Letter from 11 opposition organizations to European leaders: Help replace the Islamic Republic with a secular democratic system in Iran

Eleven organizations and parties of the "Iranian pro-democracy opposition" have written a letter to the leaders of the three European countries present at the Vienna talks, asking them to "help end the Islamic Republic system and replace it with a secular democratic system" by providing "maximum support" to the Iranian people, instead of nuclear talks.

Hamed Sheibani-Rad, a political activist and member of the Farshgerd Network, told the Persian service of the Voice of America about why he wrote this letter, stating that "the negotiations with the Islamic Republic are unfortunately heading towards signing a worse agreement than the previous one." He added: "The political forces active in the fight against the Islamic Republic have defined duties for themselves, including negotiating with interested foreign countries and sometimes reminding them of certain points."

This member of the Farshgerd network called the Islamic Republic "abnormal," "anti-human rights," and "anti-Semitic" that "goes to the other side of the planet and as far as Argentina to kill Jews," and added: "The Iranian people, like other freedom-loving people who fought against their oppressors, need the support of the international community. Just as others helped the countries of Eastern Europe to survive."

Sheibani-Rad considered "implementing intelligent and case-by-case sanctions on the elements of the Islamic Republic's repression" and "recognizing opposition and political forces active in the field who are pro-democracy and secular" as methods of Western countries' assistance "in the process of forming an alternative to the Islamic Republic," and emphasized: "If the Islamic Republic's repressive forces commit a massacre like November 1998 or even worse, it is the duty of foreign governments to intervene in a humanitarian manner."

According to the text of this letter, which was addressed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, the policy of the West, and especially Europe, towards the Islamic Republic over the past 43 years has been described as "paying bribes and appeasement with the aim of normalizing and changing the behavior of this inherently abnormal regime," which is a "failed" policy and "has not only failed to bring about a change in the evil behavior of the Islamic Republic," but has also led to the intensification of its "terrorist activities" and "nuclear and military ambitions" in the international arena and the "suppression of the Iranian nation" in the domestic arena.

The organizations signing this letter have called two decades of nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic an "erosive" process that "has only given the Islamic Republic the opportunity to buy time and, through secrecy and deception of the international community, bring its military nuclear and ballistic missile programs to an irreversible stage."

The organizations "Avay Azadi Think Tank, Iran Change, Social Democracy Society for Iran, Secular Democracy Movement of Iran, Secular Democratic Party of Iranians, Constitutional Party of Iran (Liberal Democrat), Overseas Organization of Pan-Iranianist Party, Liberal Alumni Organization of Iran, Farshgerd Network, Iran Liberation Congress, and People's Organization" have been announced as signatories of this letter.

Source: Voice of America