Iran will get the bomb within a year

Verdens Gang, Norway, November 7 – Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian opposition, states that the Iranian regime will get the bomb within a year. She compares the situation to that at the time of Hitler before the Second World War.

In an interview with the online edition of Verdens Gang, Maryam Rajavi said: “If the opposition had not exposed Iran’s secret nuclear sites, it is highly likely that the regime would have now obtained the atomic bomb. According to our information, the mullahs will produce 14 kilograms of plutonium by the end of 2007. But the mullahs spread false information abroad about their nuclear program, claiming that they would need ten years to develop the bomb”.

The leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran met the foreign affairs committee of the parliament this morning: “They were very open and attentive to what we said on human rights, the awful repression of the population in Iran and public executions. The Iranians do not want this regime. They do not want atomic weapons. The Iranians do not care about that”.
 
She is convinced that the appeasement policy adopted by Western countries towards Iran is a mistake: “That’s the reason why we believe time has come to stop the mullahs and to stop giving them time to complete their nuclear program. Their threats to the international community are very similar to the threats Hitler and the Nazis made before the Second World War”.

Rajavi suggested a third option: “We cannot handle these threats with a foreign military intervention as in Iraq. We cannot keep on with negotiations and appeasement. There is a third option, democratic change in Iran”.

The leader of the Iranian opposition called on Norway, as a progressive and exemplary country, to adopt a firm policy towards the Iranian regime, to support her opposition group and to remove the People’s Mojahedin from the terrorism list. The People’s Mojahedin are the armed wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran movement.

- If what you say is true, that they are trying to acquire such weapons, what can Iran do with the atomic bomb?

- Maryam Rajavi: What is ruling Iran is a religious dictatorship. They are not able to solve economic and social problems in society. They remain in power only through systematic repression in the country. To survive, this regime is forced to intensify repression and to export fundamentalism and terrorism to the whole world. This implies pressure and blackmail on the international community. The atomic bomb is the weapon the mullahs want to use to wage a war on the international community.

Maryam Rajavi is convinced that negotiations with the regime are useless: “The mullahs’ regime is not able to retreat even an inch, or to operate any change in its policies. The policy of negotiations and appeasement has failed. We have a proverb in Iran saying that a viper does not give birth to a dove. The mullahs will never change their position and their policies. That is the reason why we say that Europe must not waste its time, otherwise it will be too late”.

- In view of what you’re saying, do you want Norway to cut off its diplomatic, economic and cultural ties with Iran?

- Maryam Rajavi: “The most important thing is to have a firm policy towards the mullahs’ regime. If this firm line is not applied, tomorrow you will have to pay a heavy price in your relations with the regime. This is true for Norway and it is also true for all European countries. Don’t forget that 60 million people died during the Second World War. If a fundamentalist regime acquires the nuclear bomb and carries out its warmongering ambitions, be sure that Europe and the rest of the world will be forced to pay a much heavier price.”

- Do Norwegian companies have to leave Iran?

- Maryam Rajavi: In case a firm policy was adopted, and if it implied such measures, we would have to accept it. But we must not retreat in the face of the regime’s blackmail and pressure. It desperately needs economic relations with the rest of the world, more than any other government.

Maryam Rajavi expressed her gratefulness and encouragement to the parliamentary deputies who welcomed her in spite of Iran’s official protests: “I think that the regime acted in a shameful way. That its ambassador made some threats to the parliament is absolutely unacceptable. They want to spread their repression beyond the borders of their country. If they act in this way in Europe, and here in Norway, imagine what they do to opponents in Iran. They cannot even bear my meeting the foreign affairs committee. I have to say that this way of functioning is characteristic of this regime, but at the same time, reveals its weakness. If it was stable, why would it fear the meetings of its opposition in Norway?”