Speaking to members of House Foreign Affairs subcommittee via videoconference from France, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran told the members of congress on April 29 that Iranians have dubbed the clerical regime the “godfather” of the Islamic State militant group.
Maryam Rajavi said Tehran wants nuclear weapons to foster Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism and “The ultimate solution to this problem is regime change.”
Maryam Rajavi discussed international negotiations underway with the Iranian regime to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Maryam Rajavi warned against giving the clerical regime too many concessions, saying it would embolden the mullahs to be more aggressive in meddling in other nations.
Maryam Rajavi said the U.S. and five other nations in talks must demand that it completely stop enriching uranium and shut down its nuclear sites, missile programs and other programs.
“None of the sanctions should be lifted before an agreement has been signed that effectively and definitively denies the mullahs the bomb, ” Rajavi said.
“Otherwise, the regime will spend billions of unfrozen assets to buy weapons, including advanced missiles from Russia.”
Chairman Ted Poe asked: “How is ISIS philosophy different from Sunnis, say in Saudi Arabia or Shiites in Iran?”
Maryam Rajavi said: “So far as the formation of the ISIS is concerned it was also the mullahs’ regime who helped the creation of ISIS. The crimes committed by the Iranian regime and Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the killing of the Sunnis in Iraq helped the emergence of ISIS.
Therefore, gaining state power, when this regime gained state power in Iran, it created the terrorism as a major threat for global peace and security.”
“But from a philosophical perspective, most fundamental elements in all fundamentalist groups whether Sunni or Shiite, which they have in common are the following. They want to force their religion or school of thought, establish a religious dictatorship whether under the name of Caliphate or the absolute rule of the clergy.”
Rajavi added: “They do not believe in any borders and going after expansion and capturing other territories. They also believe that those who do not accept the Sharia law must be eliminated. And I want to stress that there is an anti-thesis to this philosophy and that is a tolerant and democratic interpretation of Islam. There is a conflict between the ISIS and the mullahs in Iran, but that is an internal power struggle. Despite any differences, the continuation of other fundamentalist groups very much hinges on the Iranian regime remaining in power. Terrorism and fundamentalism under the name of Islam came to the world scene by the mullahs’ regime in Iran and when this regime is overthrown that will be limited or destroyed.”
Rajavi said: “And it is interesting that after the emergence of ISIS, the people of Iran called the regime in Iran the godfather of ISIS. And regarding the Saudi Arabia, I want to add that ISIS, on the contrary to Saudi Arabia do not believe in borders. Therefore, the question is not being Sunni or Salafi or whatever. The problem is those characteristics which I just identified and that’s where you will see that despite all the differences, how ISIS is very close to the fundamentalists ruling in Iran.”
Congressman Poe asked: Mrs. Rajavi, I may ask you a question that you made a comment about. How do you see the mullahs in Iran having facilitated and helped the ISIS movement? How has ISIS been able to expand its influence, its philosophy because of the mullahs in Iran? Make that clear if you would on how there is that connection?
Maryam Rajavi said: “there is power struggle between ISIS and the Iranian regime. But at the same time on occasions they had cooperated. For example, Zarqawi, the original founder and leader of ISIS received enormous logistic support from the Iranian regime. He even had his bases in Iran. And I think it was in 2005 that intelligence security services in Germany exposed this connection between Zarqawi and the Iranian regime.”
“And also there has been many reports even in the media that Bashar Al-Assad released many of the ISIS members from prison in order to join ISIS. Syrian in their air attacks, they have generally not attacked ISIS, but their focus has been on the moderate opposition in Syria. So I want to conclude that so far as the mullahs’ regime in Iran is concerned, they are 100% supporting Bashar al-Assad in Syria. And therefore all the crimes that are committed there, by the help and support of the mullahs regime has created a fertile ground for ISIS to emerge and on the other hand, crimes committed by Maliki at the behest of the Iranian regime in Iraq and in particular the absolute suppression of the Sunnis has led to empowering ISIS to expand itself both in Iraq and Syria.”
Representative Brad Sherman (California) told Mrs. Maryam Rajavi: “I want to thank the MEK for revealing to the world the Natanz nuclear plant. There may have been a few members of the intelligence committee who knew that before the MEK told us. I was speaking on behalf of roughly 400 members of the Congress. Thank you for telling members of the Congress, as well. Now, you personally promote a very tolerant, moderate view of Islam. You are an advocate of separation of religion and state, and you have been an advocate for human rights and women’s rights. Of course, your country has been ruled by very rigid laws. They call for stoning people and chopping off limbs. ISIS does the same thing, supposedly in support of a different version of Islam. Iran being Shiite, ISIS being Sunni. Why is their understanding of Islam the same or at least similar in our eyes? And why do both rulers of Iran and ISIS, force their beliefs through these gruesome measures? If you could respond.“
Maryam Rajavi said: “Thank you very much Congressman Sherman. You touched upon a very important issue. You said that Islamic fundamentalism of the kind of the Shiite is even more dangerous than the Sunnite one. Before anything else, the reason is that there is a state in power in the dimensions of the mullahs’ regime, in a country, in a vast country with so much resources, financial resources, and it is supporting these Shiite fundamentalist groups financially, ideologically and logistically in every field, therefore they are much more dangerous. I agree with you. Regarding your question why they resort to so much violence to pursue their objectives … I should tell you that the reason is they can only survive through absolute fear and terror, and this has been the trend of over 30 years of ruling fundamentalists in Tehran that now has expanded to Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and other countries. And other fundamentalists take lesson from their godfather. Let’s not forget that the mullahs for example in Iran, they are implementing more than 70 kinds of different torture, cutting of limbs or gouging out eyes, executing pregnant women and all the heinous crimes that one could imagine. And now this ISIS and other fundamentalists are really imitating from the mullahs in Iran. Therefore, I reiterate once again that the ultimate solution is: Evict, dislodge the Iranian regime from Syria, Iraq and Yemen and even more important regime change in Iran.”
“The fundamentalist regime in Iran must be changed because this regime has created a political umbrella, and a source of ideology and logistical support and financial support for fundamentalism and terrorism in today’s world. If it was not due to the destructive influence of the Iranian regime, we would not face the current situation today in Iraq, Yemen and Syria and they would have stability. Mrs Rajavi said.
