A SENIOR US politician has said the days of the clerical regime in Iran “are numbered” and that those behind it could lose power “in a blink of an eye”.
Dana Rohrabacher – a Republican member of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee – was speaking after a conference on the prospects for change in Iran in Paris, which also looked at US and European policy on Iran.
Rohrabacher also had talks with Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
He and colleague Ted Poe condemned the regime for its violent crackdown on protesters and said the international community had to break its silence and inaction.
They urged Trump’s government to impose comprehensive sanctions as well as measures to enable the Iranian people to overcome the blocking of the internet and access communication systems.
Rohrabacher and Poe also urged their government to force the expulsion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its proxy militias from the countries in the region.
Rohrabacher told The National the prospects for a regime change in Iran by the people were “very good” and added: “The mullah’s regime’s days are numbered. The uprising that started several months ago is now right under the surface. It can jump up again before anyone knows.
“We have to be very strong and very tough on the mullahs’ regime. But we cannot do the job for the people of Iran.
“We have to let them know that we are on their side, but they cannot count on the US to be the one that makes the change of the regime in their country.
“We believe in regime change in Iran, but it has to come from within and not from without.”
Rohrabacher, who chairs the US subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, said he doubted the wisdom of investing in Iran while the regime remained in power.
“I think at this moment, when there has just been an uprising, the one that is not over yet, it is not the time for Americans or any other people who believe in democracy, who believe in freedom and wants to live in a more peaceful world to start getting involved, in either putting investments in Iran getting or specially any type of thing that has to do with the regime,” he said.
Rajavi said the protests were proof that the Iranian people wanted regime change, and they would continue until the underlying factors – economic mismanagement, inflation and government corruption – were resolved.
“The uprising marked a turning point in the struggle of the Iranian people to attain freedom and democracy,” she said.
“With the Iranian people’s uprising, the clerical regime has entered its final phase and as such any investment in this regime is doomed to fail. It is time for the international community to stand with the Iranian people and not with the clerical regime.”
Rohrabacher said the West was not against Iran itself, but the “corrupt” dictatorship and “oppressive government”.
He said: “We have to make sure that message gets to the people of Iran and that is for both the US and Europe. It is in our own joint interest, for a more peaceful world and not to have a regime dedicated to some fanatic Islamic extremist view that they are engaged in to promote in various parts of the world especially in the Middle East.
So, we need to get that message to the people throughout Iran that we are on the side of the people and not on the side of the regime and that the regime change from within needs to happen.”
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on a British-drafted resolution later today that would condemn Iran for violating a UN arms embargo by providing missiles and drones to Shiite rebels in Yemen — and commit to future action against Tehran.
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