On June 30, at the Free Iran 2024 World Summit in Paris, General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, delivered an inspiring video message emphasizing the urgent need to support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom. Addressing Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, distinguished guests, and the courageous people of Iran, the General expressed his admiration for their determination and perseverance against the tyrannical regime in Tehran.
Gen. Clark highlighted the illegitimacy of the current Iranian regime, citing the widespread boycott in recent sham elections and the suspicious circumstances surrounding President Raisi’s death. He noted the regime’s internal power struggles and its reliance on repression and terror to maintain control.
The former NATO commander condemned Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and its destabilizing actions in the Middle East, including backing terrorist proxy groups across the region and sustaining Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria. He stressed that the Iranian regime’s behavior poses a significant threat to regional and global stability.
Calling for international action, Gen. Clark urged the global community to delegitimize the Iranian regime and cease treating it as a legitimate state. He emphasized that the fate of Iran lies in the hands of its people, who must overthrow the regime and establish a democratic government based on President-elect Rajavi’s platform of freedom, tolerance, and respectability.
Gen. Clark encouraged the Iranian people to persist in their efforts to undermine the regime’s instruments of terror and to appeal to the consciences of the world through public demonstrations and diplomatic pressure. He called on governments to stop funding the Iranian regime and to exclude it from international organizations and conferences.
The full text of General Clark’s speech follows:
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, loyal, courageous people of Iran, I am so thrilled to be with you this evening. I wish I could be there in person because whenever I’m with you, the power of your inspiration is so great. It’s so wonderful to feel the determination, courage, loyalty, the perseverance that you’ve had for these many years as you struggle against the tyrannical regime in Tehran. It’s just a pleasure to be with you tonight, and I thank you for that.
I’ve watched your struggle. I’ve watched it with great admiration, and it is so powerful. Your courage, the statements of Mr. Rajavi, the platform for democracy, is powerful and it’s good and it’s right. And now, right now, is the time to move forward, to return the government of Iran to the people of Iran.
There is nothing that gives this government in Iran legitimacy. The elections in March, 7% turnout. The second round in May, according to my figures, 2% turnout. And then there was the crash, supposed crash, accidentally that killed President Raisi. My friends tell me it was probably sabotage. Other helicopters were in the area. They could have stopped. They didn’t. The area was closed off. They gave it plenty of time. It was a power struggle within the hierarchy of the Iranian leadership to see who would replace Ayatollah Khamenei. That’s what it was about as far as I can determine, a total lack of legitimacy in the succession issue.
.@GeneralClark: "With a platform outlined by President-elect Rajavi, there'll be freedom, there'll be tolerance, there'll be respectability of Iran, there'll be honor paid to the great civilization of Persia."#MaryamRajavi4FreeIran #FreeIran2024https://t.co/6RyeAhs3Ot
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 30, 2024
And then this presidential election with the candidates, not one real distinction between them. All members of the same murderous elite that has held the people of Iran in oppression for four decades. It’s time for the whole crowd to go. There is no legitimacy in this government. This is the time for the people of Iran to speak out and move forward. And you will.
This is a government that seeks nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons at a time when the entire Middle East is in crisis. The crisis extends first to the Red Sea, where the regime in Iran has backed Houthis who are interrupting shipping, raising insurance rates, sinking ships, causing danger, and wrecking economies. That’s bringing chaos to the region. That’s not a good thing. That’s a terrible thing that Iran’s doing.
And then there’s the actions of Iran to have promoted Hamas. They’ve armed them, supported them, trained them, organized them. That’s not a good thing. Tens of thousands of innocent people have died as a result of Hamas’s deliberate plan of terror.
And then there’s Hezbollah, also funded, organized, reporting to Iran in control of South Lebanon, control of most of the Lebanese government, armed and ready, seeking war, but not quite yet. Why not quite yet? Iran is not quite ready to expose the fact that it has nuclear weapons or is about to have nuclear weapons. It needs a little more time to be ready.
I’m told Nasrullah is back in Iran. He’s out of the area. He’s not taking any chances. These are not leaders of courage. These are leaders who live by torture and terror. That’s the way they live. That’s the way they govern. And that’s why they’ve got to go.
In Syria, Iranian terrorists have kept Bashar Assad’s regime in power, and they’ve also put it in extreme danger. And they’re contributing to bringing war to the Middle East.
In Iraq, Iranian terror groups lurk within the Iranian-sponsored militia that the Iraqi government has had to accept and more or less depend on in certain circumstances. And they’re waiting to unleash their terror.
Former NATO SACEUR @GeneralClark: "It's so wonderful to feel the determination, courage, loyalty, and perseverance that you've had for these many years as you struggle against the tyrannical regime in Tehran."#MaryamRajavi4FreeIran #FreeIran2024https://t.co/6RyeAhs3Ot
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 30, 2024
All over the region, at every turn, Iran is engaged in its self-declared war, and it’s continued to express its determination to attack and destroy the state of Israel with nuclear weapons. Iran is even more dangerous and more unpredictable. And how can a state like this be tolerated by other states in the region?
So, it has no legitimacy with its own people. It has no legitimacy, or it should have none, with states in the global community. Why would we treat a government like that as a legitimate government? We shouldn’t. And we will continue to press that the government of Iran is delegitimated.
But ultimately, the fate of that government depends on you: the people of Iran. You must overthrow that government. You can overthrow that government. And you will overthrow that government. You’ll replace it with a democratic government, with the platform outlined by President-elect Rajavi there’ll be freedom, there’ll be tolerance, there’ll be respectability of Iran, there’ll be honor paid to the great civilization of Persia and all of its history. It’s time to bring Iran forward, but not with this government.
You’ll overthrow this government with your patient support of the oppressed. You’ll do it by undermining the Basij and the other instruments of terror inside Iran. You’ll go to their families. You’ll find a few men and women of conscience. You’ll turn them against the oppressive policies of the Ayatollah and his mullahs. You’ll do it by public demonstrations in Iran at great cost, and around the world, as in Berlin. You’ll do it in the United States. You’ll do it because it must be done. You’ll do it by appealing to the consciences in the world, the United Nations, the Arab League, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the nations, the Arab nations in the Gulf, all want to see this government in Iran replaced.
After years of failed elections, the probable assassination of a president is part of an internal power struggle. Surely, the people of the world will listen to the voices of the loyal, courageous people of Iran represented here tonight.
We must say to these governments, no more funding the government of Iran. No more invitations to international conferences. No more participation in international organizations. No more, no more, enough. Let Iran be returned to its people, and then we can welcome Iran as a respected, responsible member of the world community.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s up to you. You have our hearts, you have our minds, you have our support. Help us help the world.
Thank you.
