The resistance organization National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) gathered in Albanian refugee camp Ashraf 3 for an event called “Free Iran” on July 13. There, the organization’s president, Maryam Radhjavi, received the support of many Western leaders.
Fighting for a democratic Iran since the 80s, Radhjavi is the elected leader of NCRI, one of the largest dissident groups speaking out against the Iranian regime’s violence.
Iran’s recent attacks on Japanese tankers and a U.S. drone, and Iran’s leaders’ latest provocations toward the United States support her argument. “Internationally, the Mullahs are counting on inaction and tolerance on the part of the international community. The calculation is that terrorism and warmongering in the region will not cost them very much, at least until the next U.S. presidential election.”
Internationally, the Mullahs are counting on inaction and tolerance on the part of the international community. Their calculation is that terrorist operations and warmongering in the region’s countries will not cost them very much, at least until the next U.S. presidential election.
For more than a decade, Rhadjavi has petitioned the French Assembly and other parliaments, saying an appeasement policy will never make headway with a regime that only understands force.
Under the Obama administration, the U.S. gave the Iranian regime access to about one billion dollars as a result of trade between the two countries.
Iran threatened on July 8 to restart deactivated centrifuges and ramp up enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity in a move away from the Nuclear Deal. Tehran has been pushing the European signatories to the accord to protect Iran from U.S. sanctions, which Washington re-imposed after leaving the pact last year.
For the leader of the NCRI—and also for former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former senator Joe Lieberman, who support her—this policy was a ruse that only helped enrich the Ayatollah, supporting the Iranian regime to commit more crimes.
President Trump’s approach to the Nuclear Deal has largely been praised by the NCRI. “Donald Trump has been heroic and historic in taking the actions he has, to break the nuclear agreement, to impose sanctions on the Iranian government.”
Trump tweeted on July 10: “Sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!”
