In recent days, the world has witnessed events that unfolded in Gaza, leaving everyone shocked at the sight of the massacre of innocent people. There is no doubt that the Iranian regime supports terrorist groups in the region, but when it comes to addressing the destructive role of the Iranian regime, all parties hesitate and express doubt. The reason for this hesitation is not the lack of awareness of the Iranian regime’s detrimental activities in the region, but rather the prevailing policy of indecisiveness and appeasement towards it.
There is no doubt the the Iranian regime actively fans the fires of war in the region, including the most recent episode that we’re seeing today. Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards take advantage of the devastating war in the Middle East to escape the regime’s overdue overthrow.
Last year, during these very days, a major uprising took place in more than 280 cities across Iran. The regime’s security forces killed at least 750 people, injured many, and arrested 30,000 individuals.
According to regime officials, during this uprising, 5,000 members of the Revolutionary Guards were wounded, and around 200 of them were killed. Thus, the regime realized that it was on the verge of collapse.
In the face of the regime’s brutal repression, the people of Iran continued their protests, posing a serious threat to the religious tyranny ruling over Iran. In these circumstances, the Iranian regime must take action to escape overthrow and future uprisings. Terrorism sponsorship and destabilizing the Middle East and beyond have been key elements in the Iranian regime’s playbook to ensure its survival and control over the country. Senior regime officials have admitted that if the regime does not fight in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, and Lebanon, it would have to fight for its survival in Tehran.
The Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister, in his latest remarks on national television on October 16, stated, “If today we do not defend Gaza, tomorrow we will have to defend against these bombs in our own cities.”
This is the policy that the Iranian regime has pursued for years. The regime’s atomic bomb project, which was revealed by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), awakened the world to the existence of such a project. The regime’s ballistic missiles now have the range to reach European capitals. IED bombs in Iraq and the regime’s interference in that country have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. The regime’s interventions in Yemen and Syria, the massacre of people, the hostage-taking of foreign nationals in Iranian prisons, and its interference in Lebanon through Hezbollah are just a fraction of this regime’s policies.
And we have not forgotten that Iranian-made drones kill innocent Ukrainian people every day.
However, the international community has largely remained indifferent to this regime. It cannot be said that international sanctions have been ineffective in restraining this regime, but it can certainly be said that these sanctions have only slowed down the regime’s pace in sponsoring terrorism and have failed to target the heart of the issue.
Just recently, the United States released $6 billion of seized Iranian regime assets in exchange for the release of five of its hostages. If you think that this money will be spent on the Iranian people, you are greatly mistaken. Therefore, the prevailing policy of the West towards the Iranian regime has been appeasement and rapprochement.
This misguided policy allows the Iranian regime to continue its interventions in the region and further suppress its own people. When it comes to dealing with the mullahs, appeasement only sends a signal of weakness and emboldens the regime to further expand its provocative actions.
As Winston Churchill once said: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
If you look for the greatest enemy of the Iranian regime, you will find it among the people and their resistance movement. This is what the regime fears more than a military attack. In 1988, the regime executed 30,000 members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), its principal opposition. But the MEK survived and continued to thrive in the following decades. In the past year alone, the supporters of the MEK inside Iran carried out more than 3,000 anti-regime activities across the country and proved once more that the Iranian Resistance is the true alternative to the mullahs’ regime.
Regime change in Iran is the prerequisite for peace, security, and stability for the hundreds of millions of people living in the Middle East. Unfortunately, as long as the West’s policy of appeasement towards the Iranian government persists, peace and stability in the region will not be achievable.
Fortunately, regime change does not require a foreign conflict or an outside invasion. There is already great potential for it inside Iran. Over the past year, the people of Iran have taken to the streets once again, rejecting all forms of dictatorship, whether monarchy or religious rule. The people of Iran demand a regime change and the establishment of a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state.
Unfortunately, pursuing the wrong policies towards the Iranian regime comes at the cost of losing thousands of lives in the region and Iran itself. Western governments are well aware of the destructive role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies in the region, their involvement in terrorism and warmongering abroad, as well as their suppression at home.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has long stated that the religious and terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran is the epicenter of tension and the exporter of terrorism and fundamentalism in this region of the world. Today, everyone can see this reality.
Any anti-terrorism policy pursued by Western governments that does not target the source of terrorism in Tehran will ultimately have no effect and will only buy time for the mullahs ruling Iran.
However, the solution does not lie in foreign military intervention. The mistakes made by the United States in its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq make this option highly risky and ineffective, and it may even advance the sinister goals of the Iranian regime in the region.
Mr. Masoud Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance, said thirty years ago that the head of the snake in Tehran should be the target, and this can only be achieved with support for the opposition.
On October 24, in her message to a conference in the British Parliament, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi said:
“Unfortunately, the western governments have ignored three decades of warning and revelations of the Iranian Resistance about the regime’s warmongering, particularly the role of the IRGC and the terrorist Quds Force and its proxies.
“Since two decades ago, we have insisted that the IRGC must be designated as a terrorist entity. Any delay in this regard will enable the IRGC to increase its influence, pursue its nuclear projects using European facilities, export terrorism and warmongering, and have access to equipment used for suppression in Iran. Therefore,
“First, it is time for the UK parliament to ask its government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group as soon as possible.
“Second, it should recognize the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the regime and the legitimate fight of Iranian youths against the IRGC.
“In recent days, the regime has been warned to stay away from the conflict. These warnings are ineffective. The regime must be held accountable for stoking the war.
“To put out the fire, the world must stand against the party that fuels the fire. Otherwise, the regime will restart the war in another place and in another way. Any form of killing of innocent civilians provides fuel to religious fascism in Iran. It gives them a shield and cover to contain the uprising and avoid being toppled.”
The solution is solely in the hands of the people and their resistance.
