During this speech, Maryam Rajavi discussed in detail the Iranian people’s 120-year-long struggle against the current and past dictatorships, how they have identified what they needed to bring victory, and how the people have paid the heaviest prices for this. She said that “a coherent organization” and a “battle-hardened force” prepared to make “any sacrifice necessary” was how the Iranian people would overthrow their oppressors and that Ashraf 3 was the embodiment of that.

Maryam Rajavi then spoke briefly about the exhibition on display at Ashraf 3, which showed the incredible sacrifice of 120,000 MEK martyrs, who laid down their lives for freedom.

She said: “I could not help but be in awe of the authenticity of these women and men and the magnificence of this resistance on the one hand, and on the other hand be shocked by the crimes of the mullahs’ regime against the best and brightest among the people of Iran.”

Maryam Rajavi then reminded us that the exhibition was only a “snapshot” of the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and took the crowd on a whirlwind tour of the Resistance movement from the beginning of the 20th century, when they pushed aside the monarchical dictatorship, but were beaten back by Reza Khan’s coup because then lacked leadership. She then mentioned how Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq, who created the first and only truly nationalist and democratic government in Iran was also toppled in a coup in less than three years.

She said: “If Mossadeq had the chance to institutionalize a democratic tradition in Iran, the situation would have been completely different today in Iran and in the region. And beyond the shadow of a doubt, there would have been no space for fundamentalism and extremism.”

Maryam Rajavi then spoke about the true goal of the 1979 Revolution, which was to bring freedom to the people, but this was hijacked by Ayatollah Khomeini after the Shah removed all political parties, locked the Resistance leaders away, and executed many of them. But the mullahs were not able to stop the call for freedom.

Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi, the only one to escape execution, did not kowtow to Khomeini and countered the argument that his dictatorship was in any way Islamic. In fact, he fought Khamenei all the way.

Maryam Rajavi said: “Khomeini quickly discovered that the Mojahedin would not abandon their goals and their conviction in freedom in order to win political ranks or positions.”
She explained that the 120,000 who gave their lives for freedom were only the beginning as the Regime had arrested and violently tottered another 500,000 at least. She then described the tortures they’d been subjected to, which are too traumatic to repeat here.

Maryam Rajavi said: “The political scene of the past 40 years in Iran has been a battleground for a conflict between autocracy and liberty pioneered by the [Resistance]. From the country’s north to the south, there is not a single city in Iran that has not been coloured by the blood of the [Resistance].”