1. L,In democracies like America, we have learned that tolerance and respect for all religions and individual freedom of religion are essential to a peaceful society.
That is why we agree with the NCRI that the Iran will remain a threat to its neighbors and to its own people so long as the Supreme Leader claims total authority over the nation’s affairs and violates the sovereignty of other countries.
2. In democracies like America, elected leaders have limited terms, and citizens are accustomed to choosing new office-holders promising a different direction whenever the public believes change is needed.
That is why we agree with the NCRI that US policy has misunderstood Iranian regime politics for years; whether hard-line or so-called reformist, all of Iran’s leading regime figures bear responsibility for terrorism, assassinations, massive human rights violations and political executions. None have clean hands and all will try to block true reform.
3. In democracies like America, we tend to label politicians based upon their place in the liberal-toconservative spectrum, because these differences in philosophy translate into differences in policy.
However, we agree with the NCRI that in Iran, such labels do not have any meaning for the people. Hassan Rouhani is called a reformer, but internal repression and external aggression have only increased since he took office. Iran is already conducting provocative ballistic missile tests that the P5+1 thought had been prohibited by the nuclear agreement.
4. Like most of our colleagues in Washington, we have for many years looked for opportunities to achieve real restraints on nuclear proliferation by untrustworthy states including Iran.
Yet we share the NCRI’s concern that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) fell short of ending the threat of a future nuclear-armed Iran. Whether or not the Tehran regime is following the ‘letter’ of the JCPOA, it is clear they have nothing but contempt for the ‘spirit’ of the deal. We particularly commend Madame Rajavi for advocating a nuclear-free Iran as a core policy for the NCRI. There is no threat to the Iranian people that would be reduced by nuclear weapons in the hands of this regime.
5. Whatever views each of us may hold about the US Administration’s nuclear negotiation with Iran, we all recognize that the US has given Tehran a free hand in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere throughout the negotiations, with the result that Iran has caused grave damage in each place.
That is why we agree with the NCRI that the time is long overdue for the US and other democratic countries to pay far closer attention to Iran’s leading role in destabilizing neighboring Arab countries by fanning sectarian conflict, and to give much higher priority to deterring and demanding an end to this unlawful aggression.
6. In America, where all the attention in 1979 after the Shah fell was on the American hostage crisis, we have overlooked how the fundamentalists under Ayatollah Khomeini suppressed the population’s desire for democracy through deadly force starting in 1981. Had we understood the regime’s total lack of popular legitimacy from its inception, we would have paid closer attention to the popular uprisings in Iran in 1999 and 2009, reflecting deep disaffection with religious dictatorship.
After meeting countless exiled Iranians in America and Europe and understanding the traumatic crimes inflicted on their families, with as many as 120,000 murdered by the regime and three executions a day on average even now, we are fully persuaded that this regime does not reflect the will of 79 million Iranian people, and stays in power only through a relentless combination of repression and propaganda at home, and export of terrorism and fundamentalism outside Iran. We agree that the Tehran government is acting out of weakness and failure, not strength. Indeed, Tehran’s best source of strength is the rest of the world’s lack of firm policies against the regime’s transgressions, ignoring the desire of the Iranian people for change.
7. In America there has been much concern over the release of substantial frozen funds to Iran as a result of the nuclear agreement. We were led to believe that the Iranian people would benefit from government spending on their living conditions and well-being.
Yet we are now faced with widespread indications that business with the outside world is being handled almost exclusively by front companies profiting the dictatorship. We see that the funds unfrozen by the lifting of sanction are fueling the sectarian conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and arming violent non-state actors in the Arab world including Hezbollah and the Houthi in Yemen. Average Iranian citizens are seeing no benefit from all the funds released to the regime. Again the NCRI’s warnings have been borne out by facts.
8. Back in America we along with many members of Congress have had the opportunity to meet Iranian-Americans who actually know what happened to their relatives opposing dictatorship and corruption in Iran under the Shah and the mullahs. For decades Washington has had a false and very misleading understanding about the Mujahedin-e Khalq resistance group, promoted by Iranian intelligence and propaganda.
The true story of those in Iran brave enough to stand up to dictatorship and repression is a story of heroism on behalf of a great civilization and 79 million Iranians trapped by a failed and desperate regime. We support the NCRI and the MEK because we now know the truth about their legitimate resistance to tyranny, confirmed by several major judicial reviews in Europe and North America, and are no longer confused about whose cause is just. Not one member of the MEK has ever been convicted of terrorism.
9. As Americans we feel a special obligation to focus on the future and to be a positive agent of change for the better. For many years, the US has fallen short in understanding what kind of liberalization and change the people of Iran have wanted going back to the days of Mossadegh, and even as far back as 1906.
With the US Administration clearly having misread Iran’s unchanging hostility toward US interests in the nuclear talks, it is time for America to move forward and start talking with the organization representing educated, principled, modern Iranian Muslim men and women all over the world who support the NCRI and Madame Rajavi’s ten-point plan. We therefore recommend that from now on, the United States should maintain an open channel of dialogue with the National Council of Resistance, to benefit from these exiles’ experience and knowledge about the regime in Tehran. The regime is discredited, illegitimate and in decline, and the people of Iran deserve to know that Americans understand their plight, and respect their right to determine their own future, free of oppression.
10. Finally, as Americans we value our country’s honor and reputation, and stand here today believing that our government must uphold the solemn pledges it has made in the name of the American people.
In this respect we have all steadfastly demanded security for the residents of Camp Ashraf, now Camp Liberty, and continuously reminded our government to uphold America’s obligation to ensure the protection of the residents. We ask the Administration to take all necessary measures for their safety until the last residents leave Iraq, and to urge the United Nations to relocate the residents with far greater urgency. We call on the Government of Iraq to prevent agents of the Iranian regime from gaining access to Camp Liberty with the intention of disrupting the relocation, and to uphold its commitment to allow the residents to sell their assets in Ashraf and Liberty and take personal possessions with them to Albania. Our country and the UN have promised protection to the MEK members in Iraq, and yet in seven attacks, many have been killed or wounded by Iraqi security forces and militias acting at Iran’s behest. It is time the United States made clear that we will keep our word and uphold our principles and those of the UN.
We are honored to stand with this brave group of men and women, whose promotion of a modern, educated, tolerant and democratic form of Islam has never wavered in the face of lethal attacks. By offering a clear and legitimate alternative to Tehran’s brutal and morally corrupt fundamentalism, the resistance has proven that bullets, rockets, prison cells, torture and the hangman’s noose are no match for the pure ideals of patriotic Iranians. Today we salute you all.
