Iran: Message of “Free Iran Global Summit”

Written by
Mohammad Sadat Khansari
Free Iran Global Summit, Day 1 – July 17, 2020
The Iranian regime is closer than it has ever been to be overthrown by people’s protests. This belief was shared by participants of the Free Iran Global Summit. The event on Friday connected over 30,000 different locations in more than 100 countries. Over 1000 renowned politicians with various political tendencies participated in the event.

This event once again showed the Iranian Resistance commitment to regime change in Iran. This was confirmed by dignitaries who, in their speeches, once again underlined their support of the Iranian people and their organized Resistance movement. Many of those speeches focused on the progress that Iranian Resistance activists have apparently already made toward that goal, having carried out at least two nationwide uprisings against the ruling clerics.

In December 2017, an economic protest in the city of Mashhad inspired residents of other localities to pour into the streets and voice their grievances as well. It quickly became clear that these grievances were not limited to matters of economic policy, and that general sentiment among the public was that problems of poverty and unemployment could not be solved under the current political system. As the movement grew to encompass the entire country by early January 2018, it also took on unusually provocative slogans such as “death to the dictator.”

Participants in roughly 150 cities and towns across Iran publicly condemned both the “hardline” and the “reformist” factions of the Iranian regime, informing them that “the game is over” and voicing their support for a third option representing voices from outside the regime. The likeliest identity of this option was identified by no less an authority than the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who delivered a speech at the height of the 2018 uprising whining about the leading role played by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK) with planning and facilitating many of the composite protests.

The NCRI’s president-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, who was the keynote speaker of Free Iran Global Summit, while underlining the Iranian Resistance pledge to overthrow the mullahs’ regime said: “We have come together to underline three monumental and historic commitments that we have pledged to accomplish. Our first commitment is that we, the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance, will overthrow the clerical regime and will reclaim Iran. Our second commitment is that we, the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance, will build a free and democratic Iran. And our third commitment is to remain faithful to our people’s sovereignty and their vote; to not seek power at any cost, but to establish freedom and justice at any cost; to never return to the dictatorships of the Shah and the mullahs. And, as the majority of elected lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe have pointed out, we want to establish a democratic, secular and non-nuclear Iran.”

The Iranian people have recently showed their desire for regime change in Iran. This bcame much more evident s in November 2019, when public backlash against a hike in fuel prices led to an even larger nationwide uprising. The re-invigorated movement adopted the same slogans as its predecessor and quickly encompassed about 200 cities and towns.

Tehran reacted with sheer panic, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps soon opened fire with live ammunition on crowds of peaceful protesters. The MEK at that time reported that over 1,500 people were killed. The accompanying arrests have since led to at least a dozen death sentences, three of which were confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Court just days before the NCRI’s summit.

There is no indication that these death sentences or the underlying crackdown are doing anything other than inspiring an even greater sense of urgency among Iran’s domestic activists, its expatriate community, and their supporters throughout the world. In the run-up to the global summit, some reports quoted some expatriates as saying that Tehran’s latest round of killings motivated them to arrange their attendance.

As Mrs. Rajavi said in her speech during “Free Iran Global Summit” on Friday: “The volcanic uprising in November washed away all unfounded claims. It was proven that it is possible to inspire and organize protests. It was proven that despite all the repression and crimes, our people have a spectacular desire and readiness to continue their uprising. It was proven that the masses of people, particularly toilers, destitute people and the youth, stood face-to-face against the regime. And it was proven that a force capable of overthrowing the regime has emerged and is lurking in the hearts of Iranian cities. This is the very force the regime’s Interior Minister described as “a fighting force of about 600,000-strong” who, he said, destroyed regime centers one after another during the November uprising,”
“It is this rebellious force, which despite unrelenting arrests, empowers resistance units to constantly regroup, reproduce and multiply themselves,” she added.