High-Profile ‘Free Iran’ Summit Sees Global Leaders Convene in Support of Iranian Resistance: ‘We Must Liberate Iran’

PARIS, FRANCE - 2024/04/30: Michèle Alliot-Marie, former French Minister of State, speaki
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Joshua Klein

As Iran is set to hold a presidential run-off election — widely considered a sham — following the lowest voter turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic, hundreds of prominent world leaders and legislators convened at a prominent Iranian opposition group’s annual international assembly in France.

They were backed by tens of thousands of more Iranians in Berlin to support the current uprising against Tehran’s brutal regime.

On Saturday, hundreds of officials and dignitaries from across the world gathered at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) headquarters on the outskirts of Paris to attend the group’s 2024 Free Iran World Summit and express support for the organization’s efforts in support of a free Iran.

Titled “Onward to a Democratic Republic,” the convention, which took place in Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris, featured an array of esteemed figures, legislators, former world leaders, and government officials from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Speakers included NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, President Donald Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former US Vice President Mike Pence, British ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss, former US national security advisors John Bolton and General James Jones, former NATO Commander General Wesley Clark, former Canadian premier Stephen Harper, and Republican Congressman Lance Gooden from Texas, Republican Senator Ted Cruz (TX), Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), among other high-profile personalities.

People, many of them expatriate Iranians living in Berlin, gather to demand freedom and democracy for Iran the day after Iran’s presidential election on June 29, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. The rally was organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Speakers decried the election as not democratic and demanded real political change in Iran. (Photo by Getty Images)

At the start of the summit, Rajavi addressed those attending the concurrent rally in the streets of Berlin, joined by German lawmakers and political figures, underscoring the Iranian people’s resolve to overthrow the current regime and emphasizing their triumph in the nationwide boycott of the regime’s elections. She also vowed that “freedom, democracy, and equality will be established in Iran.” 

Concluding with a powerful call to action, Rajavi urged, “Rise up and create victory through your fight and resistance. Onwards to the conquest of Tehran and the liberation of Iran. We can and we must liberate Iran.”

Addressing the conference outside Paris, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the crowd to remain encouraged despite the Biden administration’s “failure to enforce sanctions” and its “unwillingness to oppose the regime and help the people inside of it.” 

He also slammed the current administration for having paid billions of dollars “to get back a half a dozen American hostages and [yet] now there are more American hostages held by the Iranians in Gaza today.”

“In spite of all of that, you should know that the American people and the vast majority of the elected leaders in America understand that this regime in Iran must fall and are prepared to help them do so,” he added.

Recalling his “pride” after then President Trump “greenlighted the effort to take out General Soleimani,” Pompeo noted that the former president “was prepared to use American power to restore deterrence and begin to make sure that the world understood that a serious decision dealing with Iran matters and would work.”

He also insisted that the Iranian resistance will yet succeed, describing the “bright future” that awaits the Iranian people as it confronts the ruling “illegitimate regime.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) addressed the crowd via video broadcast, commending the “steadfast commitment to shine a light on the Iranian regime’s atrocious human rights abuses and acts of terrorism.”

Suggesting that Iran’s leaders are “terrified of dissidents,” Cruz slammed the Islamic Republic for having “committed countless acts of terror and aggression, threatening the lives of Iranian citizens and foreigners.”

Declaring that “we wield the power to dismantle this totalitarian government’s assault on our democratic principles,” he proclaimed that the Iranian people “deserve the right to choose legitimate leaders who respect their dignity and individual liberty.”

John Bolton, who served as the National Security Advisor under Trump, asserted that it should be the declared policy of the U.S. government to remove the Ayatollahs from power in Iran. He criticized the international community for failing to effectively support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom, stating, “People talk a lot about the problems of the people of Iran, but they haven’t really done anything effectively to change that.”

The former U.S. ambassador highlighted two key developments underscoring the threat posed by Iran: the emerging Beijing-Moscow axis, with Iran as a satellite, and Iran’s role in the unprecedented and “barbaric” October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Bolton also condemned Iran’s brutal tactics and warned of the broader ambitions of the Iranian regime. 

“The ring of fire strategy is directed first against Israel… but it’s not aimed just at Israel,” he said, emphasizing the threat to the Gulf Arab states and “ultimately it’s aimed at the United States.”

Noting that “there is no compromise with these Ayatollahs,” Bolton concluded that “once the regime is overthrown, the people share the same clear objective: they want a government of the people, by the people, and for the people — and they deserve it.”

In a resonant speech, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina thanked attendees for their commitment to human rights and democracy, while addressing the “brave” people of Iran. 

“Your courage and your resilience and your unwavering pursuit of freedom and justice have not gone unnoticed, and we stand with you,” she affirmed. 

Highlighting the importance of a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran, she vowed that the U.S. would amplify calls for freedom and apply international pressure on the theocratic regime. 

She also praised Iranian women’s bravery following Masah Amini’s death in 2020 and emphasized supporting the safety and rights of those in the NCRI’s “Ashraf-3” headquarters in Albania. Mace expressed pride in co-sponsoring House Resolution 1148, which backs the Iranian resistance’s “Ten-Point Plan for the Future of Iran,” as well as South Carolina’s unanimous support for the people of Iran’s fight for fundamental rights. 

“Let us be the generation that stood up, spoke out, and made a difference,” she concluded.

In addition, former VP Mike Pence blasted the Biden administration as he boasted of the Trump administration’s firm support for the Iranian people by canceling the failed nuclear deal, imposing sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, and enforcing measures to cripple Iran’s oil exports:

I’m proud of our record of support for the people of Iran and their quest for freedom. Under the Trump-Pence administration, we did not turn a deaf ear to the pleas of the Iranian people. We did not remain silent in the face of the Iranian regime’s countless atrocities. We proudly stood with the freedom-loving people of Iran. We cancelled the Iran nuclear deal that had flooded the regime’s coffers with tens of billions of dollars and pallets full of cash used to repress its own people and support deadly terrorist attacks across the world. We imposed crippling new sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. We launched a campaign of maximum pressure, punishing the regime for its belligerent behavior and assault of its own citizens. We vigorously enforced those sanctions to bring Iran’s oil exports to near zero and deny the regime its principle source of revenue. And we made it abundantly clear that the United States will never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. And we did not hesitate when the time came to stop the world’s leading terrorist and [Iranian General] Qasem Soleimani is gone.

He also accused the Biden administration of reversing all that progress.

“The day we left office, the Iranian regime was more isolated than ever before; but now, a current American administration has been unraveling much of the progress that we made in marginalizing that tyrannical regime, and working overtime to restore the Iran nuclear deal — putting Tehran back on a fast track for obtaining a nuclear weapon,” he said. 

“In fact, the Biden administration even admitted that under a restored nuclear deal, Iran would be capable of amassing enough nuclear fuel for a bomb in less than one year — faster than would have been allowed under the previous arrangement,” he added.

Despite the current administration’s dangerous actions, Pence noted, the American people and military remain strong, ready to defend liberty and support allies:

I say with a heavy heart these actions by the current American administration are naive and dangerous. But as the American presidential election unfolds, before a watching world, our allies and enemies should know this: whatever the condition of our current American leadership, the American people are strong. The American military is the strongest military in the history of the world, and any nation that wishes us or our allies ill must know, as President Kennedy said, that the American people always stand ready to pay any price, meet any hardship, bear any burden, and support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Ex-British PM Liz Truss noted that “it is particularly brave to stand up for freedom and democracy in Iran, given the brutality of the regime, and the repercussions that people face,” as she accused the Islamic regime of seeking to “extinguish that flame of freedom and democracy around the world… eradicate Israel, and they also want to undermine all of the values that we hold dear.”

As the gathering took place, a rally staged in the center of the German capital saw thousands of supporters and Iranian expatriates from across Europe waving flags and chanting slogans in support of a free Iran.

In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Saturday, NCRI foreign affairs committee member Ali Safavi, who serves as president of Near East Policy Research (NEPR), declared that the summit “vividly illustrates the Iranian people’s overwhelming rejection of the mullahs’ sham elections, which saw an 88 percent boycott by eligible voters.”

In addition, he noted, the gathering highlighted the “burgeoning global recognition and support for the Iranian Resistance, particularly endorsing NCRI’s President-elect Maryam Rajavi’s ten-point plan for a free and democratic Iran.”

Rajavi’s “Ten Point Plan” aims to ensure Iranians’ freedom of expression and assembly — as well as the right to choose their elected leaders — as part of the path toward a free, secular, and democratic Iran.

According to Safavi, the speakers at the event “forcefully advocated for an end to appeasement policies across the Atlantic, emphasizing the urgent need to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its four decades of crimes against humanity and genocide” which includes the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, “the majority of whom were members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).”

“Furthermore, they unequivocally condemned any form of dictatorship, be it monarchical or clerical,” he added.

The events come as elections in Iran, which are being described as a “sham,” have seen the regime disqualify many candidates as it faces widespread voter boycott due to skepticism about the election’s fairness.

Massive protests that erupted in Iran in 2022, have led to documented abuses by the regime, growing international criticism, and support for a democratic republic, highlighted by a bipartisan U.S. resolution endorsing Maryam Rajavi’s “Ten Point Plan” for a free, secular, and non-nuclear Iran.

According to the NCRI, Iran — the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide — is witnessing a revolution “in the making,” with the Islamic Republic no longer capable of containing the current uprising.

On Friday, Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt warned that Iran is “taking advantage of [the U.S.] in every corner.”

Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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