The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a statement reporting its semi-annual session held on July 6th and 7th with President-elect Maryam Rajavi taking part.
The statement reads in part:
Maryam Rajavi welcomed members of the NCRI as well as the participants who attended the first day of the meetings as observers. On the eve of the anniversary of the July 21, 1952 uprising, she paid homage to the martyrs of that great uprising and to Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq, the late leader of Iran’s National Movement. Also, on the anniversary of the foundation of the National Council of Resistance on July 21, 1981, she paid tribute to the martyrs of the Iranian Resistance who gave their lives in the relentless battle against the mullahs’ religious dictatorship and guaranteed the democratic alternative’s credibility and progress.
In her opening remarks, Maryam Rajavi briefly reviewed the most important developments of the past year and asserted, “Of course, the organized Resistance and democratic alternative is clearly the only party capable of transforming the volatile social status in this era of change into an existential threat to the regime.”
She cited the NCRI President as saying, “The experience of the past three decades has proven a major truth that if we adhere to our nationalist, patriotic and democratic principles, if we keep our ranks clean and steadfast, and if we endure and persist, the world will also move step by step to stand by our side.”
Maryam Rajavi declared, “We reiterate and emphasize that regime change and establishment of freedom and people’s sovereignty, is solely the task and within the powers of the Iranian people and Resistance and no one else. Having relied on the suffering, struggle and endurance of this movement and this alternative, today we are most confident in the victory and liberation of our homeland.
In the preliminary discussions, NCRI members described the Iranian Resistance’s annual gathering this year –the first to be held after the relocation of PMOI freedom fighters from Camp Liberty and joined by them via satellite connection– as a great victory beyond all the previous gatherings.
They congratulated and appreciated the efforts of the organizers and their fellow compatriots who participated in the gathering. They pointed out that this year’s successful, orderly and splendid gathering held despite the Resistance’s numerous problems, concurrent projects and instantaneous campaigns, was a heavy setback to the clerical regime on the political and international level.
Iran’s foreign minister had visited Paris the night before the gathering and literally sought to cancel the gathering. This shows the mullahs being completely isolated internationally. The gathering also launched immense internal disputes amongst the regime’s ranks and files, and the media. The Iranian regime reacted hysterically, signaling how such a session by its opposition signaled its near toppling.
The NCRI’s two-day interim session examined and deliberated on the developments of the past year including the organized and collective relocation of PMOI freedom-fighters from Iraq, Khamenei’s failure to tamper with the sham election’s outcome, the growth and expansion of the movement calling for justice for the victims of the massacre of political prisoners in 1988, the impact of the Resistance’s motto of “No to executioner, no to charlatan” on Khamenei’s engineering of the elections, the escalation of social protests and the turn of international and regional tides against the regime.
The NCRI considered Khamenei’s failure to unify his regime as a major development in the course of the mullahs’ demise. This will lead to irreparable rifts during Rouhani’s second term as president and unprecedented reactions from inside the regime. Khamenei has twice in his speeches after the elections compared the current crises with those witnessed back in 1980 and 1981. He also warned senior regime and IRGC officials, “Change in behavior means change in establishment.” This signals the failure of any attempt to portray factions of the regime as moderate or reformist, such as those seen in Rouhani.
The NCRI session assessed: The fact that social protests by workers and other strata have escalated despite the wave of executions and massive repression by the clerical regime and the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), indicates the intolerable pressure borne by the greater majority of the populace who are enraged by looting and environmental disasters caused by the regime while lacking the most basic needs of life including clean air.
The NCRI called for solidarity among all social strata to support and fuel such protests against the divided and crisis-riddled regime.
In its two-day session, the National Council of Resistance of Iran also discussed the turn of regional and international tide against the Iranian regime, cessation of major concessions to the theocratic regime by the previous US administration, and events such as the Riyadh conference held in the presence of more than 50 heads of state, as well as new developments in the conflict and crisis in Syria.
The NCRI session discussed the Iranian regime’s failure to annihilate Ashraf and Liberty residents, and the Iranian opposition’s amazing success in transferring them fully, safely and in an organized manner out of Iraq. Although despite all their commitments, the mullahs’ plundering elements in Iraq continue to maintain their control on $600 million worth of the PMOI’s registered assets in Ashraf and Liberty, which is necessary to provide the expenses of the transfer, stationing and other costs of this movement. The NCRI demanded these asset be returned or to be compensated.
The NCRI emphasized the new balance of power highlights the need to expand various campaigns inside Iran, the Middle East and across the globe by the Iranian opposition. The NCRI session went on to emphasize the necessity and importance of focusing all forces and efforts to respond to these demands and obligation. The NCRI also stressed on the importance of Iranians supporting this movement, considering this the source of the organized opposition’s continued efforts even in the harshest of times.