Back in July, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Maryam Rajavi gave an interview to the Washington Times about her work with the NCRI, but we think it’s important to revisit it now. In this part, we will look at three topics: Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the arms embargo against Iran, and the explosions at missile and nuclear facilities in Iran earlier this year.

Ali Khamenei’s Future

Speaking about Khamenei’s future influence and the regime’s ongoing survival if he dies, Maryam Rajavi explained once more that the Iranian regime is not at all popular, citing the three incredible uprisings that the country witnessed between December 2017 and January 2020, where millions turned out to show how determined they were to overthrow the regime.

“[This] substantially weakened the supreme leader’s position more than ever before, to the extent that even members of the regime’s own factions no longer take his words and orders seriously,” she said.

As evidence, Maryam Rajavi cited the parliamentary elections in February, which were the subject of massive nationwide boycotts. Khamenei terrified of the people’s recent uprisings tried to consolidate power among those most loyal to him but even this just resulted in more Iranians publically opposing him.

“It is certainly true that Khamenei’s death will generate an insurmountable crisis for the regime since all of the regime’s domestic and foreign policies were based on the principle of the velayat-e faqih [the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist] and Khamenei’s absolute rule,” she added.

“Without him on the scene, this bedrock will be removed and there is no one else left that can simply replace him. This eventuality will spawn more discord and tensions within the regime and it will particularly lead to a more extensive and accelerated wave of defections among the regime’s forces, especially in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the paramilitary Bassij Force,” the NCRI President-elect said.

“This is because these forces acquire their perceived legitimacy and raison d’être from the supreme leader. Khamenei’s death will undoubtedly and substantially accelerate the trend of the regime’s collapse, bringing closer the prospect of its overthrow,” Maryam Rajavi told in an interview with the Washington Times.

She also called on the international community to recognize the Iranian people’s struggle against the regime and for the regime leaders to be put on trial for crimes against humanity.

Iran’s Explosions at Nuclear and Missile Sites

“The MEK [Mojahedin-e Khalq] has a clear stance in this regard. We seek a non-nuclear Iran. Iran does not need nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are only valuable for extending the clerical regime’s survival,” Maryam Rajavi said.

“Therefore, the events that happened in Khojir and Natanz are a reaction to the nuclear weapons project pursued by the religious fascism ruling Iran, which has brought nothing for the Iranian people but poverty, suppression, terrorism and war,” she added.

She said that the regime wasted money on this while the people were dying from coronavirus, which is truer than ever.

UN Arms Embargo Resolution Against the Ayatollahs

Please note: The Iranian arms embargo was due to expire in October when this interview took place, something that Maryam Rajavi argued against, and since then, the US has instituted sanctions that mean that this lifting means virtually nothing. Countries still won’t trade with Iran because they fear U.S. sanctions.

“We have always stated and repeat once again that this regime must not be allowed to acquire even a single bullet. It must not pocket profits from a single barrel of Iranian oil. And, it must not spend for its own survival even a single dollar from revenues that belong to the Iranian people, the NCRI President-elect said.

“The Iranian Resistance calls for the re-imposition of the six UN Security Council resolutions against this regime. We stress the need to extend international sanctions regarding any form of weapons trade with the regime,” Maryam Rajavi concluded.

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