That’s why Iranian Resistance President Maryam Rajavi has proposed a third option: regime change by and for the people of Iran.

Maryam Rajavi explained that the mullahs will never be convinced reform because their entire Regime is predicated on the principle of absolute clerical rule.

Maryam Rajavi said: “Let there be no doubt: European policies such as critical dialogue, constructive engagement and human rights dialogue will not change anything as far as the regime is concerned. Appeasement is not the way to contain or change the regime. Nor is the path to avoid another war. Appeasement only emboldens the mullahs. The answer to fundamentalism is democracy.”

She explained that Iran saw three major people-led revolutions in the 20th century, but that the last one had been usurped by the mullahs, and advised that Iranians will never submit to the cruel Regime.

Maryam Rajavi said:  “Despite brutal crackdowns, uprisings have continued to erupt across the nation. The presence of protests in society reflects the Iranian people yearning for regime change. The presence of an organized resistance with 120.000 martyrs and more than half-a-million prisoners is indicative of the depth and the intensity of society’s rejection of the regime.”

She advised that the Iranian Resistance is perfectly capable of taking down the Regime, noting that they brought down the Shah in 1979 and have been fighting fascists since the 1960s. Maryam Rajavi said that the mullahs know this to be true. Why else would they demand that other countries put pressure on the Resistance, such as giving them a terrorist designation?

The Iranian Resistance is organised, enjoys the support of the Iranian people, and has revealed Iran’s secret nuclear, missile and terrorist projects to the West on multiple occasions. However, the  Resistance has time and time again vowed to give up fighting for Regime change if the mullahs would hold free elections under the United Nations auspices. The Regime has never agreed, knowing they would lose.

Maryam Rajavi said that the resistance’s parliament, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, is a democratic coalition that seeks a republic based on the separation of religion and State.

She said: “The NCRI represents a majority of the Iranian nation and is the guarantee for Iran’s unity after the toppling of the mullahs and the peaceful transfer of power… For us, democracy is not merely a political program, but an ideal for which 120.000 members of the resistance, including six members of my family, have sacrificed their lives.”

Maryam Rajavi notes that the NCRI wants to bring about a free and peaceful Iran, free from the death penalty and weapons of mass destruction.

Maryam Rajavi said: “We seek neither the West’s money nor weapons. We want them to remain neutral between the Iranian resistance on one hand and the ruling regime on the other.”