With Ebrahim Raisi’s appointment to the presidential role within the Iranian regime, it has only spelled negative consequences for the Iranian people who have suffered under the mullahs’ dictatorship for the past four decades. It has also threatened the international community with the spread of terrorism across the Middle East and Europe.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “Raisi’s priority was to include in his government officials already involved in terrorist activities and repression against the people. This should be apparent from the examination of the backgrounds of just a few of his appointees.”
Mohammad Mokhber, Raisi’s first vice president, and the head of the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) institution was blacklisted by the United States in 2016 for financing projects to repress and seize the assets of regime dissidents.
The head of the regime’s nuclear program, Mohammad Eslami, was sanctioned by the United Nations for negotiating with Pakistani nuclear expert Abdul Qadir Khan, and for his support of the regime’s nuclear enrichment activities. He is currently in charge of the uranium enrichment program which is getting closer and closer to becoming weapons-grade purity.
Ahmad Vahidi, Raisi’s Minister of Interior, was responsible for the Quds Force, a branch of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), of which many members are affiliated with many international attacks over the years. Vahidi himself played a key role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people.
The NCRI said, “The dangerous inadequacy of Western policies towards the Iranian regime is evident, with conciliatory interactions threatening to intensify nuclear activities falsely presented by Tehran as civilian necessities, while in reality they are suitable for the pursuit of nuclear weapons and spread of international terrorism.”
The level of the regime’s commitment to partaking in terrorist activities was apparent following the failed bomb plot in 2018, where there was an attempt to stage an attack at the Iranian Resistance conference in Villepinte, France. As many foreign political figures were present at the event, it highlighted how serious the potential threat was to Western countries.
The mastermind behind the bomb plot was Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, who along with three accomplices, tried to smuggle explosives out of Tehran and across Europe to France. The four men stood trial earlier this year and were collectively sentenced to over 70 years in prison.
Not only do the regime’s malign activities have consequences for the international community, but even more so, they spell great danger for the Iranian people domestically. This was demonstrated during the 1988 massacre where 30,000 political prisoners were executed for pledging allegiance with the Iranian Resistance movement. Raisi, at the time, was enlisted onto the ‘Death Commission’ in Tehran, a panel of judges who served the execution orders.
From the late 1980s, many dissidents living abroad have been murdered by the regime. According to reports from the Swiss Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Canton of Vaud, these murders took place across Europe between 1987 and 1993. One of the most notable was the assassination of Dr. Kazem Rajavi, a representative of the NCRI, in Geneva in 1990.
The NCRI said, “This escalation of internal and external violence in Iran, along with the acceleration of nuclear activities, should worry the international community and prompt it to action which challenges its current trend of conciliation towards the clerical regime that is today governed by a person responsible for the worst crimes from the foundation of the Khomeinist dictatorship.”
