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Last month,\u00a0<\/span>The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)<\/a> held its annual \u201cFree Iran Global Summit\u201d<\/a><\/span>. It served<\/span>\u00a0to review the\u00a0<\/span>Iranian<\/span>\u00a0regime\u2019s crimes and\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>highlight the advances that have been made in recent years by activists inside\u00a0<\/span>Iran<\/span>. The Free Iran Global Summit was the latest in a long series of challenges to\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>Iranian<\/span>\u00a0regime\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0propaganda that portrays the theocratic system as having a firm hold on power, with no viable alternative competing for national leadership.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n International support for the Iranian Resistance (MEK & NCRI) in online Free Iran Global Summit 2020#FreeIran2020<\/a>#MEK<\/a><\/p>\n Watch full video herehttps:\/\/t.co\/ifZygZpdrz<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/xQMUa6ZMso<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) July 27, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The National Council of Resistance of Iran has been presenting these challenges in the form of international rallies every summer since 2004. Th<\/span>is year\u2019s event was held virtually due to the\u00a0<\/span>coronavirus<\/span>\u00a0pandemic<\/span>. It linked together approximately 30,000 locations<\/a> in more than 100 countries, some of which featured thousands of assembled representatives of local Iranian expatriate communities. The online format arguably did even more than previous gatherings in Paris and Albania to highlight the truly global reach of the NCRI.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Because of the breadth of that reach, the NCRI also boasts a long and growing list of political supporters from the United States, the European Union, and much of the world. Hundreds of them have become regular attendees at the NCRI\u2019s summer gatherings<\/span>\u00a0and supporting Iranian people\u2019s struggle for freedom<\/span>, and hundreds participated in the Free Iran Global Summit by delivering speeches over video calls.\u00a0<\/span>In so doing, various lawmakers and policy experts emphasized the very real prospect for regime change leading to a transitional government.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yet, for years, due to the appeasement policy, western governments have ignored the Iranian people\u2019s desire for\u00a0<\/span>a free country and presence of a viable alternative.<\/span>\u00a0On the other hand, this sort of willful ignorance has become less and less defensible among those who stand to benefit most from it: the leadership of the Iranian regime.<\/a> The July summit and its most recent predecessors have all served to counter Iranian state media\u2019s efforts to downplay the popularity and organizational strength of the Resistance movement, especially in the wake of multiple domestic uprisings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tehran recognizably began paying more attention to the NCRI\u2019s gatherings<\/a> in 2018<\/a>. It was then that two Iranian operatives were captured on the Belgian border, attempting to enter France with 500 grams of TATP explosive,\u00a0<\/span>en<\/span>\u00a0route to the rally at\u00a0<\/span>Villepinte<\/span><\/a>, near Paris.\u00a0<\/span>At the time, Iran was in the midst of what<\/span>\u00a0NCRI\u2019s president-elect,<\/span>\u00a0Mrs. Rajavi<\/a> had referred to as a \u201cyear full of uprisings,\u201d following a nationwide protest<\/a> movement that began in the final days of 2017 and quickly gave rise to chants like \u201cdeath to the dictator\u201d in approximately 150 localities. The mullahs responded by growing so fixated on the suppression of dissent that they were willing to put\u00a0<\/span>regime\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>international relations at severe risk\u00a0<\/span>in order to<\/span>\u00a0disrupt the greatest symbol of\u00a0<\/span>the Iranian Resistance<\/span>\u00a0influence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately for both the Iranian Resistance and the many countries whose citizens and policymakers were present at the event, the scheme was effectively thwarted. But it\u00a0<\/span>still remains<\/span>\u00a0to be seen what, if any, long-term impact the incident will have on European strategies for dealing\u00a0<\/span>with the regime.<\/span>\u00a0The mastermind of the terror plot,\u00a0<\/span>one of the regime\u2019s so-called \u201c<\/span>diplomat<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0named\u00a0<\/span>Assadollah<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Assadi, is currently on trial in Belgium, but the entire Western\u00a0<\/span>shouldn\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0be<\/span>\u00a0content\u00a0<\/span>with only holding Assadi accountable<\/a><\/span>. In order to end the regime\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>terrorism ,<\/span>\u00a0they should<\/span>\u00a0pursue\u00a0<\/span>the entire regime that has signed off on this and countless other terror plots over the years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One thing seems clear: there would be a greater appetite for holding the entire regime accountable if not for the stubbornness of that narrative<\/a> which describes the Iranian Resistance as marginal, cult-like, and an insubstantial challenge to the mullahs\u2019 hold on power. These talking points come straight from Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, but they have gained a foothold in Western policy circles<\/span>\u00a0due to the appeasement policy<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>The NCRI\u2019s \u201cFree Iran Global Summit,\u201d attended by thousands of political dignitaries from different political tendencies alone debunks these allegations<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>NCRI gatherings<\/span>\u00a0and their participants<\/span>\u00a0can testify to this fact, and they can also testify to the fact that the regime\u2019s talking points have no\u00a0<\/span>basis in reality<\/span>.<\/span> 3<\/span><\/p>\n 1) The #Iranian<\/a> regime has been spending billions of dollars inside and outside #Iran<\/a> through its lobbyists with fake news, struggling to demonize the #MEK<\/a> and #NCRI<\/a>. The regime\u2019s goal is to portray that the regime has no alternative.https:\/\/t.co\/8zkKZbRBlt<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This has perhaps never been clearer than in the wake of the 2018 uprising and the failed reprisal against the NCRI\u2019s rally that summer. These developments underscore both the organizational strength of the Iranian Resistance and the resulting anxiety within Iran\u2019s theocratic leadership. The same message has been steadily reinforced over the ensuing two years,\u00a0<\/span>as when<\/span>\u00a0another uprising\u00a0<\/span>erupted<\/span>\u00a0even more quickly last November and\u00a0<\/span>grew<\/span>\u00a0to encompass a<\/span>n even<\/span>\u00a0larger n<\/span>umber of cities and towns.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n No less an authority than\u00a0<\/span>regime\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei contradicted his own regime\u2019s propaganda about the\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in early 2018 when he said the\u00a0<\/span>MEK\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0\u201cresistance units\u201d<\/a> had played a leading role in the planning and leadership of that January\u2019s protests. Similar contradictions have proliferated ever since, as regime authorities have done their best to continue publicly denying that there is an alternative to their rule, even as they privately warn one another about the potential for the\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0MEK\u00a0<\/span>and the NCRI to lead even more intense and wide-ranging\u00a0<\/span>uprising<\/span>\u00a0in the weeks and months to come.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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