Alinejad: Western Leaders Agree Iran Regime Needs To Go
Iranian-American dissident activist Masih Alinejad emphasized to Iran International that Western leaders harbor no uncertainty about the necessity of overthrowing the Iranian regime.
"I challenged the foreign ministers of Western countries for not listing Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as a terrorist organization after I came to know that the issue of the Islamic Republic and its evil deeds was removed from the agenda of the Munich Security Conference," she remarked in a television interview. Alinejad participated in the conference and spoke with several European politicians.
According to the dissident, she told the representatives of Western governments that “unless you treat [Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei and the IRGC the same way you treat Vladimir Putin, you cannot even discuss ending the war in Ukraine.”
Though Western countries have no doubt that the Iranian regime is the main instigator of war in the region and has been involved in more than 500 assassinations on their soils, they say in private meetings that in the case of designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, it may “carry out more terrorist operations,” Alinejad went on to say.
The IRGC was initially established as a custodian of Iran's 1979 revolution's ideological principles. Over time, it has transformed itself into a significant force, gaining control in military, political, and economic aspects within the country. It was banned in the United States in 2019.
Over the past years and particularly, after massive protests in Iran triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022, many Iranian political and civil activists have urged the international community to adopt a tougher stance towards the Islamic Republic and designate the IRGC.
In another part of her interview with Iran International, Alinejad stressed that “Westerners want to make sure that there is a functioning opposition in Iran that can hold free elections and prevent any chaos and insecurity after the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.”
The New York-based political activist further added that Iran’s nationwide uprising in 2022 and the October 7 attack on Israel by Tehran’s proxy Hamas have left Western leaders with no doubt regarding the necessity of the overthrow of the regime.
Though everyone knows that the Islamic Republic will collapse, they don’t know who to negotiate with because Iran abounds with multiple viewpoints and the West is worried that Iran may end up in the same political situation as that of Iraq or Syria after the current regime collapses, Alinejad noted.
Referring to the failure of the Iranian opposition groups to work together, she stated: “Not only Westerners, but also the Iranian people are asking how foreign governments can trust an opposition which is disjointed like scattered islands.”
The face-to-face meetings of the opposition forces with Western authorities will be effective in reflecting the voices of the Iranian people, but these meetings won’t be conducive to desired results if it is not proven to the international community that the opposition can hold free elections after the regime collapses, the dissident warned.
Alinjead has been one of the most vocal critics of the Iranian regime. Over the past years, she has been the target of several schemes by Tehran’s agents who planned to kidnap or assassinate her. US law enforcement foiled these conspiracies.
In 2021, US prosecutors indicted four individuals suspected of being Iranian intelligence operatives, alleging their involvement in a plot to abduct Alinejad.
In January 2023, the US also charged three men named Rafat Amirov, Polad Omarov and Khalid Mehdiyev with murder-for-hire and money laundering for their role in the thwarted Tehran-backed plot to assassinate Alinejad.
