Paris, June 29 — At the Free Iran 2024 World Summit, former Belgian Prime Minister and Member of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt delivered a compelling speech urging the European Union to adopt a drastically new approach towards Iran. He called for an end to the EU’s failed strategy of appeasement and complacency towards the Iranian regime.
Verhofstadt highlighted the regime’s ongoing oppression, particularly against women, and its brutal executions of political dissidents. He condemned Tehran’s nuclear proliferation and its destabilizing influence across the Middle East, supporting terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Additionally, the Belgian MEP criticized the clerical regime for supplying weapons to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
In a direct appeal to the newly appointed EU leadership, including High Representative Kaya Kallas, Verhofstadt outlined a bold new strategy based on four pillars:
- Recognition of the IRGC as a terrorist organization
- Abandonment of the 2015 nuclear deal
- An EU collective approach to hostage liberation
- Recognition and cooperation with democratic Iranian opposition
MEP Verhofstadt condemned the current regime’s lack of legitimacy, citing the overwhelming boycott of recent elections by the Iranian populace. He called on Western leaders to stop treating the mullahs as the true representatives of Iran and to instead support the NCRI and other democratic movements to prepare for a future Iran free from both the Shah and the mullahs.
The full text of MEP Guy Verhofstadt’s speech follows:
Thank you very much Mrs. Rajavi for the invitation.
It’s not the first time that I have been here at this World Summit Congress on Free Iran. And thank you for putting this World Summit in the colors of blue and yellow gold, I would say. They are the colors of the European Union, as you know, the flag of the European Union and they are the colors of another brave country that like you is fighting for its freedom, Ukraine, at the same time. So thank you for that.
And I will use this opportunity, Mrs. Rajavi, to give one clear message today. A clear message to the new leadership of the European Union. As you know, after the European elections, Thursday, last Thursday, a new leadership of the European Union has been appointed. Also, a new high representative, Mrs. Kaya Kallas. And I want to use this platform, this conference, together with you, to make a real urgent appeal to her and to the new leadership of Europe, to drastically change the strategy of the European Union towards Iran and the mullahs in Iran.
The strategy of the European Union has been a failure towards Iran in the last decade. It has been a strategy of appeasement. It has been an attitude of complacency. And it has failed. Because the mullah’s regime continues, in fact, their evil activities, their criminal activities, not only towards their own people but also towards the world. And the list of their atrocities, dear friends, is long today.
1-Former Belgian PM and MEP @guyverhofstadt:
"The EU strategy toward Iran has been a failure – it's time for a new, bolder approach."#MaryamRajavi4FreeIran #FreeIran2024 #FreeIran10PoinPIan pic.twitter.com/yVQEpxcbZL— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) July 3, 2024
There is oppression, especially of women. Why women? Because the women in Iran are the backbone of the democratic resistance in Iran. There are brutal executions, especially of political dissidents. There is nearly every day an execution of a brave Iranian man or woman.
We have seen, during the mullah’s regime, an ongoing proliferation in the nuclear field. And they are nearly ready to have a nuclear bomb. And there is, not to be forgotten, the destabilization of the whole Middle East. There is no one terrorist organization in that part of the world that is not sustained and financed by Iran today. That is the reality.
Be it Hamas, be it Hezbollah, be it the Houthis. And finally, it is the mullah’s regime that started also to deliver weapons to Russia in its brutal invasion of Ukraine. Well, such a regime that is oppressing women, that is executing dissidents on a daily basis, that is responsible for nuclear proliferation, that is destabilizing the whole Middle East, and at the same time is fueling another autocratic regime, as Russia has no legitimacy anymore. And it never got any legitimacy.
So, my appeal today to the leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union, and especially to the new leadership that has been elected, and to the new high representative, is that we need a new strategy. A new strategy that is bolder, that is more courageous, that is more effective. I would say we need, in fact, a strategy that is as bold and as courageous as the Iranian people themselves. That is what we need.
.@guyverhofstadt: "@Maryam_Rajavi, it’s time for western leaders to engage with you, to engage with all democratic forces in Iran. There will be a future in Iran, and it will be without the Shah or the mullahs."#MaryamRajavi4FreeIran#FreeIran2024https://t.co/t3I4j5woFU
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 29, 2024
And that means, in fact, that means, in fact, dear friends, a strategy based on what I call four different pillars:
The first pillar is the evidence itself. And it’s cruel that our political leaders are not capable of delivering that immediately. And that is the recognition of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. What are they waiting for?
Secondly, the second part of this strategy needs to stop, to try, as some are doing, to revive the nuclear deal. It leads to nothing, such a deal. The Iranian mullahs’ regime cannot be trusted. So, no deal on that issue.
Three, we need a new strategy, especially in the European Union, to liberate the hostages. And why? Because what is happening now is outrageous. Individual deals made by countries with the regime. And instead of doing that, a more collective approach is necessary, by launching a coherent sanction strategy towards the whole regime, increasing the sanction package, if every month hostages are not released. And it is, in fact, outrageous that today the European Union is only capable of sanctioning a few hundred, not more than that, of responsible people inside the mullahs’ regime.
And then finally, Mrs. Rajavi, the fourth pillar of such a new strategy, hopefully for the European Union and hopefully for the whole world, must be the recognition and cooperation with a democratic opposition that is seen as the only alternative, especially the NCRI, dear friends. It’s, in fact, outrageous that we are not capable of doing so, because the actual regime has no legitimacy.
You talked about 12 percent who participated in the presidential elections. I say it in another way, 88 percent didn’t participate and boycotted the elections in Iran. And that is more or less the same as the last parliamentary election, because there, if I’m not mistaken, it was only seven percent who participated. So that means 93 percent boycotted the election. How can you have any legitimacy in our world if 93 percent of your people boycott, in fact, your regime?
That’s the reality on the ground. And that means that we have to stop, we Western leaders, to act like the mullahs are the normal representatives of the brave Iranian people. They are not and they will never be the representatives of the Iranian people.
So, Mrs. Rajavi, it’s time to start for the Western leaders, to engage with you, to engage with the NCRI, to engage with all democratic forces in Iran, and to prepare for the future. Because a future, there is for Iran, but it will be a future without the Shah, without the mullah.
Thank you very much.