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Donald Trump will be asked to make an appeal against the Iranian regime while protests continue
It comes as senior US congressman attended talks with opposition leaders in Paris to discuss tangible ways in which the US can help Iranian citizens to overthrow the “weakened regime”.
“The uprising is not over in Iran. It is an ongoing effort to wipe away these fanatic islamisists and their corrupt regime,” said Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Chairman of the Congressional Sub-Committee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, last night.
Last week Iran’s Islamic police warned that women who continued to protest against wearing the hijab could face up to 10 years in prison, after 29 were arrested.
“The Iranian people have shown tremendous courage to stand up to a very brutal and fanatic oppressors. I want to make sure that they understand that members of the US Congress, and the American people, are on their side, “ he said.
“The last thing we need to do is to demoralises those people who want a free society and to stand up to the mullahs. Nor should we emboldening the mullahs by sounding like we are ignoring the repression that has manifested itself so much in the last two months.
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Congressman Poe said the Iranian regime was much weaker than assumed
The uprising is not over in Iran. It is an ongoing effort to wipe away these fanatic islamisists and their corrupt regime
“When I see the President, the message I will give him is to speak directly to the Iranian people.
“Having a consistent voice in the UN when dealing with Iran is important, but it’s not enough. The Iranian people must know that it’s not just the UN, but that the United States stands by those who are struggling for democracy.”
Congressman Rohrabacher and Congressman Judge Ted Poe, chair of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade, met with Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Paris for crunch talks.
Many hope moderate President Hassan Rouhani will seize upon the unrest as a rare chance to push for reform. However, his hands remained tied by the Islamic regime.
One plan is for the US to impose comprehensive sanctions, including financial and banking sanctions on Iranian regime’s officials and entities, especially those involved in suppressing the protesters. They also called for measures that would enable the Iranian people to overcome the blocking of the internet and allow them access to communication systems.
The Congressmen will also be urging the US to force the expulsion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its proxy militias from the countries in the region.
“President Obama felt that by not every confronting the regime and ignoring its oppression, it would somehow create a more peaceful world. Clearly this was wrong,”added Congressman Rohrabacher.
“We have to make sure that the Iranians understand that the Obama administration may have been neutral, but America voted them out. The Trump administration now is clearly siding with the people of Iran and not their oppressive religious fanatics who control the country.”
Congressman Poe said the regime was “much weaker” than the West assumed.
“The regime is weaker than we think. Its economy is a disaster with high unemployment, while all its money is going to military arm of the mullahs,
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US Congressmen Judge Ted Poe (left) and Dana Rohrabacher speaking with Iran opposition leader Maryam
“Look at the way it answered the demonstrations which broke in more than 100 cities shows it too”, he said.
“The fact that they still hold thousands of political prisoners shows that they are frightened and we should be recognising this as a time to be even more aggressive for human rights demands in Iran.”
However, he said this was not a call for direct US military intervention.
“I want to make it clear that no foreign power should intervene to overthrow this regime – this must be done by Iranians themselves. But the US has a role to play. We have already issued more sanctions against the IRGC – an arm of the Iranian Government that causes terror throughout the world – as well as against specific members of the Iranian Government,” he said.
At least two of the arrested protesters, Narges Hosseini and Shaparak Shajarizadeh, are being charged with ‘inciting corruption and prostitution’, Amnesty International reports.
Ms Shajarizadeh was arrested ten days ago and has reportedly been subjected to beatings in prison.
Activists claim she was also “injected with an unknown substance by the prison authorities” upon her arrest.
Ms Hosseini was arrested just over a month ago and has since been in custody in unknown conditions.
Speaking from Paris Mrs Rajavi said: “The uprising marked a turning point in the struggle of the Iranian people to attain freedom and democracy which made it palpably clear that the Iranian people demand the overthrow of this regime.”
She emphasised that this uprising will continue until the overthrow of the clerical regime because the underlying factors propelling , namely economic mismanagement, rampant government corruption, increasing poverty and inflation, escalating suppression cannot and will not be resolved.
She added, “With the Iranian people’s uprising, the clerical regime has entered its final phase and as such any investment in this regime is doomed to fail. It is time for the international community to stand with the Iranian people and not with the clerical regime.”