Regime Change Is the Only Hope for the People of Iran

NCRI – In a report to Congress regarding sanctions on Iran, it was mentioned that under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran benefits from lots of sanctions relief in return for certain restrictions that are laid out under UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

However, there are numerous flaws in the agreement and President Donald Trump said that he will not renew any more waivers if his conditions for fixing the deal are not met. Trump has already made the decision not to certify Iranian compliance and it leaves the door open to Congress to reimpose sanctions.

If sanctions were reimposed, Iran’s already suffering economy would certainly be harmed further. Previous sanctions seriously affected crude oil exports in 2011 and sanctions relief allowed the economy to stabilise, and even grow, in 2016 and 2017. The reimposition of sanctions will have a profound negative effect on oil once again, and the economy as a whole.

Foreign energy firms have started to make investments in the energy sector of Iran and large aircraft manufacturers have made big deals for the sale of commercial aircraft. However, despite numerous positive contributions to the Iranian economy, the people of Iran are extremely unhappy with their economic, political and social position resulting in widespread protests at the end of last year.

One of the major grievances of the people of Iran is the fact that the religious leadership of the country is plundering the wealth of the nation on the export of terrorism and extremism. The Iranian regime is using the country’s revenues and resources to destabilise the Middle East and to create weapons of mass destruction and to manufacture missiles.

Instead of ensuring that the public health care and the social conditions are of an adequate standard, the Iranian regime sends millions of dollars per year to its proxies and militias that are spreading chaos on its behalf across the Middle East. The “security” budget, essentially a military budget, used to kill, supress and torture the people of Iran, amounts to millions.

The people of Iran are denied freedom, democracy and human rights. There are currently countless human rights defenders, lawyers, religious and ethnic minorities, activists, and so on, that have unfairly been imprisoned in the country.

During the recent protests and anti-government demonstrations, the security forces fired shots at unarmed protesters and thousands of Iranians were arrested. Some people have also died under suspicious circumstances while in prison.

Despite calls from the international community, the Iranian regime continues to commit crimes against humanity. This and the regime’s plundering of the nation’s wealth will never change. It has had plenty of chances to reform in the past but it still chooses the wrong way of leading the country. It is for this reason that the people are calling for regime change – they know it is the only way to ensure Iran has a positive and hopeful future. And it is the responsibility of the international community to help them achieve this and to help it get a new, fair and democratic leadership that puts the people first.