On the brink of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, an online international summit, entitled “Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy, Time to Hold the Iranian Regime Accountable,” brought together Iranians in various countries around the world from 10,000 locations.
Among the personalities who addressed the summit were 30 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers from the House and the Senate, including Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Roy Blunt, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Bob Menendez, and dignitaries like Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor, General James Jones, National Security Advisor to President Obama (2009-2010), Newt Gingrich, 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Joseph Lieberman, former U.S. Senator, as well as a delegation of U.K. lawmakers, and Amb. Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the keynote speaker of the summit, paid tribute to Navid Afkari, a rebellious national hero recently executed by the regime and said: “Faced with executions and massacres, the people of Iran urge the United Nations, and the U.N. Security Council, in particular, to restore snapback sanctions stipulated in the six U.N. resolutions against the clerical regime in Iran. Otherwise, Khamenei will continue to ravage the nation as his regime’s survival depends on murder and suppression. If Khamenei were to stop executions, he would lose control of the situation, and uprisings simmering in the depths of Iranian society would erupt and overthrow the mullahs’ religious fascism.”
Speakers in the summit demanded justice for over 30,000 MEK and other activists, political prisoners massacred in 1988. They urged an end to the policy of appeasement and demanded those who ordered and carried out this great crime, who currently occupy high positions in the regime, to be brought to justice.
Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the US House of Representatives joined to the summit. In his remarks, Mr. Gingrich said, “I think what you’re doing is going to defeat the dictatorship. With each passing year, the people realize the future can’t be the mullahs, the revolutionary guards. I think you’re meeting at a key time, there will be more positive things happening, the forces of freedom will become stronger, the mullahs will become weaker and less capable.”
Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the US House of Representatives
Thank you for letting me join you for this very important commitment to freedom, democracy, human rights in Iran. It’s clear from the Amnesty International report that things have gotten much worse, that maybe 9,000 or more people were arrested just last year, that three of the top wrestlers in the country, public celebrities, well-known people, were tortured and have been sentenced to very severe penalties simply for having opposed the regime. The dictatorship is getting more and more desperate. It’s having to impose bigger and bigger penalties. And the public is more and more unhappy.
It was very significant when Secretary of State Pompeo cited the Amnesty International report and indicated how strongly the Trump administration feels about replacing the regime, bringing the regime under control, not cutting a deal with it. I think the activities in the region are very encouraging. The fact that Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates could reach a deal with Israel is a sign that the ice is breaking, that things are moving. And they’re not moving in the direction of the dictatorship.
The fact that having killed the leading terrorist Soleimani, did not lead to sudden explosion of terrorist activities I think also indicates that both because of drying up money and because of the continued effort to undermine and weaken their terrorist networks, that the mullahs have less reach than had two or three years ago.
Let’s be very clear. The distance we have to go to Mrs. Rajavi‘s dream of a unified, peaceful, democratic Iran, an Iran that is back as part of the world of nations that are free, an Iran where people can freely travel to and from the country, that dream still has a lot of work to turn it into reality. I commend each of you for being personally involved. I want you to know that this kind of patriotism, this kind of dedication, is what is necessary if we are to defeat dictatorships.
And I think what you’re doing is going to defeat the dictatorship. With each passing year it gets weaker. With each passing year it has to use more and more repression just to keep people in line. And with each passing year, people get more alienated and more disaffected and come to realize that the future can’t be the mullahs, the future can’t be the revolutionary forces, because they burned out. All they are now is a corrupt system of power trying desperately to hold on. So, I think you’re meeting at a key time. I think there will be many more exciting, positive things happening in the region.
