Although cease fire in the Middle East is preserved, the escalations between Iran and Europe about Iran’s nuclear program and the activation of snapback mechanism is reaching a new turning point. With this regard, on Wednesday July 16 Hundreds of Iranians and supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), gathered at Place du Luxembourg in Brussels to denounce the Iranian regime’s escalating repression and to call on the European Union and international community to take decisive action.
The rally, organized in response to the regime’s brutal crackdown following the recent Israel-Iran war and ceasefire, highlighted the urgent need to support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and justice
The demonstration came just one day after the EU Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels, where France, the UK, and Germany (the E3) announced that the EU will reimpose sanctions on Iran starting August 29 unless Tehran takes verifiable steps to curb its nuclear program. Protesters urged the EU to go further by blacklisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and activating the UN’s snapback mechanism.
As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI, stated in her recent address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the regime thrives on terrorism and fundamentalism, relentlessly pursues nuclear weapons, and will never voluntarily abandon its enrichment program. She warned that decades of appeasement have only emboldened the regime, allowing it to intensify repression and buy time to advance its nuclear ambitions.
“The solution lies not in appeasement or war,”
she said,
“but in a third option—regime change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.”
The rally in Brussels also drew attention to the regime’s internal crisis. Following the 12-Day War and amid growing unrest, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has resorted to extreme measures to suppress dissent. Between July 9 and 12 alone, at least 14 people were executed, including two public hangings in Bukan and Miandoab. On July 12, three political prisoners were sentenced to two death sentences and one year in prison each, after enduring two years of torture and solitary confinement.
Protesters condemned the wave of executions, mass arrests, and torture of political prisoners in Iran, demanding immediate international intervention to save those on death row. They also voiced strong support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)’s “Third Option,” which rejects both war and appeasement in favor of democratic regime change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
The Iranian Resistance has called on the UN Security Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran to take urgent action. They are also urging the EU and its member states to support the Iranian people’s right to resist and to secure the release of all political prisoners.
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