The Warsaw Conference is set to take place on February 13th, despite the protests of the Iranian regime. The international conference on the future of Middle Eastern policy, hosted by Poland, will focus largely on Iran’s role in the region. United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo initially said that the U.S.’s goal for the event was to find ways to make Iran “behave like a normal country.” Although it is unlikely that this goal is realistically achievable, the importance of addressing the Iranian regime’s meddling in the region, as well as its brutal treatment of its own people cannot be understated.

I am pleased to announce that the U.S. and #Poland will jointly host the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw on Feb. 13-14. It will be a forum for countries to address a range of critical issues toward a more peaceful Middle East. pic.twitter.com/IS8oPP4Aqs

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 11, 2019

The Iranian regime’s history of engaging in conflict in the Middle East is well known. The mullahs have spent millions of dollars of the Iranian people’s wealth propping up the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad.

Iranian Protest Movement

The international community is less aware of the Iranian regime’s treatment of its own people, but this issue is just as pressing. Iran has been the site of continuous unrest since the nationwide uprising that began in 2017 and spread to 142 cities and every province in the country. What started as a series of protests over economic issues turned to calls for regime change. Since then, protests in Iran have been ongoing, and calls for the overthrow of the mullahs have become louder. The MEK has grown in strength and popularity, as the Iranian people have begun to consider a democratic alternative to the theocratic regime.

Regime Leadership Express Concerns Over the Rising Popularity of the MEK on Social Media

The Iranian regime has proven itself to be unstable and unwilling to abide by the terms of agreements relating to their exportation of terror or their nuclear ambitions. The United States would be well advised to take note of the Iranian people’s desire to rid their country of its corrupt leaders and provide diplomatic support for their goal of a free Iran.

Rally in Paris

Members of the MEK, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the Iranian Resistance will rally in Paris on February 8th to protest movement in Iran to the attention of the international community and its policymakers. The rally, which is scheduled to take place just a few days before the Warsaw Conference, will provide an opportunity for international leaders to listen to the voices of the Iranian people who seek an alternative to the repressive rule of the Islamic regime. Western media has a responsibility to cover this event, both to provide a megaphone for human rights activists to have their voices heard and to allow the world to learn more about the global threat posed by the Iranian regime.

 

Iranian Regime’s Human Rights Record

The Iranian regime’s current human rights record is appalling. The response to the ongoing protest movement has been a brutal crackdown on protests and political activity, as well as an increase in floggings and executions.

The Iranian regime’s history of human rights abuses is not new, though. In the summer of 1988, Iran has just concluded its war with Iraq and wanted to reaffirm its authority over its people and destroy its main opposition, the MEK. The regime rounded up all of its political prisoners, most of whom were MEK members or supporters, and executed them in groups. In one summer, the regime executed 30,000 people in a failed attempt to eliminate the MEK.

Potential Consequences of Ignoring the Regime

The regime now finds itself in a similar position: people are protesting in the streets and calling for regime change, the MEK is more popular than ever, the economic crisis has worsened due to sanctions re-imposed by the U.S., and the European Union recently expelled the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and two of its agents due to the regime’s terrorist activities in Europe. It is very possible that the regime could respond to this increasing pressure by following through on its earlier threats to execute peaceful protesters in larger numbers. The international community does not want a repeat of the 1988 massacre.

I reiterate that the ultimate solution for getting rid of the mullahs’ theocracy, is regime change at the hands of the Iranian people and Resistance.#Iran#FreeIran pic.twitter.com/ysp2nTMUiQ

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 22, 2019

The alternative to this scenario is for Western allies to adopt firm policies toward the Iranian regime and to stand in solidarity with the Iranian opposition (NCRI). This strategy might well save the lives of Iranian protesters and enable the establishment of a free and democratic Iran, which would make the world a more stable and peaceful place.

Staff Writer

 

 

Elham Zajani of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) published a piece for the Scoop calling for the mullahs’ crimes of 1988 to be thoroughly investigated and those responsible held to account.

The member of the NCRI’s Woman’s Committee quoted Anne Frank, “what is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it from happening again.” For Zajani, these lauded words from one of the Holocausts best-known victims evoke memories of atrocities carried out in Iran in the four decades of regime rule.

“In the summer of 1988,” she says, “the Iranian regime launched a nationwide massacre in its prisons throughout the country against political prisoners.” Ignited by Khomeini’s fatwa against the Iranian opposition and the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK), regime agents rounded up and executed more than 30,000 members of the political opposition.

The operation was so brutal and vicious that Geoffrey Robinson, a human rights barrister who oversaw the appeal at the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, called the atrocity the worst crime against humanity the globe has witnessed in the post-world war era.

Words Carved on Prison Walls

The mullahs have worked tirelessly to cover up their involvement in the executions. Most within the regime have avoided speaking on the subject and much of what is known about the massacre has been pieced together through witness testimonies and family members who were called to collect the bodies of their loved ones.

The victims themselves were unaware of what was about to happen. They were not offered the chance to say goodbye to their families. In many cases, their last words were hastily carved on prison walls. Their families were only notified once they had been executed.

Even young girls and pregnant women were not exempt, many of whom were raped before being dragged to the gallows.

Voices of Resistance from Within

The crimes were so abhorrent that some elements within the clerical regime spoke out against Khomeini. Hossein Ali Montazeri, the highest successor to the Supreme Leader and second in command of the regime warned those taking part in the executions that they were committing “the biggest crime under the Islamic Republic for which we will be condemned by history.”

However, his voice was alone, and his opposition to the massacre would ultimately lead to his removal from positions of power.

An Ongoing Crime

 

The fact that more than 30 years later, the regime still refuses to acknowledge the crimes it committed or provide any further information on how many victims’ lives it claimed makes the nature of the human rights abuses ongoing.

Members of Khomeini’s death squads who undertook the executions are still in positions of power in Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet today.

Additionally, the regime has not learned its lesson. Human rights abuses and executions continue abated today. It is because of this that in a few weeks’ time, on Friday, February 8^th, the Iranian opposition across Europe and their supporters will gather in Paris to protest the 40-years of regime rule. They will be calling for an end to executions and human rights abuses and support new democratic dawn for Iran.

Zanjani concludes, “it is finally time to hear their call.”

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the fall of the shah's dictatorship (February 1979)
The mullahs' regime is more than ever mired in incurable crises.
Join our demonstration for a secular,democratic and #FreeIran!
February 8,2019 – 2:00 pm – Paris #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/HACL0ZDWE7

— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) January 30, 2019

 Staff Writer

European law enforcement in Germany, France, and Belgium are currently taking measures to prosecute the terrorists responsible for the Iranian regime’s failed attempt to attack the annual gathering of the Iranian opposition movement, supporters of MEK in Paris on June 30th. The regime and its officials have responded by using its state-run media to complain about the “unfairness” of the arrest of their agents, particularly Assadollah Assadi, a regime diplomat in Austria and the mastermind of the foiled terrorist attack. The regime has gone so far as to blame the MEK for the arrests.

A recent op-ed in the state newspaper Keyhan, a well-known mouthpiece for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, griped that “the dignity of the Iranian passport had been sullied”. This is in reference to Assadi’s diplomatic immunity, which was canceled following his arrest for espionage and conspiracy to commit murder by the German Prosecutor’s Office. The paper further wrote, “This arrest has no basis.” The regime seems determined to deny the evidence against its operatives, despite the investigations currently taking place by authorities in three European countries against Assadi and those charged with carrying out his orders.

Another article entitled “Decrypting Europe’s Anti-Iranian Scenario” was recently published in Vatan-e-Emrooz, another state newspaper with close ties to Khamenei’s circle. This article described the Assadi’s arrest as a European conspiracy against the regime. Vatan-e-Emrooz ominously warned that if the regime does not react strongly to the arrest, “the scenario will repeat itself in more intense ways.”

One regime MP, Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh, blamed the MEK for the situation, saying that the MEK is plotting to destroy relations between Europe and the Iranian regime. He advised regime President Hassan Rouhani to “closely monitor the events and react firmly.” He also stated the need for the regime to train its diplomats to avoid “stepping in the traps of the enemy.” This would appear to be an admonishment to the regime’s foreign ministry that they have not been effective in training its diplomats in terrorist activities and evading detection.

Regime officials recycled some old strategies from its playbook as well, claiming that the MEK staged the attack itself. They reasoned that no government would give its diplomats explosives to carry out a terrorist attack in a foreign country. The regime has used this line before when it has been caught carrying out terrorist attacks in Europe and other countries.

This lie by the regime rings particularly false in its hypocrisy and only serves to lessen the credibility of their other already dubious claims. It also shows how much they fear the MEK.

The fallout from the failed terrorist plot has also intensified the in-fighting among the various factions in the regime. Those authorities closely tied to Khamenei are demanding to know why Rouhani and his government have not managed to secure the extradition of Assadi from Germany custody.

As always, media in Iran only shows the tip of the iceberg. The arrest of Assadi and the other terrorists responsible for the failed attack on the NCRI gathering in Paris is causing upheaval in Tehran, and the full extent has yet to be seen.

Staff Writer

 

On Monday, July 2^nd, Belgian authorities confirmed they arrested a husband and wife of Iranian origin in connection with a plot to bomb the Free Iran rally held in France. The People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), two Iranian opposition groups in exile, held their annual gathering in Villepinte, Paris, with critics of the Iranian regime attending from all corners of the world.

As well as the couple in Belgium, German authorities arrested an Iranian diplomat, named as Assadollah Assadi, at the Austrian Embassy in connection with the plot. A fourth person was arrested in France. The French authorities are in the process of extraditing the suspect to Belgium.

It is reported that the diplomat provided the couple, Amir S. and Nasimeh N., with 500g of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and a mechanism to ignite the homemade explosive. Belgian authorities found the bomb in a “small toiletry bag”.

The regime rushed to conceal its involvement

The timing of the plot was unfortunate for the Iranian regime. President Hassan Rouhani embarked on a European visit, beginning in Switzerland on July 3^rd, in an attempt to court European governments and persuade them to salvage the Iran nuclear deal.

As major European law enforcement agencies, the VSSE, the Antwerp Federal Judicial Police, DOVO, the French DGSI, and German Judicial authorities, are unraveling the full scope of the plot, Rouhani may find his charm offensive undermined.

Unsurprisingly, the regime immediately began to distance itself from the attacks. The regime’s Foreign Minister stated that the plot was a deliberate attempt to undermine Iran’s relationship with European Nations. A spokesperson for the ministry strived to deflect accusations by laying the blame on the MEK. He alleged the couple were members of the MEK.

The French government dismissed the regime’s denial. It will proceed with the extradition of the suspect in French custody. However, a French diplomat confirmed that a full investigation was in process.

Former New York Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, was also unconvinced by Tehran’s explanation. In a statement, he called the Iranian regime, “the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world”. The motive for the attack was clear. He said, “Nothing could be worse for these misogynists [the mullahs] than a movement seen as replacing them headed by a heroic woman.” Giuliani was referring to Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

The regime’s European network of spies

The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s stance would be more believable if this was the first time Iranian state agents had been arrested for operating in Europe. But it is not.

As recently as January, German police raided 10 apartments in search of Iranian “state spies”. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also accused the regime’s Quds Forces of carrying out “covert assassinations in the heart of Europe”, in May.

A campaign of deceit

In the wake of the foiled attack, the Iranian regime has intensified its campaign of vilification aimed at the MEK. The Iranian state-run media and their proxies abroad have repeatedly pedaled the notion that the plot was orchestrated by the MEK to undermine the regime’s relations with Europe.

Some outlets have asserted that the 500g of TATP found in the possession of the Belgian couple was not intended to kill, only to create a “sound bomb” and generate a media storm.

The perpetrators behind these falsehoods are familiar faces. Darius Bazargan, who broke the “news” that the plot was a “MEK inside job” is the producer of a recent MSNBC segment which was lambasted for spreading misinformation about the MEK place of residence in exile in Albania.

Similarly, the Guardian journalist Saeed Kamali Dehghan – an infamous regime advocate – regurgitated the regime’s narrative, pointing the finger at the MEK.

The regime can use its mouthpieces all it wants; it is not having the desired effect. The narrative is falling on deaf ears. Representatives from France and the US have shown they will not permit the puppet masters in Tehran to play them.

The case has drawn attention to Iran’s European spy network. A network that major European nations will be keen to eradicate. With any luck, this will be the wakeup call Europe needs. To remove Rouhani’s tentacles, you must cut off the head. Regime change is the only way to end Iran’s terrorist financing and destabilizing efforts abroad.

The first step towards prising Iran out of the mullahs’ grip is to endorse American sanctions. Without sanctions, the regime will remain free to spread its networks across Europe, and next time, the plot may not be foiled in time.