Maryam Rajavi: uprisings and protests will persist

In a visit to Berlin, Maryam Rajavi called for stricter sanctions against the Iranian regime, adding that restrictions against the ruling dictatorship will aid the Iranian people, according to Germany daily Stuttgarter Nachrichten.

Below is an excerpt of the interview translated in English from original German:

Stuttgarter Nachrichten: How do you see the prospect of the developments in Iran?

Maryam Rajavi: The protests and uprisings will persist. The situation will not revert back to what it was prior to the unrest. Despite the fact that the regime has arrested thousands of citizens, sentencing many of them to death during show trials, the people’s resistance is still alive and growing.

Stuttgarter Nachrichten pointed to the nature of the Iranian regime’s nuclear program and asked if there is any sign of national pride or Iranian scientific progress or whether it is really designed for aggressive purposes?

Maryam Rajavi: The Iranian regime’s nuclear program has absolutely nothing to do with national pride or confidence of the Iranian people. It is not a sign of patriotism, but a burden and pressure saddling all the Iranian people in virtue of its enormous cost and contradiction with economic rationality and common sense. The project is clearly an attempt by the mullahs to obtain nuclear weapons and is certainly not civilian in nature. The Iranian regime seeks to blackmail and pressure the international community through this project. The mullahs have aspired for their self-described Islamic Empire in order to control the entire Middle East region.

Stuttgarter Nachrichten: The international community is debating more severe sanctions. Will such sanctions help or harm the people?

Rajavi: Let me state unambiguously that sanctions against the ruling dictatorship will aid the Iranian people. The sanctions must target the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is responsible for domestic suppression and also supports export of terrorism in the region and controls the nuclear program. At the same time, the IRGC is involved extensively in trade contracts. The revenues and profits resulting from such trade is directly allocated to the suppression of the Iranian people. The remaining funds will flow into the bank accounts of regime officials abroad. That is why the Iranian people strongly welcome such sanctions.

In response to a question about the domain of sanctions, Mrs. Rajavi stated: The Iranian Resistance is calling for an oil embargo, suspension of transfer of advanced technology, and a political and diplomatic boycott of the regime.

Stuttgarter Nachrichten: What role is German policy playing in this regard?

Rajavi: Germany must adopt a firm stance vis-à-vis the clerical regime. I am calling on the German government to support the rights of 3,400 freedom fighters in Camp Ashraf, and insist that the United Nations assume greater responsibility and play a more active role in protecting and controlling the situation in Ashraf.

Mrs. Rajavi added: It is high time for the policy towards Iran to change. All attempts to generate a change, including trade contracts, have been fruitless. Lengthy nuclear negotiations with the regime have also failed to produce any results. On the other hand, it is clear that foreign military intervention is also not a viable solution. We need an Iranian solution, namely support for democratic change by the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance.