On June 29, 2024, the Free Iran 2024 World Summit took place at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) headquarters in Paris. Simultaneously, the grand rally of Free Iran 2024 was held in Berlin. Former German Minister Peter Altmaier delivered an impassioned speech to the thousands of Iranians gathered at the Berlin rally.
1. Former German Minister @peteraltmaier Calls for Global Support of Iranian Opposition at Free Iran 2024 World Summit #MaryamRajavi4FreeIran #FreeIran2024 #BerlinDemo29June https://t.co/r5qGMsB6ma
— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) June 29, 2024
A translated version of Minister Altmaier’s speech follows:
Dear President, dear ladies and gentlemen, esteemed President Rajavi, Vice President Mike Pence, and above all, dear Iranians from all parts of Germany, I would like to congratulate you on this wonderful rally today and on how you deal with your often challenging fate. Many of you have lived in Germany for 50 years, others for 10 or 20 years. You are respected citizens of this country. You live here peacefully, you are part of our community, and yet you have preserved a deep love for your homeland in Iran. You are the heroes of modern times to me.
I want to thank you for your efforts, and I want to assure you that we will continue to support you in the future. I address the many Iranians, women, men, youth, and students, who are sitting at home in Iran and other countries, watching this rally on television. As Germans and Europeans, we can hardly imagine the suffering the Iranian Resistance has endured and continues to endure daily under the mullahs’ regime.
I know of no country in the world that has acted as brutally, as ruthlessly, as murderously against its own youth, against its own citizens, against its own people as the mullahs’ regime has done for many, many years inside and outside Iran. Yesterday, we witnessed another election being held. We saw elections held in the spring.
But, ladies and gentlemen, these are not elections; they are manipulations. The candidates could only run with the approval of the mullahs. The rules were made to favor the mullahs’ candidates. And this regime in Iran, this religious dictatorship that abuses people’s religion for its political purposes, has nothing better to do than execute new citizens in Iran every week and every month to cheat them out of their lives.
No country in the world has carried out as many executions in recent years as Iran. And behind every execution stands a young woman, a young man, a resistance fighter, someone who had their whole life ahead of them. And they did nothing other than stand up for love, for freedom, for understanding, and for mutual respect.
And so, my dear friends, esteemed Mrs. Rajavi, you have spoken about the lack of sufficient Western support for the freedom struggle in Iran. I am sure that Western support for the freedom struggle in Iran will increase significantly in the coming months. Iran has not only intensified the oppression of its own citizens but also threatened an entire region with the development of nuclear weapons, with terrorist activities, and supports the aggressive war against Ukraine. And this country, this leadership, has lost all legitimacy to speak for 90 million Iranians. And therefore, they have a right to resist. And I hope that this Resistance will achieve its rightful goal.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will face difficult tasks in the coming weeks and months. But we must act together. I hope that politicians in all European and Western countries will find the strength to support the Iranian opposition groups that stand up peacefully and freely for their goals.
And I want to explicitly state that Mrs. Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan is a document of humanity. It is a document of the rule of law. It is a document of freedom and democracy. This Ten-Point Plan would do honor to any country in the world. And I encourage you to spread this plan in Iran, but also among our European citizens, and among our German citizens so that people understand that the opposition in Iran consists of peace-loving democrats who want nothing more and nothing less than a good future for their own country and its people.
And ladies and gentlemen, when we consider manipulated elections, death sentences, the threat to the stability of an entire region, and even European states like Ukraine, we must recognize that the developments in Iran are no longer just a task for the opposition. It is also a task for the free and democratic international community. Therefore, I hope that the new European Parliament will find the strength and courage to resolutely support you and that we will also place this regime where it belongs, namely on the terrorist list, where other corresponding regimes have long been listed.
Ladies and gentlemen, we need you for a good future. And we wish you good luck and much success. We now have the fourth or fifth generation of young people experiencing a lack of freedom in Iran. First the Shah, and then the mullahs’ regime. Many have already died without experiencing freedom. I am convinced you will not have to wait as long as you have already waited. The world is increasingly recognizing that this regime is bankrupt. And I hope that a great, secular, free, democratic, liberal government will replace this regime, where every person can pursue their happiness, together with all other people.
Iran is one of the oldest civilizations on our planet. And I am convinced that Iran will again be one of the most democratic and free countries in our world in a few months and years. I wish you all the best. You have brought the sunshine to Berlin today. Let this sunshine accompany all your organization’s activities.
Thank you very much and all the best for the future.
