Iran Focus
London, 14 Jul – Major daily newspapers from across the Arab world have given front-page coverage to Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance after last weekend’s rally.
At the ‘Free Iran’ gathering in Paris, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) came together to call for regime change in Iran; including the introduction of democracy and human rights into the country.
The newspapers, shown in the images below, included Asharq al-Awsat, al-Hayat, al-Riyadh, al-Seyassah, Okaz, Arab Times, and Arab News.
Over 100,000 people attended the rally and declared their support for the Iranian people, including Western politicians from across the political spectrum and prominent Middle Eastern figures, such as Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia.
Rajavi, who is President-elect of the NCRI, gave a speech assessing the situation in Iran one year on from the nuclear agreement.
She said that there is no solution to the human rights situation within the regime; the only viable remedy is overthrowing the ruling theocracy. This would provide freedom and peace in Iran, in the middle east, and across the world.
The nuclear deal was supposed to bring peace but instead, it has allowed Iran to dispatch 70,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members to prop up the Bashar al-Assad regime by crushing the Syrian people, to continue nuclear tests in spite of the United Nations resolutions, and the spread of ‘Islamic’ extremism.
Rajavi said: “The mullahs and Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) are reading from the same script. Both espouse a similar reactionary ideology, which is diametrically opposed to the pristine teachings of Islam. They have a similar modus [operando] when it comes to barbarity and savagery. They need to rely on one another to survive. For this reason, so long as the regime’s occupation of Syria, Iraq, and Yemen continues, we cannot confront Daesh effectively.”
She continued: “U.S. policy on Iran, and consequently on the Middle East, has jumped from one mistake into the next: From the notion of empowering bogus moderates within the regime to blacklisting the PMOI, to remaining silent vis-à-vis the 2009 uprising, thereby enabling the religious dictatorship. This policy has brought calamity to our nations and crisis to the U.S.”,
In addition to the newspaper coverage, the rally was also featured prominently on Arab-language television channels such as Al-Arabiya, Al-Hadath, and Sky News Arabia.
