September 25, 2022
STORY: Protesters denounced what they called Iran’s “terrorist regime”, chanting slogans demanding the ouster of Iranian Prime Minister Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I’m here for solidarity with the Iranian uprising and Mahsa Amini’s family. I want to tell them that I’m here with them, I’m supporting them,” said demonstrator Tara Shafaiee.
Some protesters told Reuters they are also calling for the U.S. government and international community to stand up for Iranians. One man, Majed Sadeghpour, said, “It is impossible to ask a population that is really facing absolute brutality to change the regime on their own without any moral support.”
The demonstration was orchestrated by the ‘Organization of Iranian American Communities’ (OIAC), who describe themselves as a “nonprofit, nonpartisan network of Iranian-American societies from across the country.”
The OIAC is known to be allied with the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), which calls for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical leaders and fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
The PMOI is also known as the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), which was listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department until 2012. The MEK led a guerrilla campaign against the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran during the 1970s, including attacks on American targets. It has since renounced violence.
Protesters at the rally in Washington, D.C., also voiced support for the leader of the MEK, Maryam Rajavi and her resistance efforts.
