Amir Fakhravar, chairman of the National Iranian Congress, said Saturday on Newsmax that Iranians are celebrating U.S. and Israeli military strikes and are prepared to move toward regime change, while crediting President Donald Trump for taking action against Tehran.
"Let's before anything, say thank you, President Trump. Thank you, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," Fakhravar said on Newsmax's "Saturday Report." "It's on behalf of the entire Iranian people, 100 million Iranians — we are thanking you."
"Finally, after 47 years of terror and destruction, the 47th president of the United States had the courage to go after this regime ... that regime doesn't have anything, any leverage, any card to play, and it's all bluff from their side," Fakhravar said.
He pointed to the strikes, which targeted senior Iranian officials and key regime sites, describing them as significant blows to the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"And again, we have seen during the 12-Day War, in the first minute, the head of the IRGC, [Qasem] Soleimani, was killed," said Fakhravar. "And this time, last night, the head of the IRGC, again, another one, Mohammad Pakpour, was killed," Fakhravar said.
He added that he had previously called for strikes on what he described as the supreme leader's palace in Tehran.
"I remember a couple of weeks ago on Newsmax, I said the United States and Israel should go and target the supreme leader's palace," he said. "It's like the 'Animal Farm' of George Orwell."
He added that the mullahs have lived in the former shah's palace for 47 years, until it was targeted on Saturday by the United States and Israel, where he said "a high-ranking meeting of cabinet was underway and the minister of defense was killed there."
Fakhravar said additional gatherings of IRGC commanders were also hit and predicted the campaign would continue.
He also responded to Trump's message that the Iranian people should rise up after military operations conclude.
"And that was very wise advice from President Trump for the people of Iran during these attacks, to stay home because we don't need them right now to protest," he said.
He said opposition leaders are organizing for a potential transition, highlighting an upcoming event in Washington.
"But we are ready to let you know how ready we are," he said. "We have an event at Congress on March 3," he said. "It's called Toward the Seventh Constitutional Assembly for Iran. We are looking for the future of Iran."
The members are also "looking to build together a coalition to lead Iran during the transition and after that, to just follow the footprint of the American Founding Fathers, come together, draft the constitution for future Iran, and make sure the constitution will lead the Republic of Iran in the future."
He said Iranians no longer want a monarchy or clerical rule.
"We need to just follow the free world and have the constitution to lead us," he said. "We are definitely ready for the next step."
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