By Jubin Katiraie
On Thursday February 7, 2019, Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance gave an interview to Reuters about the need for the international community to respect the Iranian people’s protests against the Regime and recognise their legitimate desire for regime change.
In the interview, Maryam Rajavi said that she supported the US sanctions against Iran and urged the rest of the word to support the sanctions because the sanctions are only harming the Regime and not the people. This is because they have weakened the government’s ability to fund the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), which are the main force suppressing the people.
Maryam Rajavi said: “The real pressure of sanctions is on the vital resources of suppressive forces of the regime because the money and benefits of any economic transaction with Iran go to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. And the Guards’ income is only spent on suppression, exporting terrorism, and fomenting regional war. The people’s suffering is the result of embezzlement, stealing and the regime’s spending the money outside Iranian borders…”
This is a reference to the numerous foreign wars that Iran has involved itself in and the terrorist groups that it funds.
Maryam Rajavi explained that the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a parliament-in-exile that encompasses several pro-democracy dissident groups, is ready to ensure the collapse of the Regime through their “resistance units” inside the country and institute a democratic government of, by, and for the Iranian people.
Maryam Rajavi said: “The overthrow of the regime is more achievable now than at any other time in the past. The regime is in a critical situation and very shaky. The people are discontent and they want regime change, and at the same time the Resistance of Iran is more prepared than at any other time to organise an uprising and bring about the overthrow of the regime”.
She explained that the growing protests against the Regime, which formed an uprising in late 2017, showed that the Regime does not have the support of the Iranian people and should not be in power.
Maryam Rajavi said: “The illusion of moderation is over. Of course, the Resistance of Iran knew it right from the beginning and has repeatedly said that the viper will never give birth to a dove. But Western countries thought this regime could work out, although it was a justification for their policy of appeasement. But the people of Iran last year rejected this idea by chanting in the street, ‘Reformist, hardliner, the game is over.’ Now, everybody can see that the governments that claim to be moderate are advocating and pursuing what the supreme leader is demanding”.
Maryam Rajavi’s interview, which came shortly before the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Regime, the Warsaw conference on Middle East peace that focused on Iran’s belligerence in the region, and corresponding anti-regime protests by Resistance members and supporters across Europe and Iran.
The protesters in Paris on February 8, were joined by French officials and personalities including the son of former President Francois Mitterand, while US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, joined the protesters in Warsaw on February 13.
