Interview with Maryam Rajavi published on October 27 in the Belgian daily De Standaard
De Standaard, Belgium – Neither war nor the appeasement policy are solutions to Iran’s nuclear program. Only tough sanctions and cooperation with the Iranian Resistance can bring changes.
It is with much energy and expressive wide-opened eyes that Maryam Rajavi thundered against the religious dictatorship of the mullahs. She vigorously dismissed the criticisms against her organization. “The appeasement and bargaining policy that the European Union is currently pursuing will lead to a war as the one we saw in Lebanon. The mullahs’ strategy relies on fundamentalism and the exportation of terrorism to the Middle East and the whole world. The mullahs’ regime continues working on the atomic bomb to threaten others.”
De Standaard: Yet there are some democratic changes in Iran which do not correspond to what you say. An article published in De Standaard reports that the Iranians do not like your organization.
Maryam Rajavi: In a religious dictatorship which cracks down on everything, the population cannot show its support. If someone does it, he or she risks being executed. It is completely natural that the Iranians do not have confidence in foreign journalists. Our movement lost 120,000 of its members in two decades and it benefits from a large financial network, able to gather information from inside Iran and to organize demonstrations by several thousands.
De Standaard: The Iranian opinion is very divided.
Maryam Rajavi: We have announced the creation of a “national solidarity front” which is more open than the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Iranian groups which want to take part in the struggle against this regime are welcome under these defined bases: the overthrow of the religious dictatorship in its entirety, supporting a republican regime, freedom and equality between women and men, and the separation of religion and State.
De Standaard: Do you agree with the allegation that because of Iraq, Iran is stronger than ever today.
Maryam Rajavi: Not at all. This is an analysis that the mullahs propagate within the international community. This regime is weaker than ever. In Iran, there is a general and deep popular discontent. The regime only remains in power owing to public hangings. It seeks to terrorize the population.
De Standaard: What policy does the European Union has to adopt towards the Iranian regime?
Maryam Rajavi: Europe unilaterally gave many benefits to the mullahs’ regime and devoted much time to it. This enabled the mullahs to get closer than ever to the atomic bomb.
We think that the European Union must impose a political and technological embargo. No military equipment must be sold and we have to stop purchasing oil from Iran.
The People’s Mojahedin [the military arm of the NCRI] which has been placed on the terrorism list at the request of the mullahs must be removed from this list as soon as possible.
This unjust label constitutes the biggest impediment for the Resistance and the Iranian people beacuse it prevents them from acting.
If the international community puts an end to the appeasement policy, the Resistance will then be able to change the situation.
De Standaard: Stop buying oil from Iran is something which would probably not happen so soon.
Maryam Rajavi: If the option of imposing sanctions is not adopted, then the situation will worsen. The West needs oil, but would a third world war not be harder? If the regime acquires the atomic bomb, how many war dead will there be in the world?
De Standaard: Is your ideology still a strange mix between Islam and Marxism?
Maryam Rajavi: We believe in a democratic Islam which is diametrically opposed to the Islam advocated by the mullahs. Islam has nothing to do with Marxism. It is a label that the shah was the first to impose on us and that the mullahs have taken up again. The mullahs are afraid of our Islam, because if they recognize that the Mojahedin are genuine Muslims, it would mean that the Islam of the mullahs is a medieval one. We are democratic Muslims.
