Paris – June 22, 2023: Several former heads of state gathered at a conference in Paris, France to announce their support for the Iranian people’s uprising and their organized resistance.
Ms. Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine (2007-2010), Messrs. Andrej Kiska, President of Slovakia (2014-2019), Fernando Quiroga Ramírez, President of Bolivia (1997-2001), Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister of Italy (2014-2016), Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium (1999-2008), Jaume Bartumeu Cassany, Prime Minister of Andorra (2009-2011) and Messrs. Alejo Vidal Quadras and Struan Stevenson participated in the conference.
The keynote speaker at the event was Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden of the United States and the leaders of the 27 Member States of the European Union, the former world leaders emphasized the importance of allowing the Iranian people to determine the future of their country.
They acknowledged the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s unwavering commitment to democratic change over the past four decades and expressed their support for Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, which advocates for free and fair elections, freedom of assembly and expression, abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iran’s ethnicities, and a non-nuclear Iran.
The former world leaders noted that these principles align with their own democratic values.
An excerpt from the Remarks by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s President-elect:
Dear guests, Ms. Tymoshenko, Mr. Kiska, Mr. Quiroga, Mr. Verhofstadt, Mr. Renzi, Mr. Bartumeu,
Mr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras and Mr. Stevenson,
I am delighted to welcome you to the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the Resistance’s Parliament in exile.
Your initiative in calling upon world leaders to take decisive actions against the religious fascism ruling Iran
To this end, the Iranian Resistance proposes the following actions:
1- Designating the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and confronting the IRGC presence beyond Iranian borders, including in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
2- Recognizing the right of the Iranian people to defend themselves against the IRGC and to overthrow the regime and establish a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state.
3- Activating the snapback mechanism according to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, implementing the six UN Security Council Resolutions, shutting down all nuclear and missile programs in breach of UN resolutions, and conducting unconditional inspections of the regime’s nuclear and missile facilities.
4- Referring the dossier of the brutal and systematic violations of human rights in Iran to the UN Security Council and bringing to justice the regime’s leaders for 40 years of genocide and crimes against humanity.
5- Cutting off regular economic deals and imposing comprehensive sanctions, particularly oil and banking sanctions, to cut the regime’s lifelines that only finance the oppression of the Iranian people, development of nuclear weapons, terrorism and regional interventions.
6- Identifying the regime as a threat to global peace and security, subject to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
Surely, we will have many allies among prominent political leaders like yourselves and among the people of democratic countries in achieving these objectives.
Thank you all for your support.
Guy Verhofstadt, the former Prime Minister of Belgium, said the letter by former world leaders is a “promise that we will not be silent until the regime of the mullahs is gone in this world and until there are free and democratic elections organized in Iran.”
Verhofstadt stressed that the long-tried policy of approaching the so-called moderates in Iran has failed. “We have to say today that this strategy, this approach was wrong. In fact, there are no moderates in the regime of Iran. There is no one,” he said.
“It’s certainly a moment that has to be used by the international community… and especially by Europe, to switch the strategy, to switch the current approach towards Iran,” Verhofstadt said.
Verhofstadt said that Europe should expand its sanctions against Iran’s regime. “I think it’s absolutely necessary that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and their paramilitary units responsible for that error should be urgently blacklisted by the EU, but also by all the 27 member states of the EU, as a terrorist organization,” he said.
The former Belgian Prime Minister added that this policy should be complemented with support for the people of Iran. “The Iranian people and all democratic organizations in Iran and in exile have the knowledge, skills, courage, have the determination to turn their country into another country, into a modern democracy, and therefore, all initiatives such as Mrs. Rajavi’s ten points plan, which include free elections, freedom of expression, abolition of the death penalty, separation of church and state, and gender equality, deserve or full support in the aftermath of Iran,” he said.
“You need the world, but also, at the same time, the world needs your culture, your passion, and your resistance because we live in a time of radical change,” said Matteo Renzi, the former Prime Minister of Italy. “Thinking about what happened in the last nine months in your country is unacceptable, immoral, and not simply legal. Thinking about young people dying simply for protests against the regime is unacceptable, of course, but I think that is only the first part of our reflection. We need a new Iran in the global world.”
“I know firmly that the victory of the Iranian people is as important as the victory of the Ukrainian people for the world and everyone,” said Yulia Tymoshenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine. “Today, like the Ukrainians, you are standing for the entire world. I came here because of what I’m observing and watching that today, in the modern world, a new international line of dictators is forming.”
“A month ago, our Parliament adopted a resolution. And has introduced the harshest sanctions against the Iranian regime. All of our Parliament voted unilaterally, and now I’m here with you because I want that letter that the leaders of the other countries have signed that would give a new impulse to all other peoples. To accept and adopt the same resolution, the same decision, and to introduce the harshest sanctions against the Iranian regime.
“I also believe that there is something very symbolic that your people’s resistance movement was spearheaded by a wonderful woman Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. I had just met her when I came here for the first time. But I’ve observed her activity remotely. And I saw what kind of confidence she’s shining to everyone. She is an incredibly strong woman. I would like to wish you, Mrs. Rajavi, not just a victory, but I want you to become the soul of your people, so they will follow you. And so, with your leadership, they would show the whole world that evil is weak. Yes. I know that it is important to fight the regime and win, but the most important thing is to show your people the path to the future. A bright, happy, shiny path. And you have that. You have a plan for the future, Iran. The ten-point plan, which are very strong points that are going to change Iran fundamentally, and this plan for the future of Iran is worth it.
Andrej Kiska, the former President of Slovakia, said that it is important for the Iranian regime to understand that the world is closely watching its actions and will never tolerate and forget the violation of human rights and the oppression of its people.
“The Iranian people deserve the right to live in a free and democratic country,” he said. “Where power rests in the hands of citizens who protect their best interests without any discrimination, it is our responsibility as democratic leaders and citizens to support their efforts and work together to achieve the goal.”
