Iranian Opposition Leader: Defeat of Assad's Dictatorship, Prerequisite to Conquering ISIS

PARIS, January 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

While describing 2015 as a harsh year for the Middle East with "bloodbaths in Syria and Iraq" and a difficult year for Iranian people due to heightened suppression of women and religious minorities and "because of nearly 1,000 executions under the so-called moderate Rouhani government", Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi assessed that the Iranian regime and the terrorist group Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) faced serious setbacks in 2015 and that 2016 could dawn a new era in defeating Islamic fundamentalism.

"Daesh can be conquered. However, the first step in doing so, is to defeat [Bashar] Assad's dictatorship that fosters Daesh with the backing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps", Rajavi told a New Year ceremony on Sunday at the headquarters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in a northern suburb of Paris.

Regarding the challenge of the civilized world in dealing with the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, she underscored "the world can free itself from fundamentalism only when the clerical regime in Iran, that is the epicenter of fundamentalism, is overthrown." She called on the world community to respect the Iranian people's struggle for the overthrow of the mullahs and to adopt a firm policy to expel the Iranian regime from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

"The more France and the world focus on the Tehran regime and its allies as the source of fundamentalism, the closer they get to peace and security," Rajavi said.

Hundreds of French supporters of the Iranian resistance attended the ceremony.

A number of French political and religious dignitaries including Bishop Jacques Gaillot; Jean-Pierre Brard, former member of the French National Assembly; and Khalil Merroun, prayer leader and head of the mosque in Evry, took part in the event.

While referring to French supporters of the Iranian resistance, Rajavi said: "we have had the very positive experience of coexistence between two cultures and two religions."

The event took place as earlier during the day, France remembered terror victims in an event attended by thousands of people at Place de la Republique in central Paris. French President Francois Hollande attended the event.  

After presiding over Sunday's ceremony, French President Francois Hollande made an unannounced visit to the main Paris mosque for "a moment of friendship and fraternity over a cup of tea", a presidency official said.

In her remarks, Rajavi cited the Iranian regime's retreat in its quest to obtain nuclear weapons and its regional deadlock and isolation and mentioned that anti-government protests in Iran have become more frequent and more persistent than before.

Citing some aspects of the state of affairs in Iran under Rouhani's presidency, Rajavi said: "Under his government, more than two thousand people have been executed. Rouhani explicitly supports Bashar Assad's dictatorship. He has done his utmost to support the IRGC's war machine. Two weeks ago, he issued an order for the expansion of the IRGC missile system."

She also pointed out that in October Camp Liberty, in Iraq, which houses members of Iran's main opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), came under a terrorist rocket attack, leaving 24 residents killed.

According to the Iranian opposition leader, Rouhani "seeks to conceal the detestable image of the Iranian regime. This duplicity, on his part and part of other mullahs, is an affront to human conscience the world over. On the one hand, the mullahs rejoice the November 13th massacre in Paris; on the other hand, Rouhani ostensibly condemns the attack. This is a division of role that must not deceive anyone."

Paris has been the scene of several protests by the people of France regarding human rights abuses in Iran on the eve of Rouhani's visit to Paris at the end of this month.