Irans exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi has called for an end to Western negotiations with the countrys “regime of terror” and insisted that “maximum support” be given to the Iranian people, who he said are the “true sovereigns of Iran.”
Speaking at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. on Jan.15, the exiled Prince insisted that negotiating with the countrys regime was a “betrayal” of the Iranian people and instead called for an open dialogue with the representatives of the Iranian people to help them achieve freedom.
“In offering the regime negotiations without preconditions, you neglect the peoples demand for unconditional support,” he said.
“In fact, you betrayed them by accommodating their oppressors. International attention and solidarity are vital to any movement seeking to overthrow a totalitarian regime. The Iranian peoples struggle is no exception. This is precisely why the regimes proxies and apologists in the Western media and policy communities work diligently to frustrate any form of support for the free world, whether by advocating cuts in funding for civil education or human rights initiatives or by peddling the absurd argument that even speaking of the regimes crimes will undermine democratic progress.”
“Today, I look forward to discussing a new path, one that focuses on engaging the true sovereigns of Iran, the people of Iran. This regime deserves every form of maximum pressure, but my people deserve every ounce of maximum support,” he added.
Pahlavi said that Irans “reign of terror” traced back nearly 40 years and cited several incidents in which the regime had repressed and murdered its people, including the recent shooting down of Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, which killed all 176 passengers on board, of which 82 were Iranian nationals.
“Hasnt there been enough water under the bridge for us to assess that this regime cannot be trusted? It has never been transparent. It has never been honest,” the exiled Prince said.
“It has proven time and again that its willing to sacrifice the lives of millions of Iranian people just to maintain itself in power. And the message youll be sending to a nation that is trying to get free from this regime that we are still insisting on having some dialogue with them,” he said.
“Its not an encouraging message. It can only be interpreted as something, to put it bluntly, discouraging. And by saying that—and I think the time has come to finally realize that expecting the regime to change anything different than what its done for the past 40 years is literally a waste of time.”
Pahlavi insisted that people of Iran, who he called the “X-Factor,” were crucial to achieving freedom in the country, adding that in 40 years, they had “never been considered.”
“Have a dialogue with the representatives of the Iranian people of the secular democratic forces. Have them be offering you the ways that they can help themselves achieve that freedom because, as I said before, we have the shared values of freedom and human rights. And we are part of the solution, but we have never been, until now, a factor as a nation.”
“Because history has shown us that regimes dont survive, but peoples are eternal. And its the people factor that counts here, not regime factor. Were no longer in the 20th century. We are in the 21st century. Its a big difference than that era, where raison detat or detente or some realpolitik was the order of the day—not anymore. You canRead More – Source
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