Neither Shah nor Mullah flags at the Iran rally in Berlin (image: Peebaldwin).
Donald Trump’s CIA boss said today that the horrific death toll as a result of the murderous Iranian regime’s slaughter of its people could reach 40,000.
Mike Pompeo told more than 100,000 protesters in the largest Iranian pro-democracy demonstration ever seen outside Iran: “The massacres of January 8 and 9 left at least 20,000 people dead—perhaps twice as many— murdered by the Ayatollah and his henchmen.”
Mr Pompeo was one of the key speakers at a mass rally at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin that marked the anniversary of the 1979 anti-monarchy revolution, which was hijacked by radical Islamic clerics who have maintained a deadly grip on power ever since.
His claims were supported by the media group Iran International, whose journalists claimed to have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard documents estimating that at least 36,500 people – mainly youths— were killed in the massacre over two days.
The keynote speaker, Maryam Rajavi, chairwoman-elect of the National Resistance Council of Iran, praised the bravery of “the rebel army, the great army of freedom of the Iranian people.“
The Iranian ‘bill of rights’ plan promises free elections.
Rajavi is seen as a strong contender to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei if his regime collapses and has drawn up a 10-point Iranian ‘bill of rights’ plan promising free and fair elections, separation of religion and state, gender equality and a nuclear-free Iran.
He praised Iran’s youth resistance units – small groups that have been carrying out low-level work in opposition to the ruling mullahs for decades and became a major factor in the January street uprising.
She said, “After the January uprising, no one in the world doubts the certainty of the overthrow of the clerical regime.
“The courage of Iran’s rebels shines and goes global. And the spell of appeasement toward the IRGC in Europe has been broken. It is now time to recognise the Iranian people’s 44-year resistance to the coup.”
The 72-year-old called on the UN Security Council to stop the executions of those arrested during the uprising and to refer the ayatollah to an international tribunal for crimes against humanity.
He stressed that countries should close the regime’s embassies around the world and expel their diplomats and agents of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which had carried out most of the recent killings.
Britain is currently under attack as it stands alone in Europe for failing to ban the IRGC as a terrorist group.
Charles Michel, former President of the European Council, also addressed the crowd. Referring to the wartime French Resistance, Charles Michel said that Iran’s brave young freedom fighters were “the Resistance of the 21st century.”.
Thursday and Friday, 9 January, were the darkest days of the uprising, after Khamenei issued orders for mass killings and the regime shut down the internet to block the massacres from the rest of the world.
But reports emerged of IRGC attacks on hospitals treating the dead and injured.
A particularly disturbing eyewitness report from Rasht, just north of Tehran, said a market in Shariati Street was set on fire and firefighters were prevented from getting there.
Those emerging from the flames were shot.
An eyewitness said, “They said the municipal market and the market were set on fire. Firefighters were not allowed to enter. People were trapped in the narrow streets of the market. When the fire spread, people were forced to choose: stay inside and burn, or get out.”
“When they came out, they were shot.”
Iran’s official state media said the market was “burnt down by foreign-backed rioters”.
Following today’s rally, both parties engaged in a contentious conversation. Donald Trump and the government and rule of Iran.
Trump, who has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group, fighter jets and air defences to the region, called the talks “very good” and said talks would continue next week — but he warned that the consequences for Tehran would be “very serious” if they did not reach an agreement.
Some people in Iran have welcomed the US intervention.
Ms Rajavi said, “The message of the Iranian people and their resistance has been and remains this: no appeasement. No war or foreign intervention. Regime change and the sovereignty of the people’s republic, by the people and their organised resistance.”
And Mr Pompeo said, “The plan does not demand American boots on the ground or money. The only demand of this resistance is recognition of the right of the Iranian people to end the regime and recognition of the right of resistance units to combat the regime’s repressive forces, particularly the IRGC.”
