On 20 June 1981 in an ultimatum to the Khomeini regime, the Iranian opposition People’s Mujahedin (PMOI), or Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), protested against organized repression in Iran and held a peaceful demonstration. Nearly half a million people took to the streets in Tehran on this day. The demonstration began at 4 pm at the intersection of Valiasr (Mossadegh) and Enqelab streets. Khomeini’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and supporters opened fire on the protesters after Khomeini gave the order which was broadcast on state radio.

Detainees were executed on the same day after trials that lasted only a few minutes, sometimes on the street and even without identification. Thereafter began the regime’s domestic and global terror.

But the Iranian people’s struggle has never ended and the Iranian people and its opposition MEK/PMOI made the voice of Iran’s people to be heard, accepted and respected around the world, in the hope to bring an end to this tyrannical regime and achieve a peaceful and free Iran.

On this 17 June, this voice has been reflected in the U.S. House of Representative’s comprehensive resolution (H.Res. 374) in response to threats from Iran’s regime, and for the first time offers an effective and meaningful solution for a free Iran.

 

The initiative enjoys the support of a bipartisan House majority, among them key members of the House committees of Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Select Committee on Intelligence.

The resolution entitled, “Condemning Iranian state-sponsored terrorism and expressing support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear republic of Iran,” counts some of the regime’s key facts of terror and malign activities.

It points out:

“Whereas, on July 2, 2018, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced it had foiled a terrorist plot against the “Free Iran 2018 – the Alternative” gathering held on June 30, 2018, in support of the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom;

Whereas, on July 10, 2018, a senior Department of State official said, “Iran uses embassies as cover to plot terrorist attacks”, and that “The most recent example is the plot that the Belgians foiled, and we had an Iranian diplomat out of the Austrian embassy as part of the plot to bomb a meeting of Iranian opposition leaders in Paris”;

Whereas, in January 2019, the European Union (EU) has included the Internal Security Division of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and two of its officials on the EU terror list in connection with the Paris bomb plot;

Whereas the United States Government arrested two Iranian nationals in August 2018 who had acted on behalf of the MOIS to conduct covert surveillance in the United States against officials of the National Council of Resistance of Iran for a target package, which, according to the Department of Justice Federal complaint, may include “apprehension, recruitment, cyber exploitation, or capture/kill operations”;

Whereas the Department of State official has urged “all nations to be vigilant about Iran using embassies as diplomatic cover to plot terrorist attacks”;

Whereas senior Iranian Government, military, judicial, and security officials have for decades ordered or committed egregious human rights violations and acts of terror;

And in supporting the Iranian opposition, the resolution added:

“Whereas the Free Iran gathering had commenced to show support for the Iranian opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s 10-point plan for the future of Iran, which calls for the universal right to vote, free elections, and a market economy, and advocates gender, religious, and ethnic equality, a foreign policy based on peaceful coexistence, and a non-nuclear Iran;

Whereas the Iranian people have been deprived of their fundamental freedoms for which reason they rejected monarchic dictatorship and are opposing religious tyranny; and

Whereas in the 115th Congress, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4744 calling on the United States to “condemn Iranian human rights abuses against dissidents, including the massacre in 1988 and the suppression of political demonstrations in 1999, 2009, and 2017, and pressure the Government of Iran to provide family members detailed information that they were denied about the final resting places of any missing victims of such abuses”: Now, therefore, be it

And in conclusion, the resolution added that the House of Representatives:

(1) condemns past and present Iranian state-sponsored terrorist attacks against United States citizens and officials, as well as Iranian dissidents, including the Iranian regime’s terror plot against the “Free Iran 2018 – the Alternative” gathering in Paris;

(2) calls on relevant United States Government agencies to work with European allies, including those in the Balkans, where Iran has expanded its presence, to hold Iran accountable for breaching diplomatic privileges, and to call on nations to prevent the malign activities of the Iranian regime’s diplomatic missions, with the goal of closing them down, including the Iranian embassy in Albania;

(3) stands with the people of Iran who are continuing to hold legitimate and peaceful protests against an oppressive and corrupt regime; and

(4) recognizes the rights of the Iranian people and their struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear republic of Iran.

The resolution is significant because:

  1. This is the first time that the House is offering a solution to counter the Iranian threat.
  2. The solution relies on the Iranian people and requires no boots on the ground and appropriation of money.
  3. This resolution was brought to the attention of Secretary Pompeo this week with the names of 221 co-sponsors as a policy suggestion that the administration has to take into account.
  4. The organized opposition, namely the National Council of Resistance of Iran NCRI), has gained momentum and has thus become the main target of the Iranian regime’s terrorism abroad.
  5. The Iranian Resistance remains the main target of repression in Iran; many have been recently arrested in Iran for their affiliation with this movement.
  6. The resolution comes at a time that the IAEA has found the Iranian regime in non- compliance with its JCPOA commitments as well as its NPT commitments in multiple areas.
  7. This bipartisan House initiative comes at a time the U.N. arms embargo is due to expire in October and U.S. considers various options in dealing with the Iranian regime.
  8. The discontent has been mounting in Iran in light of Tehran killing at least 1,500 protesters in a matter of days in November 2019 and has faced that wrath of the population for its coverup, mismanagement, and corruption, especially in its handling the COVID-19 crisis that has taken the lives of over 52,000 Iranians.

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