Free Iran rally in Brussels on June 15, 2019

On Saturday, June 8, the Herald Report published an op-ed from Ali Bagheri, an energy engineer, and human rights activist. Bagheri surmised the escalating political tensions in Iran as the MEK Iran and opposition movement gains momentum and the mullahs see their power rapidly evaporating.

https://twitter.com/4freedominiran2/status/1136717795150979073

Since December 2017, a wave of protests has washed over the country. The People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) has played a central role in mobilizing all segments of the Iranian population, coordinating mass protests and strikes.

Oppression is central to the regime’s survival

In the past, the mullahs’ regime has responded to opposition gains by clamping down on civil freedoms and running roughshod over human rights. In one case in 1988, the regime rounded up and executed more than 30,000 members of the MEK. Their response to the latest wave of public resistance has been no different.

In 2018, the regime ramped up its demonization campaigns online, targeting the MEK and its umbrella organization, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

Hundreds of regime-affiliated accounts appeared on social media platforms under the guise of foreign journalists and citizens. These accounts shared regime propaganda and anti-MEK content, often disseminating and propagating regime lies.

“In addition, several terror plots were conducted by the Iranian regime on European soil,” Bagheri writes. Alongside their misinformation campaign against the MEK, the regime has plotted physical attacks against MEK members.

During the 2018 Persian New Year celebrations, Iranian agents attempted to plant a bomb in the MEK’s compound in Albania. Then, in June, the mullahs south to detonate a car bomb at the MEK’s annual Grand Gathering event in Paris. Both terror plots were thwarted by European authorities in the final moments, saving the lives of thousands of MEK members and supporters.

The only solution is regime change

“The vast uprising inside the country clarified, there exists no solution inside the current regime in Tehran,” Bagheri argues.

The MEK, Bagheri asserts, represents a strong and viable alternative to the mullahs’ rule. Its broad and determined network of activists in the country has garnered extensive support across the Iranian population. The group also commands support from many Western politicians and journalists.

The tide is turning against the regime. It increasingly finds itself isolated on the international stage. “Even with Iran nuclear deal, the regime is isolated more than any other time in its history,” Bagheri quipped.

Europe’s commitment to a policy of appeasement cannot quell the rising domestic protest movement. The US’s adoption of a firmer stance has empowered the Iranian public and amplified the voices of the most marginalized and repressed sectors of Iranian society.

The Iranian opposition has coordinated a large demonstration in the Belgian city of Brussels on June 15. The Iranian diaspora in Europe is organizing on social media. It wants to show international governments that the Iranian people are tired of the regime’s violence and barbarism. It wants to show the world that the Iranian people are a strong force of change both inside the country and on the international stage and the international community must respect their demands for democracy and regime change.

Staff writer