On Wednesday, May 19, 2021, Iranian supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran(PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran(NCRI) demonstrated Simultaneously with the JCPOA Joint Commission’s meeting in Vienna.
They demanded that the nuclear case, human rights abuses, and terrorism of the mullahs’ regime be referred to the UN Security Council.
from SIMAY AZADI TV on Vimeo.
Background of human rights violations and terrorism of the Iranian regime
In November 2019, the regime cracked down on a nationwide uprising by killing 1,500 peaceful protesters. In February 2021, four of the regime’s operatives were found guilty of attempting to set off explosives at the NCRI’s annual gathering in France.
These and other incidents have, by all accounts, gone unmentioned at the Vienna talks. But it is naïve to think that matters of terrorism and human rights can be entirely separated from Iran’s nuclear provocations when all of these stem from the same belligerent ideology.
The JCPOA’s European signatories should increase pressure on the regime to curb its malign activities.
As Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras wrote: “For so long, the EU has turned a blind eye to the regime’s malign activities, especially regime terrorism in Europe, and only focused on JCPOA. The conviction of Asadullah Assadi, a regime’s diplomat, in Belgium court, on charges of a terror plot in Paris is the last example. As they finalize their strategy for forthcoming negotiations, the JCPOA’s European signatories should focus on whether that strategy holds the regime to account for all its malign activities, including its state-sponsored terrorism, widespread human rights abuses, ballistic missiles program, as well as attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. If their goal in those talks is to apologize for the U.S. and to sweet-talk Iran into renewed compliance, they will ultimately embolden more of the same provocations. If instead, they make firm demands of the regime, they will help convince the mullahs that threats and blackmail are no longer workable strategies”.
