On June 26, at a gathering at Jean Bouin stadium in Taverny, north of Paris, close to one hundred thousand Iranian exiles demanded a change of regime in their country. The event was truly impressive. The sea of flags and portraits of the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, emerged once again as a vast echo of voices called for democracy and freedom while rejecting the principle of the velayat-e faqih or absolute clerical rule which has oppressed ancient Persia for three decades.
The dictatorship founded by Ayatollah Khomeini is undoubtedly the most serious threat to peace and global stability and seeks to destroy the West and its inherent values. The government of Iran exports terrorism, oppresses its people, pursues nuclear weapons, and is the mortal enemy of Israel and the United States. That regime and its fanatical clerics, henchmen, torturers, Sharia judges and Revolutionary Guards are a disgrace for all humanity.
Jose Maria Aznar, a special guest of the program, and Ambassador John Bolton, as well as Maryam Rajavi spoke at the even in Taverny. Aznar and Bolton agreed with the President-elect of the NCRI and said that economic sanctions imposed by the Security Council so far against the Iranian dictatorship are not that effective, and will not stop its nuclear program. The only prudent and productive option is to support the democratic opposition, both domestically and internationally, in order to back an Iranian solution to the problem.
In this context, the insistence of the U.S. State Department to keep the NCRI on its list of terrorist organizations is a colossal mistake and a flagrant injustice. Hillary Clinton should realize that tying the hands of the largest Iranian opposition group goes against the interests of the United States and western democracies in general.
In Taverny, the NCRI received the explicit support of 3500 parliamentarians from thirty-one democratic parliaments, including the United States, Canada, France, UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the European Parliament. Twenty of them were majorities. No one can doubt the legitimacy of this admirable movement, which has sacrificed tens of thousands of people for the sake of freedom. Those who were privileged enough to attend this massive event, that this was a historic day for the democratic and peaceful struggle for a free Iran.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras