Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit on July 17 and announced his support of the struggle of the Iranian people and their organized Resistance for free, democratic, and peaceful Iran. Contrary to previous years, the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held its annual gathering virtually.

However, thanks to freedom-loving Iranians’ skills and determination, the NCRI managed to hold an unprecedented online gathering with connecting 30,000 locations to Ashraf-3, home to members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). In this respect, many dignitaries commended the determination of the Iranian opposition led by Ms. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI president-elect.

Here is the speech of Mayor Giuliani: 

Maryam Rajavi, distinguished participants, and all of us who are gathered here to move forward with a free, democratic, and peaceful Iran. I’m joined, as you can see, by your great representative, advocate, friend, Bob Torricelli, and your equally staunch supporter, Senator Joe Lieberman, two great American leaders and two people who are very staunch defenders and advocates of a free, democratic, and peaceful Iran.

It is an honor to be with them and with you. And it is very exciting to be part of the largest virtual gathering in the world, connecting people on Zoom. I cannot imagine it. From 102 countries, almost 30,000 different locations.

The event, most importantly, is broadcast live in Iran to the people of Iran who are living under terror, tyranny, oppression, and let us say to them that this gathering is for them. This is to let them know that their fight for freedom is supported around the world. That there are freedom lovers, both Iranian and of all nationalities, that support you at the highest levels of their governments.

The people of Iran through their protests, starting in November of 2019 and almost continuously every week, every day, have demonstrated the great desire they have for freedom and they have demonstrated in a way in which they have put their lives on the line. That is a very powerful demonstration of just how strong the desire for freedom is in Iran.

In the very early days of those protests, over 1,500 people were killed by the murderous regime of terror. And the people of Iran have made it clear to the whole world that if they could have their way, and they are going to have it, they would want a free, democratic, and peaceful Iran ruled by law, an Iran where people can practice their religion, and in which women are treated the same as men.

Those are precisely the goals of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the MEK, and they are the goals enunciated by Maryam Rajavi in her very brilliant and universal 10 principles, which are completely consistent with the highest values of the United States and similar governments.

Two slogans during the protest are vital to show how the people of Iran feel because you can see these signs consistent through many of the 300 or so protests, or more, that have taken place. And it says, “Reformists, hardliners, the game is over,” and “Down with the dictator.”

Now, it is one thing for me to say that and to hold that sign here in America or in the United Kingdom or France or Germany or wherever else you are. It is another thing to hold that sign in Tehran. That is a mark of death. It is very likely you are going to be singled out to be shot down in the street if you oppose the regime.

It is surely likely you are going to be murdered if you support the MEK or any similar movement. Despite that and the 1,500 murders right at the beginning that continues to this day, the protests are not slowing or lessening. They are becoming greater and greater.

As stated in the letter that was signed by the 31 U.S. dignitaries to set forth our belief, we say as a group there is a beacon of hope in this dark landscape. The one organization that has done more than any other, including government, to free Iranian citizens from tyranny and the world from fundamentalist-inspired terrorism, is the National Council of Resistance of Iran, NCRI.

The NCRI strives relentlessly to ensure that hope for democracy and an end to injustice and tyranny remains alive in Iran. Additionally, with continual media outreach, publications, and meetings, it sustains international attention on the ongoing assault against humanity by the regime of terror.

The NCRI is under the leadership of Maryam Rajavi, a woman who has the respect of all of us. She has been a hero. She is a dedicated leader with a tremendous understanding of the plight of the Iranians and what’s needed to bring Iran to a democratic alternative for the regime. I outlined before her clear program of principles about freedom of religion and of course gender equality, the mere fact that she is a woman leading a group like this is revolutionary.

Can you imagine when this terrible regime falls, and it will fall, and she’s the interim leader, to have a woman as the head of state. I believe it will completely transform a great deal of the Middle East and a great deal of the world.

The NCRI under Madame Rajavi offers for us the universal vision of freedom. Going back to the Old Testament and all through civilizations this has been the quest of the human heart and soul. That is illustrated by the fearless people in Iran who demonstrate for freedom even though they can see that their lives can be taken. It happens right in front of them. The MEK is the main component of the NCRI, and with its network is the driving force for change. That is the reason why it is singled out for murder by the regime.

There are those Iranian apologists here in America and in the West, people who are paid by the Iranian regime, who said the NCRI and the MEK do not amount to much. They are a cult. They have very few followers. They have no chance to replace the regime.

But then if you listen to the words of the Ayatollah and his puppet, Rouhani, just over the last year, they have said several times that the only threat to their regime, the only organization that has any chance to put together a government to replace them, is the NCRI and the MEK.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani

I mean, it is amazing they would admit that, but they do. It is equally amazing that the corrupt Western press suppresses that. I can only attribute that to the power of the lobbying organizations for Iran who have sold their souls to the regime of terror.

But we know the truth. And they know the truth. They know that this organization is a total threat to them, and when they see today’s gathering of people taking advantage of Zoom and new modern methods of communication, and our ability to broadcast all throughout Iran despite their best efforts to block us, 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, because the Iranian people deserve that and can sustain that.

The economy in Iran is collapsing. And that is a tragedy. No one wants to see that. It is horrible to see these demonstrations. And the one that sticks in my mind, I know it goes back about a year, but I can’t get it out of my mind, is the man who was standing there asking for four or five hundred dollars and other equally poignant and desperate signs.

People are starving. Even when Iran was getting a flow of money like the 1.7 billion dollars in cash that I will never understand that was delivered to Iran as the price of the ill-fated nuclear agreement, people in Iran were starving. And now with the much more effective sanctions that have been in effect since the new administration came into power in Washington, the sanctions have been crushing. And now with coronavirus adding to it, the level of poverty and the level of hunger and the level of pain in Iran is heartbreaking.

The only solace is that this is what happens when a revolution takes place. This is what happened to the Soviet Union that led to the collapse of a much bigger empire. All Eastern Europe. And it is tragic that it’s not recognized that this regime is on the brink right now.

Particularly with its handling of coronavirus, in which they allowed thousands, 70,000 or more of their people to die, without any help. The government at one point allocated $1 billion to help the people, which would have been totally insufficient. And only 30% of it has been distributed.

Everybody in Iran knows that the reason that the people of Iran are suffering is not only the sanctions, it’s not only coronavirus, it’s the fact that they still allocate tremendous sums of money to terrorist groups all over the world.  They would rather send people to bomb us in Paris or to kill some of you in America than to feed their people.

They would rather allocate money to renegade criminal groups that want to wreak havoc in Europe or in the United States than feed their people. And everyone in Iran knows that. That is why they are not only religious maniacs, they are just plain, common criminals.

They are crooks, thieves. When people say mullahs, they have this religious concept. To me, the mullahs are like the people who ran the mafia, the people I prosecuted who ran the mafia and extorted their people, extorted the Italian American people, and subjugated them, except this is on a much bigger scale. The Ayatollah is like the head of the mafia. He is a very wealthy man, the Ayatollah. And I do question his religious sincerity.

No man can be a man of God that is a mass murderer. Completely hypocritical. And then he asks people to sacrifice their life for the cause of tyranny. But does he sacrifice his life? He is not the one going out there and doing the suicide bombings.

Nor are the fat mullahs who are living wonderful lives off the misery of their own people. This must be recognized. And it is only going to be recognized with the advocacy of a group like the NCRI and MEK. They are the group that is the most courageous and the most honest about what’s going on in Iran.

Experience has shown that dictatorship does not change on its own. The old saying, a leopard does not change its spots, is quite true. Particularly a dictator. Despite all the concessions provided under the JCPOA, the Iranian regime didn’t change one bit.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani

In fact, it got worse. It continued its oppression of the Iranian people. It continued its march to becoming a nuclear power. It continued to be the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Since America has ceased to comply with that agreement, has cut it off, and has stopped sending them billions of dollars in cash, the country has been under maximum pressure. We have got to keep that pressure up to remove the ruling theocracy.

Regime change in Iran is within reach. Do not listen to the pessimists and to the Iranian apologists who are paid to say that. It is within reach. The same things are happening in Iran that has happened numerous times in other countries.

When we wake up one morning and we are surprised and we find out, oh my goodness, the Berlin Wall is coming down—oh my goodness, the Soviet Union is no more—Poland is becoming free—it happened over a long period of time. It happened with the same conditions we are seeing now. But when it happened, it happened like that. That is what’s going to happen here.

That is the goal of the NCRI and that is the goal of Maryam Rajavi. It is very simple. The goal is a free Iran that will be a contributing nation to peace in the world, to a better world. This is the heritage of the Iranian people. This is one of the great civilizations that goes back to time immemorial.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani

How much has the Persian civilization given to us? And how much more can it give to us if it is allowed to be free? The goal of Maryam Rajavi and all of us here is not to impose anyone on the Iranian people. The goal is to see regime change.

There is a shadow government to handle the interim so we don’t have the situation that we had in Iraq several years ago, so the government can continue, and the people can start to prosper immediately.

But within less than a year, the goal is to have free and fair elections, to establish a rule of law from day one, to make sure that women participate in the government to the same extent as men, and in society, and that all of you are free to practice your religion as you see fit, or not practice religion, and to immediately end the nuclear program and to make clear that Iran was to rejoin the community of civilized nations.

That will be interim. Then the Iranian people will decide who do they want, what kind of constitution they want. That is the goal of this organization and the millions of people that support it, and the people that are watching today.

It is all going to happen. We are going to wake up one morning and we are going to be surprised that the regime fell. It is teetering right now. When that happens, you are going to have your name etched in that great book of liberators. The one whose name will be in the largest, boldest print will be Maryam Rajavi. Stand with Maryam Rajavi. Thank you.