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Diplomatic coup for Iranian opposition Published Date: June 27, 2010 PARIS: The People's Mujahedeen of Iran drew tens of thousands of opponents to Iran's clerical regime to its rally outside of Paris yesterday, including prominent Western political heavyweights. The presence of former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar represented a major diplomatic success for the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), which the United States still considers a terrorist organization. The PMOI advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is a major organization of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political umbrella of exiled Iranian opposition groups. NCRI president Maryam Radjavi called for democracy in Iran and an end to Islamic rule. "The Iranian people will continue to resist until the dictatorship is overthrown," she told the crowd at the event in a northern suburb of Paris. The Iranian exile group, backed by international politicians, said that much stiffer sanctions would have to be imposed on Tehran if world powers hoped to curtail Iran's nuclear program. Thousands supporters filled a makeshift stadium just north of Paris to denounce Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and demand more pressure be brought to bear on Tehran. Maria Aznar joined more than 100 lawmakers from across Europe, the Middle East and North America to voice their opposition to Ahmadinejad. "The international community lost a very important opportunity a year ago when they did not give strong support to the freedom fighters in the Iranian streets," Aznar said, referring to protests that followed Ahmadinejad's 2009 election. And now we continue to approve sanctions that I consider are not enough." he said. The UN Security Council voted earlier this month for a fourth round of sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program which the West fears could lead to an Atomic weapon- something Tehran denies. Bolton said the UN move was not aggressive enough. "I don't think sanctions will prevent this regime from obtaining nuclear weapons," he said. A NCRI spokesman said some 1,000 buses had ferried its supporters to the rally, adding that "many tens of thousands" had shown up. There was no independent estimate of crowd numbers. The NCRI has followers across Europe and the United States and was the first group to expose Iran's covert nuclear program in 2002. It claims to have huge backing within Iran although analysts say its support is very hard to gauge. The Iranian people, of course, demand far more than this. They demand that this regime must go," she added. The NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), based in Iraq, an armed guerrilla movement listed as a terrorist group by the United States. Europe removed the group from its own terrorist blacklist last year, but Rajavi has said much of its bank accounts are still frozen. "We demand that all restrictions that have been imposed on the Iranian Resistance in Europe and the United States be lifted," she said. - Agencies [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
