On the brink of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual session, an online international summit, entitled “Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy, Time to Hold the Iranian Regime Accountable,” was held September 18. The Summit brought together Iranians in various countries around the world from 10,000 locations. Mr. Ted Yoho, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, joined the Summit.
Among the personalities who addressed the summit were 30 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers from the House and the Senate. Personalities 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 Ambassador Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the keynote speaker of the summit
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI was the keynote speaker of the summit. She paid tribute to Navid Afkari, a rebellious national hero recently executed by the regime. Mrs. Rajavi said: “Faced with executions and massacres, the people of Iran urge the U.N. 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.”
She continued,”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.”
At the summit, speakers demanded justice for over 30,000 MEK and other activists, political prisoners massacred in 1988. As a result they urged an end to the appeasement policy and requested those who ordered and carried out this great crime, who currently occupy high positions in the regime, to be brought to justice.
Ted Yoho, member of the U.S. House of Representatives joined to the summit. In his remarks, Mr. Yoho said, “We must remember those who have given their lives in the past for a free Iran and a better future for their children, especially the 30,000 political prisoners who lost their lives in the 1988 massacre.”
Ted Yoho, member of the U.S. House of Representatives
This is Congressman Ted Yoho from Florida, and it’s an honor to speak today on the plight faced by the Iranian people as the regime continues to violently crack down on their rights to free expression and dissent.
We must remember those who have given their lives in the past for a free Iran and a better future for their children, especially the 30,000 political prisoners who lost their lives in the 1988 massacre. America is not a perfect nation but our country prides itself on protecting basic rights to liberty and freedom, both at home and abroad.
Congress must continue to serve this mission in regard to countries like Iran, where free thought is often brutally oppressed. To the people of Iran, please know that America stands with you in wanting to provide a better life, free from oppression and fear, and we strongly support the fundamental rights of all Iranians to the rights and liberties that all should be free to enjoy.
