Iran Focus: Washington, D.C., Nov. 19 – In what has been described as the largest Iranian demonstration in the United States, thousands of Iranians converged on the U.S. capital from all across the continent today to call for referral of the Iranian nuclear file to the UN Security Council. They also urged the U.S. administration to remove the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the main Iranian opposition group, from the list of terrorist organizations. Iran Focus
Washington, D.C., Nov. 19 – In what has been described as the largest Iranian demonstration in the United States, thousands of Iranians converged on the U.S. capital from all across the continent today to call for referral of the Iranian nuclear file to the UN Security Council. They also urged the U.S. administration to remove the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the main Iranian opposition group, from the list of terrorist organizations.
Organizers said 15,000 people attended the rally, which was addressed by a number of prominent figures, including Congressmen Tom Tancredo (R-Co) and Bob Filner (D-Ca).
The crowd also heard a video message from opposition leader Maryam Rajavi from her home near Paris. She warned that the Iranian regimes single-minded pursuit of nuclear weapons posed a clear and imminent threat to world peace.
Several Iraqi dignitaries, British MP David Amess, and Norwegian MP Morton Hugland also spoke at the rally and offered their support to the Iranian dissidents.
Feelings ran high among the crowd against the recent agreement between three European governments and Iran, in which Tehran has pledged to suspend all uranium enrichment activities. Mahnaz Shayesteh, who flew in from California with her husband and son, said the deal was a slap in the face of democracy and human rights in Iran. She said the European governments are only concerned with their trade with the mullahs. They are willing to sacrifice every principle to save their trade.
Hossein Mazaheri, an electrical engineer from Austen, Texas, spoke in equally strong terms against the deal. They wont stop the mullahs from getting the bomb, he said, but the mullahs are already declaring victory because the Europeans have promised them to keep the Iranian Mojahedin in the terrorism list.
The rally in Washington comes after a series of revelations by the Iranian opposition in recent days concerning Irans controversial nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agencys governing board is to consider the Iranian nuclear program at its forthcoming meeting in Vienna next Thursday.
