Iranian Association in Exile, Berlin , June 6, 2015: The conference “Bridge Berlin” that was held in Berlin by the Iranian regime and its lobbies to cloak the gloomy condition of the velayat-e faqih system turned into a dismal failure for its sponsors. This program was one of the most expensive propaganda shows of the regime and its lobbies abroad that promised foreign investors of novel and lucrative investments in Iran, but it turned into a show of regime’s moribund nature and vividly demonstrated that no one is prepared to invest on a dead horse.
The goal of this conference was to prop up a brutal regime that in fear of the consequences of drinking the “chalice of poison” of the nuclear deal and apprehensive of an uprising by the fed up Iranian people, has dramatically intensified its suppression of the Iranian people. The wave of collective and arbitrary executions is such that on many days, every 90 minutes a prisoner is hanged in Iran.
The lobbies and the elements of the Iranian regime in the United States and Europe, under the direct guidance of Tehran, were working to hold this multi-million dollar conference. The sponsors of the event had announced that this gathering is directly supported by the office of President Hassan Rouhani. According to a senior Iranian regime official, “the Berlin conference is of special importance for the regime because of the sharp decline in the oil revenues and the probability that low oil prices would continue in the coming years”.
They advertized that the conference will be held in Berlin’s Congress Center called City Cube and that it would be the greatest gathering of Iranians abroad in the last 30 years with over 2000 people expected to attend. It was stated that 80 advanced-technology institutions of Iran will meet with their future partners from the United States and Europe. It was also stated that the Financial Times would monitor and report on the conference every minute. They timed the conference to be close to the grand gathering of Iranians in Villepinte, Paris under the illusion to overshadow that event.
However, the propaganda proved fruitless in the very first hours of the event. Less than 100 people participated in the conference such that the sponsors could not even show a video of the conference. The conference was held in the smallest hall of Congress Center with empty seats although the capacity of the hall was just 200 people. Telling from the appearance of those who showed up and could be seen in a video clip of 1.5 minutes put on You Tube by a Russian Company, it was evident that the participants had been brought in to Germany or they were elements of the Iranian embassy and the regime’s lobbies.
Interestingly enough, no German personality, politician or of business prominence attended. In the 3-day program of the event that the sponsors clearly had a hard time filling it up, just one German citizen was introduced and there were no German speakers. And this person is a female employee of a company that arranges conferences in Germany.
The German and of course international media completely ignored the event. Not a single report was sent out and no German or foreign reporter showed up. The only report was from IRNA News Agency (English language) which reported that the conference had 2000 attendees and online viewers. This state-run news agency filled the gap created by 100 participants by magnifying the number 20 fold. The Conference was such a failure that IRNA has not posted any reports in Farsi. Farshad Noshady, deputy head of technology and strategy of Salman Bank, had been introduced as one of the speakers to the event. However, following widespread disclosures by protestors and the Iranian forum that Salman Bank is in the U.S. sanctions list, the sponsors quietly crossed out his name in the morning of the event.
This conference was first expected to be held in Britain, but due to U.S. pressures that the sanctions are in place, the sponsors forwent their plan to hold the conference in London.
This miserable failure once again showed that this barbaric regime is incapable of gaining any trust or credibility in economic or political arenas and as far as the Iranian people and the world community are concerned, this regime is moribund and should be overthrown.