Six months into Iran’s Nationwide Uprising, Call for new US Policy

Washington Summit
March 11, 2023

WASHINGTON, DC – As Iran’s nationwide uprising continues in its seventh month, on Saturday March 11, 2023, Organization of Iranian American Communities held a bipartisan summit featuring prominent politicians and former senior military commanders to offer recommendations for new US policy on Iran.

Addressing the event remotely via live teleconference, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President Elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said, “Despite this brutal suppression, the regime has failed to uproot the uprising. Because: first, this uprising has roots in the explosive state of the society, poverty, unemployment, and above all the catastrophic situation of women. Second, the Resistance Units and a nationwide network of the organized resistance inside the country play a serious role in the uprising.

For this reason, the situation in Iran will never return to before the beginning of this uprising.”  Addressing the missing link in Western policy towards Iran, Mr. Rajavi added, “The missing link in western policy is its exclusion of the Iranian people and the Resistance from the equation in Iran. This has harmful effects not only on the people of Iran but also on the region and the world. House Resolution 100, entitled “Expressing support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Republic of Iran” provides a framework for a principled policy. The resolution affirms that Congress “stands with the people of Iran who are legitimately defending their rights for freedom against repression.”

In his speech, Mr. Mike Pence, the 48the Vice President of the United States said, “One of the biggest lies the ruling regime has sold the world is that there is no alternative to the status quo. But there IS an alternative, a well-organized, fully prepared, perfectly qualified and popularly supported alternative. Thank you, Maryam Rajavi, for your outstanding leadership and vision – you are an inspiration to the world. The people of Iran want real change – and real change is exactly what MEK offers.” He added, “The regime in Tehran wants to trick the world into believing that the Iranian protesters want to return to the dictatorship of the Shah. But we are not confused by their lies. The Iranian people do not want to replace one dictator with another. The Iranian people want to be free.”  Mr. Pence then participated in an on-stage question and answer session moderated by his chief of Staff Mr. Marc Short and addressed a number of important Iran related policy questions.

General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, NATO, (1997 – 2000) then spoke with audience and addressed in-detail, the role of the MEK (People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran) in the 1979 anti-dictatorial  revolution as well the ongoing uprising for regime change in Iran.  He referred to event preceding the overthrew of the shah in Iran and said, “ The Shah had another agenda; his agenda wasn’t freedom and democracy…By 1977-78 the Shah’s megalomania, repressive policies at home and erratic foreign policies convinced the US government to pull back its support…There was hope for a democratic transition in Iran, and then, it all collapsed as a radical cleric returned from France, seized control with a fundamentalist agenda, and for the last forty-four years has waged a strongly anti-American campaign for regional hegemony built on tyrannical repression at home and terrorism abroad. It’s got to end.” Yet he said, “the MEK was caught in the middle of this –for years you resisted the Ayatollahs from bases in Iraq, and then you got caught in Saddam’s conflict with the US…it took more years to clarify this – and now you are safely established in Albania…and you are a vital force for democracy and freedom and not only in Iran. You are a living example around the world.”

Referring to ongoing uprising in Iran, the Honorable Gary Locke, the Former US Ambassador to China and Governor of Washington said noted, “Different from past uprisings, the current protests, spearheaded by women and young people and joined by men, have transformed into a universal call for regime change and democracy. From the Kurds to the Arabs, from the Baluchi’s to the various nationalities and ethnicities and among the followers of many religions. All want a free republic based on separation of religion and state. And with every protester killed, especially innocent children.”  Gov. Locke then added, “Iran will never return to its pre-September 2022 days, and it will not return to the single party dictatorial rule of the Shah’s monarchy because the chants by the protesters in Iran includes death to the oppressor, be it be the Shah or the leader.”

Honorable Sam Brownback, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, former Kansas Governor, and Senator told the audience that, “The wonderful and talented people of Iran need to be able to pick their own way, to pick their own leaders and to change their leaders. It’s time for the Iranian regime to go. It is past time for this Iranian regime to go. And the beautiful thing about the moment right now is they are leaving. The people are kicking them out. My message to the Iranian people from this stage, my message to the Iranian people, be not afraid. Victory is yours and is happening now.”

In his passionate remarks, Honorable Robert G. Torricelli, former Democratic Senator from New Jersey referred to bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress for a democratic Iranian republic and said, “We’re moving forward. But we are not exchanging a theocracy for another. Kleptocracy. To our friends who have lived the good life behind the gilded gates of their Beverly Hills homes and those who have enjoyed the good life in the hills of Switzerland we welcome you to the cause. But we have not fought. We have not died. We have not struggled to replace one dictatorship with another dictatorship. It will not happen this time. This time the people. The people. It is about the people. This revolution is no one’s financial opportunity. It is everyone’s opportunity to live free and breathe free. This is different. There are so many heroes in this struggle, even as it goes on. But some are worth noting. I take nothing from those who stand at the barricades who will put everything on the line. For the fact is, revolutions don’t happen by chance. There are leaders. There are always some who headed a little bit above the crowd. To the leader of every revolutionary cell in Iran, everyone who organized friends and neighbors, every member of the MEK in Iran who assured that the struggle would go on history will never forget you.”

The program was moderated by Ms. Anahita Sami (JD). The conference followed an announcement earlier in the week that a bipartisan House majority had cosponsored H. Res. 100 in support of a non-nuclear, secular, republic of Iran.  Hundreds of Iranian American community leaders from across the United States attended the policy summit in solidarity with Iranian people and their enduring uprising. After the summit, attendants participated in a rally and marched toward an expansive photo exhibition honoring the victims of the uprising on US Capitol Grounds.