A Free Iran Global Summit is to take place on July 20, 2020. The Summit’s goal: Effect regime in Iran. Mobilizing a global network of supporters annually makes regime change more likely.
Why? The Islamic Republic of Iran becomes more debilitated with each Summit.
Also, "The maximum economic pressure campaign is working against Iran, which is now trying desperately to draw President Donald Trump into an escalation he just will not give in to," said Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy on Sept. 19.
President Trump's counterpart, Madame Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) spoke in advance of a Gathering of Iranian oppositions at The Free Iran Global Summit: Iran Rising Up for Freedom, Per The Washington Times.
The NCRI is stronger than ever. Yet, the West remains woefully impartial.
We must take action by tilting the balance, holding the regime accountable for its evil conduct and supporting the Iranian people in their noble quest for a democratic future.
The need for Washington to support the NCRI will resonate on July 20 at The Free Iran Global Summit. That historic occasion might become the largest ever virtual gathering on a global scale. The annual summit, occurring with social distancing in place, this year is because of pandemic-driven considerations linking 100-plus countries.
It could not have come at a more decisive moment.
Protests are shaking the foundation of the Iranian theocracy. Demonstrations are leading to the downfall of the regime.
A resurgent resistance is coinciding with maximum U.S. sanctions — and COVID-19.
In recent months, Iran’s democratic prospects have been incontrovertibly enhanced by two prodigious social uprisings. Writing a dramatic new chapter for the 2020s, Iranian protesters in all 31 provinces unequivocally chanted for regime change, despite 1,500 of them being shot to death.
Now, as the novel COVID-19 ravages Tehran and the economy tanks even further, organized opposition activities inside Iran have seen a spectacular rise in frequency and intensity.
See my Newsmax article, "Sanctions, Coronavirus Shake Iran’s Regime."
Yet, muted reaction from most media and policymakers in the West is dreadfully disproportionate to the enormity of these configurations.
Some 1,000 international figures plan to join tens of thousands of Iranians during The Global summit to call for a free Iran. In a compelling exhibition of its resilience and organizational mastery, the principal opposition coalition, (NCRI), will achieve a monumental technological success from the summit.
More than 30,000 locations in 102 countries are scheduled to be linked.
They are to exchange ideas and hear dozens of speeches from lawmakers, politicians, ambassadors, religious leaders, military commanders, scholars, and human rights advocates.
All of whom appear online from five continents.
Also tuned in, will be attendees at physical gatherings at landmark sites in dozens of prominent capitals, including Washington, Berlin, Rome, London, and Paris.
The highlight of the extraordinary event will be equally impressive. It will feature clips and images of activities of Resistance Units inside Iran, whose clandestine operations inspire and organize more uprisings have seen a staggering spike. More young people are joining the ranks, prompting frightened authorities, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani to threaten youths, even arresting two award-winning elite university students on charges of supporting the Resistance.
The organizers’ online conference on June 20, connected 2,000 locations worldwide; it proved to be a successful rehearsal for the online event of July 20.
NCRI is not a novice when it comes to such gatherings.
Since 2004, NCRI has held annual mass gatherings in Paris, with the last one in 2018 bringing together 100,000 Iranians and hundreds of international dignitaries from more than 60 counties.
I've conducted interviews at such rallies, inclusive of the 2018 convention.
Frightened of the scale of these democracy gatherings, the Iranian regime tried to bomb the 2018 rally (at which I was present) and was on stage along with many luminaries.
Thwarted at the last minute, the attack could have been the deadliest yet on European soil.
On July 15, the trial of Assadollah Assadi, a "diplomat" terrorist of the clerical regime who commanded the bombing of a large Iranian gathering in Villepinte, Paris (June 30, 2018) will begin in Belgium.
Aomg the purported targets were NCRI’s president-elect, Madame Maryam Rajavi and well-known dignitaries like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as well as former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Following a two-year investigation, the trial of the regime’s terrorists, including a sitting diplomat who allegedly masterminded the plot, will commence in Belgium in mid-July.
Among the targets is yours truly, for whom the Iranian Ministry of Securitt and Intelligence Services (MOIS) maintains a humongous file, per resistance sources.
In 2019, some 350 international dignitaries visited Ashraf 3, a home for the NCRI, near Tirana, Albania, to converse with thousands of democracy activists.
I've had the good fortune to visit Ashraf 3 to interview mothers of slain freedom fighters.
This year’s gathering, however, is different, happening atop political tectonic plates that have radically shifted. Surging hyperinflation, unprecedented poverty, and unemployment have driven millions to shanty towns; these are all signposts of a collapsing economy.
Meanwhile, state incompetence and sweeping corruption have needlessly caused some 70,000 fatalities as a result of COVID-19.
See my article, "Sanctions, Coronavirus Shake Iran’s Regime."
Tehran plants loyalists in all power centers, with some success, e.g., in its Islamic Consultative Assembly, or in Persian, the Majles, (Showrā-ye Eslāmī), the regime’s so-called "Parliament." Meanwhile, Tehran witnessed a series of mysterious explosions at its military, missile and nuclear sites, because of attacks by the Iranian Resistance — NCRI —Iran’s Parliament in exile.
As part of the maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian regime — perhaps globally worst state sponsor of terrorism — the U.S. and our partners imposed new sanctions on Tehran and its proxies. See. State.Gov.Country Reports on Terrorism 2019
In April, the United States designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Quds Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) — the first time such a designation has been applied to part of another government. And throughout the year, a number of countries in Western Europe and South America joined the United States in designating Iran-backed Hezbollah, the co-called Party of God.
As the regime’s prospects continue to dim, the star of the Resistance shines doubly brighter. Opposition activists inside Iran have become more resurgent, with Resistance Units carrying out audacious attacks that would have been unthinkable only a year ago.
The Free Iran Global Summit offers a concrete path toward a rational and reality-based policy that invites westerners to apply their democratic moral code at an historic juncture in Iran.
No need for boots on the ground or money.
A home-grown, capable, popular and credible alternative exists in the NCRI, which is committed to removing the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Now more than ever before, a secular, democratic, and nonnuclear Iran is within reach.
It's up to Western leaders to wake up and witness its majesty.
What policies should Washington follow, in view of The Free Iran Global Summit?
Increase pressure on Tehran, while providing zero breathing room, as Iranians settle scores with ruling clerics, led by the NCRI.
As I observed in Newsmax on Sept. 9, 2019, President Trump would have made good on his promise to thwart Iran, in a "comprehensive campaign of maximum pressure."
Similarly, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said on Sept. 10, 2020, the maximum pressure campaign is working against Iran.
Prof. Raymond Tanter (@AmericanCHR) served as a senior member on the Middle East Desk of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush administration, Personal Representative of the Secretary of Defense to international security and arms control talks in Europe, and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. Tanter is on the comprehensive list of conservative writers and columnists who appear in The Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, National Review, The Weekly Standard, Human Events, The American Spectator, and now in Newsmax. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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