Online rally: Young Iranians 'constant nightmare' for mullahs

FPI / July 21, 2020

Iran’s clerics and terrorist sympathizers are living on borrowed time as a new generation of Iranians yearns for freedom, a group of Iranian dissidents and prominent U.S. and European officials said at a virtual international rally on Friday.

“This generation is a constant nightmare for the mullahs. Indeed, the clerics have come face to face with a rebellious generation against which they are vulnerable,” acting National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) President Maryam Rajavi said.

“Today in Iran, one of the greatest battles and one of the greatest tests of our time rages on between freedom and religious fascism, between democracy and religious fundamentalism. This is a battle intertwined with the destiny of contemporary humanity and global peace and security.”

NCRI along with its associate group, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), hosted the annual Free Iran Global Summit. Due to the coronavirus, the rally was held online. Tens of thousands of people from 102 countries and 30,000 locations around the world participated, according to a July 17 report by The Washington Times.

The Iranian resistance groups and their allies around the world rallied behind the common cause to replace the regime of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s with a nonviolent democracy.

The NCRI comprises multiple organizations and has many American supporters, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others with close relationships to President Donald Trump, the Washington Times noted.

“We know the truth, and they know the truth: They know this organization is a total threat to them,” Giuliani said during a speech at the summit. “They realize they have a formidable foe. They realize and can foresee how this group could easily stand up an interim government that could be a bridge to a permanent, democratic, free, prosperous and wonderful Iran.”

Other prominent American figures participating in the rally included former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and retired Marine Commandant Gen. James T. Conway. Also delivering remarks were several current U.S. officials, including Sen. Martha McSally, Arizona Republican, and Rep. Brad Sherman, California Democrat.

"Some Iranian resistance activists even joined the broadcast from inside Iran at tremendous risk to their safety, given the Khamenei regime’s history of violent crackdowns on internal opposition," the Washington Times report noted.

The NCRI said the leaders in Teheran are facing unprecedented anger from within and crushing external pressure as the Trump administration’s financial sanctions campaign squeezes the Iranian economy.

Even across Europe, officials say Iran’s leadership has proved it can’t deliver for its people.

“The Iranian people want change, to have democracy, finally to have human rights, to finally have economic wealth, no more hunger. The will of the people is much stronger than any oppressive measure of an Iranian regime,” said Martin Patzelt, a member of German parliament.

Whether it was the Iran nuclear deal or other policies, all efforts to reform the government in Teheran have failed and the only remaining option is for the Iranian people to rise up and install new leadership, Lieberman said.

“We have reached a point where we can conclude, after all that has been tried with this criminal syndicate that is holding the people and history and culture of Iran hostage, that everything that has been tried has not worked,” he said. “It will come from the resistance fighters in Iran … and when they do turn their resistance into rebellion, we and the rest of the world — particularly the United States — must stand with them and support them. I am convinced that is a day that is coming.”

Free Press International