March 7, 2015

The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect Maryam Rajavi warned the West on their naive rapprochement with the Tehran regime. She says Iran’s ruling mullahs are the source of terrorism in the entire region.

Q. Iran has recently been welcomed by the West as a partner in the fight against ISIS. Do they deserve it?

MRS. RAJAVI: No. This is a shortsighted (approach). Remaining silent against the Iranian regime’s destructive intervention in Iraq, let alone cooperating with it is against the basic interests of the international community and international peace and security. The Iranian regime is the main source of instability and the financial and state-sponsor of terrorism and fundamentalism and their source of funds. Look at Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Engaging the clerical regime in the fight against ISIS is practically tantamount to providing ISIS and its like-minded groups more growing grounds. Look at the record of crimes of the Iranian regime’s Qods Force and its affiliate militia in Iraq. And look at the carnage of the Sunnis. The Iranian regime’s involvement means fueling the Shiite-Sunni sectarian war which will in turn engulf the whole region in crisis for years to come.

Q. What can the West do to stop the wave of Islamic fundamentalism from spreading throughout the region?

MRS. RAJAVI: The West must be firm in dealing with the source of fundamentalism, that is the clerical regime (in Tehran). With the fall of this regime and establishment of democracy in Iran, this ominous phenomenon will also disappear as a global threat.
Iran mullahs’ strategy is to gain hegemony in the region by spreading fundamentalism. This is vital to their rule. This strategy must be stopped.
At the same time, the Resistance against the regime must be recognized. The People’s Mojahedin of Iran is in the heart of this Resistance and advocates a genuine, tolerant and democratic interpretation of Islam. This is why this Resistance is the antithesis of fundamentalism.

Q. Is the Israeli Prime Minister right to warn against a nuclear deal with Iran?

MRS. RAJAVI: We welcome any accord which could cut the mullahs’ hands short of a nuclear bomb. No one in today’s world has tried more effective than the Iranian Resistance to prevent the regime from obtaining the nuclear bomb.
The UN Security Council has emphasized in its resolutions that the agreement has to include a halt to uranium enrichment. Also, international monitoring of all suspicious centers in Iran must be ensured and its missile programs dismantled. To compel the Iranian regime to accept these conditions, international sanctions must be expanded. We believe that if the West doesn’t show enough firmness, the mullahs will soon obtain the bomb.

Q. Germany is a driving force for a negotiated settlement with Tehran. Is Berlin giving too many concessions or is it dealing naively with the statesmen holding power in Iran?

MRS. RAJAVI: Germany has been engaged in nuclear talks with this regime since 12 years ago. It shares responsibility in giving time to the mullahs. As the mullahs’ incumbent president says, this regime has benefitted from the opportunity of these negotiations to complete its nuclear programs. I believe that the people of Germany benefit more from (siding with) Iran’s people and future, than they would from going for short-term political and economic interests. Just as global peace and security interests, presently endangered by the Iranian regime, are much more important to Germany than their own short-term interests.

Q. Many of the Iranian regime’s opponents are confined in Camp Liberty. Will a strategic US-Iran rapprochement harm them?

MRS. RAJAVI: US rapprochement with the state-sponsor of terrorism will harm all the countries in the region and also the world’s peace and security. The residents of Ashraf and (Camp) Liberty have been paying the price of such wrong policy for years. The United States has so far –and particularly in the past six years—trampled upon its own written commitments to provide safety and protection to Camp Liberty residents.

Q. You are in Berlin to attend the International Women’s Day gathering. How is the situation of women in Iran?

MRS. RAJAVI: Iranian women are the primary victims of the misogynous regime ruling Iran. They are humiliated. Subjugation of women and discrimination against them have been turned into laws and institutionalized. Women are under far more pressure than men. They face further restrictions including the compulsory veil.
Nevertheless, the women of Iran have not ever surrendered. Tens of thousands of Iranian women have been tortured and executed in their fight against this regime. They have never accepted the mullahs’ reactionary ways. Women also hold key roles in the Iranian Resistance and presently, the 1,000 dissident women in Camp Liberty are a source of hope and inspiration.