Regime in Iran will be overthrown

Interview with Maryam Rajavi

Source: Norwegian daily Verdens Gang, January 4, 2010

Maryam Rajavi calls for a more firm international response to the Iranian regime; Norway must take the lead, she adds.

Maryam Rajavi is the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled Iranian opposition organization. In a telephone interview with Verdens Gang, Rajavi voices optimism that the uprising will continue. The uprising will become more organized and will include students, workers and women, and the regime will be overthrown in the next year, she adds.

It will not be possible for the regime to reverse the situation. This regime has used every tool in its arsenal. They may resort to a massacre. But this will only make the situation more radical. Rajavi says that the circumstances are incredibly precarious.

She calls for help

She believes that the international community must confront the regime with firmness and impose more serious sanctions against it. The regime must be warned about the consequences of its behavior. That is how we can prevent a bloodbath in Iran. Rajavi says that Western governments can play an effective role.

In her view, any measure can lighten the load of pressure on the Iranian people and adds that people need help.

Rajavi says: I hope Norway can take on a leadership role. It is not enough for Western governments to merely declare their support. The Iranian people need this regime to be placed under serious sanctions.

Against the death penalty

Rajavi notes that the Iranian people do not approve of a religious dictatorship and seek a free election under UN auspices.

She wants an Iran that is free of nuclear weapons and rejects the death penalty.

The NCRI is an umbrella organization that includes the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Until last year, the group was listed as a terrorist organization in Europe and is still maintained on a similar listing in the US.

Rajavi has told Reuters: It is very unfortunate that Western countries use the terrorist label against the Iranian Resistance at a time when it is clear that the listing takes place at the behest of the Iranian regime.