruling mullahs have spent everything on repression, warmongering and terrorism. This is the main cause for inflation, poverty and hunger in society. These days, Rouhani is trying in vain to preserve this inhumane and decrepit regime through token subsidies and goods baskets.

That is why we say that the economic crisis has no other solution than the overthrow of the velayat-e faqih regime.

Dear compatriots,

All of you know that the ruling theocracy has always viewed its nuclear project as a guarantee for its survival. It was the Iranian Resistance which blew the whistle on this program more than a decade ago.

We have said repeatedly that we want a non-nuclear Iran.

We have consistently sought the mullahs’ retreat in the unpatriotic nuclear program, which according to the Economist has cost 300 million dollars so far. One of Ahmadinejad’s ministers recently revealed that the nuclear program causes an annual loss of 160 million dollars for the Iranian economy.

It is clear that the regime would not have retreated in the nuclear arena to the extent that it has so far without the Iranian Resistance’s revelations and worldwide campaign and without international pressures and sanctions. This is because the mullahs only understand the language of power and decisiveness.

Now that they have fallen in the nuclear trap, if they continue their deception and buy time, the situation will get even worse.

Halting the nuclear program would upset the regime’s internal equilibrium, thus paving the way for the lurking social uprisings. In any scenario, the regime is at an impasse. So, in addressing the ruling mullahs, we say,

Even if all sanctions were lifted today, you cannot save your disintegrating and moribund economy.

Here, on behalf of the Iranian people and Resistance, I warn the P5+1 that they should not engage in deals in Vienna and Geneva at the expense of the Iranian people’s human rights and offer concessions to the mullahs.

Compel the mullahs to shut down their entire bomb-making, enrichment and heavy water program.
Compel them to implement all UN Security Council Resolutions and the IAEA Governing Council statements.

This regime must accept the non-proliferation treaty (NPT), and allow unhindered and unconditional international inspections of all its suspected nuclear and military sites.

Dear Compatriots,

We spoke of the regime’s fatal deadlocks. But Khamenei’s other crisis is the regime’s involvement in the war with the people of Syria, which has left 200,000 dead and 11 million refugees. Khamenei spent Iranian blood and money in this war in order to prevent the fall of the Syrian dictator.

In his own words, the regime’s Supreme Leader uses Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as the Tehran’s “strategic depth.” This means that Syria and Iraq are protective shields for the regime. If they are taken down, then the mullahs defend themselves in Tehran, where they would immediately implode.

We call on the international community once again to support the Syrian revolution, the Free Syrian Army and the national coalition of revolutionary and opposition forces in Syria.

Hail to the people of Syria and their martyrs and heroes.

Indeed, now, from Tehran to Baghdad to Damascus, from the nuclear deadlock to the crisis of human rights and economic disintegration, deadly and poisonous developments that are to the regime’s detriment are come to the fore one after the other.

Now, if anyone doubts that the religious dictatorship is reaching its final phase and going down the slippery slope of being overthrown, they should remember five years ago when the June 2009 uprising took place. The regime was on the verge of being overthrown at that time. But we and our people were betrayed.

Indeed, we say the mullahs’ rule is about to reach its end. Our country Iran is not the property of the anti-Iranian reactionaries and the velayat-e faqih regime. Khatami, Ahmadinejad and Rouhani do not represent our nation Iran.

The Iranian regime holds a record in the number of executions and is the central banker of terrorism. It must be overthrown.

This is the verdict of history. This is what 120,000 martyrs of freedom have called for. This is the message of our gathering today: the religious fascism must be overthrown.

Dear Compatriots,

The reality is that the engine and primary force that guides the developments is neither the tug-of-war between the regime and the U.S. over the nuclear issue nor the rivalry between the two ruling factions.

The main battle has always been and still is being waged between the Iranian people and their Resistance on the one hand and the ruling theocracy on the other.

This resistance movement organizes rebellion and protests even in the depths of the regime’s political prisons; it calls on democratic and progressive forces to confront fundamentalism and the velayat-e faqih regime. This movement is the antithesis to terrorism and to the export of fundamentalism.

This is a Resistance whose self-sacrificing members have for the past 12 years demonstrated an unprecedented and historic perseverance at the front lines under the most difficult of circumstances. They have led major campaigns, including a 108-day hunger strike, in different countries around the world. They have staged the longest sit-in that has continued in Geneva for more than three years. They have organized numerous daily demonstrations in the four corners of the globe in which Iranian communities and Ashraf supporters have participated.

These instances are the clearest demonstration of the capability and capacity of the Iranian people and their organized resistance to bring about regime change.

As the Leader of the Iranian Resistance has said, “We offer peace, security, democracy, human rights, stability, rebuilding and a non-nuclear Iran to the region.”

Indeed, a Resistance that has successfully passed a range of tests in the past 33 years with flying colors can definitely attain freedom and popular sovereignty. We can and we must.

Dear Compatriots,

Both inside and outside Iran, the clerical regime has engaged in widespread conspiracies and activities against the Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance, including the dissemination of thousands of articles, hundreds of books, dozens of films and television series and hundreds of exhibitions. Why is it doing all this?

Because it fears the popularity and impact of the Resistance movement.

Despite such paranoia, however, the mullahs claim that this Resistance lacks popular support inside Iran.

Our answer to the regime: Ensure the freedom and security of members and sympathizers of the Resistance movement to hold a march in the streets of Tehran and you will see how people will uproot your regime.

The mullahs boast about maintaining power for 35 years and say this is a sign of their strength.
Our answer is: halt executions and torture, and everyone will see that this decadent regime cannot survive for even 35 days.

Indeed, our roadmap to freedom is that we are ready for all the sacrifices tied to enduring suppression, incarceration, torture and execution;
We are ready for whatever accusation, demonization and betrayal we may face;
We are ready for countless tests and trials.

Indeed, in the battle for freedom, we are ready for hundreds of other obstacles and challenges.

Dear Compatriots,

Today, I spoke about the failures of the religious dictatorship and the achievements of the Iranian Resistance.

But the regime’s biggest defeat in 2013 was its attempts to deliver a blow to the leader of the Iranian Resistance. Last year at this gathering, I referred to the conspiracies by Khamenei and Martin Kobler’s attempts to obtain information about Massoud Rajavi.

In parallel, a campaign of demonization reached new heights, paving the way for the September 1, 2013 massacre at Camp Ashraf.

The regime’s leaders said that as far as they were concerned, the September 1 attack on Ashraf was more important than the effort to thwart the Resistance’s military operation Eternal Light 26 years ago. They had sent a traitor to join Maliki’s security forces to quickly guide them to the Command Headquarters at Camp Ashraf. But they failed to reach their primary objective. Of course, following the attack on Ashraf, the regime’s officials heightened their venomous propaganda against the Resistance’s Leader.

What Massoud Rajavi founded, including the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the National Liberation Army of Iran, confronting the regime’s export of terrorism and fundamentalism and underscoring the regime’s geopolitical Achilles’ heel, has blocked the ruling clerics’ advances everywhere.

Indeed, what he has founded is the tradition of no surrender in the face of adversity. It is the tradition of sacrifice and honesty. It is a lesson in keeping one’s promise.

It is because of this ideal and this generation that the mullahs are paranoid of being overthrown. They see in their own eyes that the generation which Massoud Rajavi has nurtured is determined to bring the Iranian people their freedom no matter what the cost.

Dear Compatriots,

From this huge gathering today, we send our greetings to political prisoners and their brave families, those who through their resistance brought the issue of human rights abuses by this inhumane regime to the forefront.

The barbaric raid on Evin Prison’s ward 350, the location of rebellion that was dubbed “Ashraf 350,” was an attempt to intimidate political prisoners and the larger Iranian society.

Hail to the martyr Gholamreza Khosravi, who crossed the regime’s red line and introduced himself as a Mojahed, courageously targeting the regime at its heart and paying the ultimate price and becoming eternal.

Gholamreza had said, “I am a proud sympathizer of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran.” The people of Iran felt proud of his heroism and youth learned lessons of perseverance from him.

Indeed, all brave prisoners, Gholamreza, other Mojahed and activist prisoners, the Kurdish, the Arab, the Baluchi and Sunni prisoners who are on the verge of execution these days, proved that their resistance, with their hands tied while incarcerated in the depth of prisons, is part and parcel of the struggle to overthrow the mullahs’ regime. This is a struggle in which the henchmen fall to their knees in the face of the prisoner’s resolve and determination. History has testified that so long as there is such a struggle, there will be no deliverance for dictators.

Hail to the martyrs and to all those who stand their ground.

Dear Friends,

I congratulate the start of the holy month of Ramadan to all Muslims, especially to the people of Iran, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Mojahedin who are at Liberty prison.

Let us hope that the freedom of the nations of Iran and the Middle East would arrive as soon as possible.

I hail the martyrs of the Iranian people’s uprising and call on all my compatriots to resist and rise up against the religious tyranny ruling Iran.

This is a call for the liberation of the fettered Iran and the building of a free Iran, a republic based on the separation of religion and State, gender equality, where death penalty is abolished, and is non-nuclear.
Yes,
We will build a nation
Where no laws trump the will of the people
We will build a nation
Where gallows are a bitter and distant memory
Where cranes will once again be used to raise cities
We will build a nation
Where the immoral practice of hangings would be abolished
Where every city and every street of the future
Would have imprinted on their walls the words written large:
No to lashing and torture
No to the massacre of joyful flowers
No to the suppression of people
No to destructive nuclear policies and the nuclear bomb
Because at the heart of this nation
Lies only the blossoming of delight
And a people granted the inalienable right of freedom in every corner of their land
We will build a nation
“In which the greatness of the Sun would be captured in the eyes of its dawn”
The name of this liberated land is Iran
The name of this liberated land
Is Iran