The Clerical Regime Needs a Strategy of War and Repression

The clerical regime relies on war and repression as a matter of survival.
This strategy includes continuing conflict, increasing the activities of its proxy groups in the region, pursuing its nuclear weapons program, executing political prisoners, and raising prices.
But this strategy has deadly consequences for its very survival. Several major events taken place in Iran over the past year have significant importance.
They include two wars, a major uprising, a massacre, and the expansion of Resistance Units activities.
These events have revealed important facts in three areas.
– First, as the Iranian Resistance has emphasized for many years, this regime will not give up the pillars of its survival.
It will not stop repressing the Iranian people. It will not give up its nuclear program, its missile program, or its support for war and proxy groups in the region.
– Second, for many years it has been clear that appeasement of this regime does not work. It only encourages more human rights abuseand more warmongering.
– Third, over the past year, it has also become clear that war and foreign military intervention are not the solution to Iran’s problem. Neither war nor appeasement is the answer.
The solution is the overthrow of this regime by the people of Iran and their organized Resistance. This is a truth that we declared 22 years ago. Over the past year everyone has seen it for themselves.
Despite war and intense repression, the Iranian Resistance has continued to grow its organized network in cities across Iran.
The Resistance Units have also carried out major and unprecedented operations. The remnants of the former Shah’s dictatorship, who dreamed of taking Iran back to the past, have also received their answer.
They hoped to come to power through foreign military action or by repeating the Chalabi model in Iraq. Their plan was to bring back SAVAK, together with torture, repression, and military rule. That will never happen.
Yes, the solution for Iran is democratic change by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance. This change is within reach.
Today, we call on the international community to recognize the struggle of the Iranian people and youth against the IRGC to overthrow the regime, and to recognize the Provisional Government for Peace and Freedom proposed by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, based on its Ten-Point Plan.

Long years of experience prove that ignoring executions and ignoring the Iranian people’s Resistance lie in the heart of a policy that has helped the regime over several decades.
Now, it is time for the world to stand with the people of Iran. A new government has recently started its work in the UK. We expect that it adopt a new policy. A policy that stops appeasement and rejects war. A policy that sees the Iranian people as the only force for change.
We need a policy that supports the Iranian people’s demand for a democratic republic. A republic with no torture, no executions, separation of religion and state, and full equality for women and men.
The British Parliament can take the first step by recognizing the Iranian Resistance and the provisional government proposed by the NCRI. Over 600 members of the Parliament already support the NCRI’s democratic plan.
Another step is to take real action against the regime, including:
First – Make all diplomatic and trade relations depend on an end to executions.
Second -Use international jurisdiction to prosecute those responsible for the 1988 massacre and recent killings. And
Third- Ensure any international agreement includes a real, verified stop to executions.
Honorable dignitaries,
Your efforts, led by Mr. Blackman, succeeded in blacklisting the IRGC. I hope your efforts will now help stop executions and facilitate a principled policy in support of the Iranian people’s resistance.

In complete contrast to the regime, the National Council of Resistance of Iran has made the following commitments in its program:
– The death penalty will be abolished.
– There will be an independent justice system and an independent judiciary, based on international standards, including presumption of innocence, right to public defense and independence of judges.
– The mullahs’ religious laws will be abolished, and the so-called Revolutionary Courts will be dissolved.
– Unfortunately, most of the perpetrators of 1988 massacre who have been involved in crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism during the past four decades, are still in positions of power today.

Maryam Rajavi: The Movement for Justice is an Integral Part of the Struggle of the People of Iran to Overthrow the Clerical Regime

At a time of increasing political executions, we mark the 38th anniversary of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran.
Khomeini’s order was clear: all PMOI prisoners who remained firm in their beliefs had to be executed. But later, the executions also included other political prisoners. However, 90 percent of those executed were affiliated with the PMOI.
They are the spirit of resistance that continues from one generation to the next, as they rise for freedom.
In August 1988 in a letter to the UN Secretary General, Massoud Rajavi the leader of the Iranian Resistance, stated: “According to reliable information, several weeks ago, Khomeini issued a handwritten order for the execution of political prisoners who supported the PMOI.”
As the late Baroness Boothroyd said, “The 1988 massacre was the largest massacre of political prisoners since the Second World War.”
In 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran, Professor Javaid Rehman, described it as a crime against humanity and genocide.
However, the world remained silent and failed to act. As a result, those who ordered and carried out the massacre have enjoyed complete impunity until today.