Message of Maryam Rajavi to a meeting at the U.S. House of Representatives- for Human rights and Democracy in Iran- 9 March 2017

Nowruz has been celebrated for decades and symbolizes change; change from the gray, gloomy days of winter to the promising green days of spring.
For Iranians, Nowruz has a simple but significant message:
The springtime of freedom is inevitable.
It may be delayed, but it cannot be stopped.
For the people of Iran, Nowruz brings a new hopeful prospect:
The certain end of religious dictatorship and rule of freedom and democracy.

Our suppressed people deserve to live in a free and democratic society, which is key to peace and stability in the region.
It is the only way of uprooting Islamic fundamentalism as a global threat.

Events in Iran over the past year are signs of critical developments in the coming year.

Conservative estimates show more than 3,000 executions during Hassan Rouhani’s term and yet widespread crackdown on the rise.
Yet, the Iranian people have risen up in different cities to protest the regime’s suppression.
They rallied against censorship, poverty and widespread government corruption.
They took to the streets in thousands of large and small demonstrations to protest that even their most basic demands are not met.
The most recent example is the uprising of last month by thousands of our brave countrymen and women in Ahvaz.
The death of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani seriously weakened the regime.
For 38 years, Rafsanjani was the regime’s number-two man and was critical to its internal balance.
In addition, the windfall money from the lifting of sanctions did not relieve living conditions.

This money was spent for the regime’s warmongering in Syria, Iraq and other regional states
While Rouhani’s promises of moving the wheels of the economy have proven empty.

This regime is the main responsible for continuation of six years of war and killings in Syria and the crisis in Iraq as well as empowering ISIS and increasing sectarian conflicts in the region.
Fueling conflicts, increase of suppression in Iran and expansion of warmongering and terrorism are the critical means used by the Mullahs to maintain their shameful rule and hold back the wave of anger, which will lead to a national uprising that will sweep them away.
But the mullahs have reached the end of the line.
They have used all of strategic resources and have no way forward and no way back.
They face inevitable overthrow by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.

To that end, the international community and the United States must hold this anti-human regime accountable for crimes against the Iranian people, meddling in the war in Syria, export of terrorism to regional states and its network of terrorist militias in neighboring states.
The Iranian regime’s dossier of human rights abuses must be referred to the United Nations Security Council for the adoption of binding punishments.
The Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as the primary tool of domestic repression and export of terrorism in the region, should be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
A strong, bipartisan demand should be made for those responsible for the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 in Iran to be identified and brought to justice.
I welcome the bipartisan measure demanding pressure on the Iranian regime to stop its destabilizing actions in support of terrorist groups, and its continued test-firing of ballistic missiles.
I also welcome a legislative language, which calls for the application of UN Security Council resolution 2231 as well as a bill that calls for the designation of the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
I deeply appreciate the friendship and bipartisan support of the U.S. lawmakers for the oppressed people of my homeland and I am grateful for their strong solidarity with the PMOI members in Albania.
Your growing, bipartisan support for the Iranian people’s efforts to obtain freedom are going to be more effective than ever before.
I wish you and the American people success in the Iranian New Year.
Thank you, and happy Nowruz.