By Carla Sands
After 47 years in power, Iran’s authoritarian Islamic theocracy is on the verge of complete collapse. For nearly five decades, the regime has been a source of terror and instability, first threatening its own people with systematic repression and the denial of fundamental freedoms, then extending its malign influence across the region and the beyond, undermining peace and security at every turn.
These threats came to a head earlier this year, when Tehran killed an estimated 30,000 participants in a nationwide uprising for democracy, then proceeded to double down on its defiance of world powers that sought a verifiable end to its nuclear ambitions. When war broke out in February and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, it was a step in the right direction for Western World powers that had long failed to address the root of the problem, and let the Iranian leadership spread their poison.
Unfortunately, that momentum has not yet been fully translated into a coherent strategy. Recent events have underscored the futility of efforts to reach a durable understanding with Iranian leadership, reinforcing the need for sustained pressure on the regime. Yet while that pressure has increased, some Western governments continue to pursue policies that provide the ruling authoritarian establishment with unnecessary political breathing room. On June 21, French authorities issued an injunction to halt a rally in Paris organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran less than 48 hours before some 100,000 Iranian expatriates were due to arrive and take part.
Such actions threaten to undermine an historic opportunity for the international community to help the Iranian people and the organized, democratic opposition movement to break the regime’s hold on power once and for all. Meanwhile, the Iranian Regime’s demand for these unearned concessions reveals the extent to which it fears that opposition – as does its recent campaign of domestic terror, involving at least eight executions and a dozen death sentences for members of the NCRI coalition’s main constituent group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
Those death sentences are part of a much broader pattern of repression that has also targeted participants in last January’s uprising, and has indirectly revealed the courage of those Iranians who continue to lay their lives on the line for the cause of national liberation. The regime’s cruel acts of repression are meant to silence dissent, but the people and especially the youth of Iran refuse to be intimidated.
That, in turn, serves as a reminder that where the Islamic Republic is concerned, the central struggle is not between external forces but between the theocratic dictatorship and a people determined to reclaim their future. Had Saturday’s rally been permitted to go forward, it would have emphasized that this struggle represents an alternative to both appeasement and war for Western powers. It is political support for a new domestic uprising that aims to implement the ten-point plan authored by NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi.
Failure to recognize this option has been a missing element in Western policy practically since the inception of the Islamic Republic in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. That failure has grown steadily more inexplicable as the regime has been shaken by the actions of a network of organized “Resistance Units” operating on the ground inside the country.
Equally inexplicable is the insistence, in some policy circles, that viable opposition to the mullahs’ regime stems not from these Resistance Units but from the son of the Shah who was deposed in the 1979 revolution. That notion is as insulting to Iranians as is the obstruction of their planned rally, because it contradicts the commitment to democracy that has been evident across four Iranian uprisings over the past eight years.
What’s more, efforts to legitimize Reza Pahlavi pose a danger to the interests of Western nations themselves, given that he has called upon the United States to continue its war against the Islamic Republic on his behalf. The NCRI has alternatively articulated a roadmap for regime change that involves no direct foreign intervention, nor even material support for the domestic opposition.
Under Maryam Rajavi’s leadership, the NCRI offers a viable democratic alternative. Her brilliant ten-point plan declares free elections, freedom of religion, assembly, expression, and the press. It expresses commitment to gender equality, environmental protection, and peaceful international relations beginning with the dismantling of Tehran’s provocative nuclear program. And it offers a free market economy as the framework for solving an economic crisis that has cratered the value of Iran’s national currency and plunged the majority of its population into abject poverty.
In short, it represents the only viable solution to the crisis in Iran, and one that the United States and its allies should not hesitate to support, especially in the wake of military actions that have left the current regime’s military and political infrastructure in shambles. Unfortunately, recent statements and actions suggest that France and other nations have yet to fully learn this lesson. The stark choice is still staring us in the face. The opportunity remains to open the door to peace, stability, and freedom.
Carla Sands is a former U.S. ambassador to Denmark (2017-2021) and a former member of President Trump’s Economic Advisory Council.
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