(Video) Iran Election 2021 – NCRI Foriegn Affairs Committee Chair: Iran Presidential Election, A Travesty, One-man Show

Developments regarding the Iranian regime’s sham Presidential election, its prospects and consequences, and the responsibility of the international community.

PARIS, FRANCE, May 26, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In a news briefing earlier today, Wednesday, May 26, 2021, Mr. Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), spoke about the most recent developments regarding the Iranian regime’s sham Presidential election, its prospects and consequences, and the responsibility of the international community.

In his remarks, Mr. Mohaddessin noted that in the past 40 years, elections in Iran have never been about an expression of popular choice in a democratic, fair and transparent process. “They are a travesty, a selection process, by a supreme leader who is himself unelected. Khamenei controls an unelected vetting body charged with filtering candidates,” he said.

The NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman underscored that the election outcome is not decided by the people, but by the regime’s internal balance of power.

Mohaddessin offered the following reasons as to why this year’s election must be distinguished from the years past:

• It comes after three nationwide uprisings – in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
• The regime is facing an explosive society. There are daily protests by virtually every sector.
• The economy is bankrupt.
• The regime is isolated regionally and internationally.
• Factional feuding is escalating.
• A very potent organized opposition has become more active inside the country.

In explaining why Khamenei-controlled vetting body, the Guardian Council had to ax a loyal insider like Ali Larijani, who had been the Parliament Speaker for 12 years, Secretary for the Supreme National Security Council, Head of the state-run radio and TV, Minister of Culture, and an IRGC Brig. Gen., Mohaddesin underscored that Khamenei was caught between a rock and a hard place, for which reason he had to close ranks and consolidate power.

The NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee Chair stressed that Khamenei dispensed with the "'Moderate-Hardliner’ theatrics, to secure the presidency of his preferred candidate, Ebrahim Raisi, the key member of the death commission, which sent 30,000 political prisoners to the gallows in 1988 and ordered hundreds of other executions in the early 1980s,” in effect turning this masquerade into “a one-man show.”

Suggesting that this inevitable contraction will backfire because it will shrink the regime’s power base and make it more fragile and incapable to deal with the many crises engulfing it, Mohaddessin said, “The regime will become more vulnerable in the face of the looming nationwide uprising waiting in the wings. And when that happens, it will be far more intense and widespread than in previous years. In a nutshell, for Khamenei, this is a battle of survival.”

Mohaddessin added that to compensate for domestic weaknesses and silence the disgruntled rival internal factions, Khamenei helped to prolong the conflict in Gaza. The head of a pro-Tehran Palestinian group sent a letter, thanking him, the IRGC Quds Force, and its commander for being on the “battlefield” in Gaza, and providing material support, weapons, and training to carry on the deadly conflict.”

However, Mohaddessin said, “Even this hollow show of force cannot and will not provide a way out of the deadly impasse Khamenei is facing. Because he is facing a powder keg, a society about to explode, and a resistance movement acting as the engine.

“All the repressive measures, arrests, executions, and restrictions on social media have failed. They haven’t prevented the spread of the organized opposition, in the form of Resistance Units,” NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee Chair underlined, adding, “The nationwide call for the boycott of the sham election has gained momentum and people are openly calling for the regime’s overthrow.”

To support his argument, Mohaddessin pointed to the fact that officials and state media were sounding the alarm. “Every single day,” he said, “they are warning about the growing appeal of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) supporters and resistance units among the public, especially among the youth, and are openly speaking about their impact on the hearts and minds of the Iranian public.”

Mohaddessin said Iran in 2021 is on the threshold of a seminal transformation. “What happened yesterday should offer a valuable lesson to world powers. They continued to pin their hopes on illusory moderates or reformers within a medieval theocracy. But a viper never gives birth to a dove. This misguided approach worked to the detriment of the Iranian people and only emboldened the regime,” he emphasized.

Criticizing the international community, NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, warned that the mullahs were confident that they can get away with murder. “Just look at the events of the past month. From Kabul to Riyadh, from Beirut to Baghdad, and from Damascus to the Gaza Strip, killings and explosions are taking place everywhere. Make no mistake, the Iran regime is to blame,” he said.

Mr. Mohaddessin recalled the statement by the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi that there was no longer any excuse to appease and engage with this regime.

The NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee Chair concluded by saying, “Any interaction and cooperation with the mullahs will help repression and killing of the Iranian people. It will help the regime get nuclear weapons and start conflicts in the region. The time has come for the West to end its appeasement and adopt a firm approach.”

He laid out four specific actions that the international community should take.

Echo the call by the Iranian people and condemn this sham election as illegitimate, neither fair nor free.
End impunity for the mass murderers who are ruling the country.
Bring them to justice for the crimes they have committed against humanity in the past four decades.
Stand on the right side of history and with the Iranian people in their quest for freedom.

Mr. Mohaddessin's remarks follow:

You are all wondering what happened yesterday. The Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi was the only serious candidate left among 592 who registered. He is dubbed by the Iranian people as the Henchman of the 1988 massacre, in which 30,000 political prisoners were killed. Raisi has neither academic nor religious standing. He is an illiterate and ruthless thug, turned Hojjatol-Islam.
Let’s watch a short clip on his background.

Let me put this election in context.
In the past 40 years, elections in Iran have never been about an expression of popular choice in a democratic, fair and transparent process. They are a travesty, a selection process, by a supreme leader who is himself unelected. Khamenei controls an unelected vetting body charged with filtering candidates.

So the election outcome is not decided by the people. It’s decided by the regime’s internal balance of power.
But even by the regime’s own standards, the election this year needs to be distinguished from those in the years past.

What makes this election different?
• It comes after three nationwide uprisings – in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
• The regime is facing an explosive society. There are daily protests by virtually every sector.
• The economy is bankrupt.
• The regime is isolated regionally and internationally.
• Factional feuding is escalating.
• A very potent organized opposition has become more active inside the country.

To deal with all of these, Khamenei felt he had no choice but to consolidate power.
This is why the Guardian Council axed a loyal insider like Larijani: The Parliament Speaker for 12 years, Secretary for the Supreme National Security Council, Head of the state-run radio and TV, Minister of Culture, and an IRGC General.

Of course, we, in the Iranian Resistance, saw this coming. Khamenei has been engineering this outcome for months.
In his New Year speech in March, Khamenei specified the criteria for his favorite president, which fit Raisi perfectly. He has dispensed with the “Moderate-Hardliner” theatrics, to secure the presidency for his preferred candidate. In short, this time around, the election is a one-man show.

What does this mean moving forward?
Inside Iran:
In survival mode, and caught between a rock and a hard place, Khamenei had no choice, but to close ranks and purge the rival faction. Ironically, this inevitable contraction will backfire because it will shrink the regime’s power base and make it more fragile and incapable to deal with the many crises engulfing it.
The regime will become more vulnerable in the face of the looming nationwide uprising waiting in the wings. And when that happens, it will be far more intense and widespread than in previous years. In a nutshell, for Khamenei, this is a battle of survival.

Outside Iran
To compensate for domestic weaknesses and silence the disgruntled rival internal factions, Khamenei helped to prolong the conflict in Gaza. The head of a pro-Tehran Palestinian group sent a letter, thanking him, the IRGC Quds Force, and its commander for being on the “battlefield” in Gaza, and providing material support, weapons, and training to carry on the deadly conflict.

But even this hollow show of force cannot and will not provide a way out of the deadly impasse Khamenei is facing. Why? Because:
First, he is facing a powder keg, a society about to explode, and a resistance movement acting as the engine.
Second, all the repressive measures, arrests, executions, and restrictions on social media have failed. They haven’t prevented the spread of the organized opposition, in the form of Resistance Units. The short video we saw at the start gave you a sense of what I am talking about.

Third, the nationwide call for the boycott of the sham election has gained momentum and people are openly calling for the regime’s overthrow. As an example, in a viral video, the mothers of some of the martyrs of the November 2019 uprising braved arrest and called for the regime’s overthrow.
Officials and state media are sounding the alarm.

Every single day, they are warning about the growing appeal of the Mujahedin-e Khalq supporters and resistance units among the public, especially among the youth. They are openly speaking about their impact on the hearts and minds of the Iranian public.
A couple of days ago, former regime president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said: “I am like the son of Sheppard standing on a hill and seeing a flood that will sweep away all of you.” And he is correct. A storm is looming on the horizon.

In short, Iran in 2021 is on the threshold of a seminal transformation.
What happened yesterday should offer a valuable lesson to world powers. They continued to pin their hopes on illusory moderates or reformers within a medieval theocracy. But a viper never gives birth to a dove.
This misguided approach worked to the detriment of the Iranian people and only emboldened the regime.
Why? Because it signaled weakness.

Assured of silence and inaction by the international community, the mullahs are confident that they can get away with murder. Just look at the events of the past month. From Kabul to Riyadh, from Beirut to Baghdad, and from Damascus to the Gaza Strip, killings and explosions are taking place everywhere. Make no mistake, the Iran regime is to blame.

As the NCRI President-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, emphasized in a statement yesterday, there is no longer any excuse to appease and engage with this regime.

Any interaction and cooperation with the mullahs will help repression and killing of the Iranian people. It will help the regime get nuclear weapons and start conflicts in the region. The time has come for the West to end its appeasement and adopt a firm approach.

It should specifically:
• Echo the call by the Iranian people and condemn this sham election as illegitimate, neither fair nor free.
• End impunity for the mass murderers who are ruling the country.
• Bring them to justice for the crimes they have committed against humanity in the past four decades.
• Stand on the right side of history and with the Iranian people in their quest for freedom.

Shahin Gobadi
NCRI
+ +33 6 50 11 98 48
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MEK Resistance Units activities in April 2021 focusing on Iran's presidential election