From its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic sought to subvert Iran in order to advance its own ideological, economic and security interests. It changed our centuries-old flag & suppressed our ancient traditions. It purged our universities & persecuted or killed our artists.
This regime institutionalized inequality and discrimination based on religion and gender. And it plundered, voraciously, stealing our people’s private property, appropriating major Iranian businesses and siphoning off revenue from trade in our natural resources.
With wealth taken from the Iranian people, the regime worked to spread its brand of hate & destruction throughout our region & to cause instability/conflict worldwide. It established paramilitary orgs to serve as proxies for the destabilization & subversion of our neighbors.
Dr. Martin Luther King is one of my personal heroes. As I work to build international support for the Iranian people’s struggle, I often recall his famous covenant that “we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
The Iranian struggle should not be viewed through the prism of domestic partisan politics in this or any other democratic nation. This is a struggle about human dignity and liberation and it deserves equal and unqualified support across the democratic political spectrum.
Foreign policy toward Iran should be mindful of the reality that my compatriots are presently in the throes of a national struggle to reclaim Iran from the Islamic Republic. My focus is on guiding this process of change so that its outcome is secular, democratic and lasting.
