President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi spoke out to the women of Iran earlier this month to commemorate International Women’s Day, addressing them warmly as her ‘sisters’. As she covered many topics in her address, this will be the first part of her report.

She acknowledged that this year, the day of the celebration of women around the globe has come amidst the recent uprising in Baluchistan, which saw martyrs and young people bravely demonstrating the Iranian people’s resolve to overthrow the regime, no matter what it takes.

Speaking of the conditions faced by citizens in the province, Maryam Rajavi said: “Our people in Sistan and Baluchistan are among the poorest in the Middle East and all of Asia. 70% of their population lives under the absolute poverty line.”

She went on to explain how it’s an onerous task for the women of the region to provide food and drinking water for them and their families, with their children suffering from poverty and illness. The need to overthrow the regime now is not only just for a better life for Iranian citizens, but for survival.

Maryam Rajavi said: “What happened in Saravan and other cities of Baluchistan, was not an abrupt upsurge, but the continuation of the volcanic eruptions in November 2019 and January 2020. And this volcano will continue to erupt again and again with the outpour of fury of men and women of Iran across the country.”

While the Covid-19 crisis has painted a bleak picture in Iran, alongside the poverty and suppression faced by its citizens, the determination of the Iranian women to achieve freedom and equality and to change the political and social dynamics has begun to rekindle the flames of hope that the regime will be overthrown.

Maryam Rajavi said: “This year, International Women’s Day delivers a commitment for Iranian women. The commitment is that they can and must break through the calamity of Coronavirus, repression and poverty, and win freedom and equality.”

She saluted all of the pioneering women of Iran’s contemporary history, from the brave women of the Tobacco Movement who shook the pillars of the ruling tyranny at that time, the fighter women whose presence was far-reaching in many arenas of the Constitutional Revolution, the inspiring women who shine like stars on the horizon of Iran’s poetry and literature and the vanguard women of revolutionary movements in the 1970s, most notably Fatemah Amini, Marzieh Ahmadi Oskouii and Mehrnoush Ebrahimi who opened the way for the overthrow of the monarchic dictatorship.

Maryam Rajavi said: “We salute tens of thousands of Mojahed and combatant women who were tortured or executed in the 1980s. Atop this list is Ashraf Rajavi, the symbol of resistance at any cost against the barbaric ruling regime.”

She professed that Ashraf Rajavi’s name is echoed thousands of times every day by supporters of the Iranian resistance around the world, and further saluted the thousands of women who have risen up against the religious dictatorship during the uprisings and protest movements, and those who gave their lives for the cause.