​US Senators meeting with Iran opposition leader Maryam Rajavi

  Following measures passed by Congress to impose comprehensive sanctions against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist group and restrictions against human rights violations in Iran, signed into law by President Donald Trump, and as Washington is evaluating a new Iran policy, on Saturday prominent US Senators and a delegation of senior advisors met with Maryam Rajavi, President of the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Tirana, the capital of Albania.

This meeting signals a strong tendency in Washington for a major policy alteration vis-à-vis the rogue regime of Iran. Such a development addresses the necessary blueprint to bring about regime change.

Discussions were held regarding the current circumstances of members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the leading member of the NCRI coalition, following their transfer from Iraq to Albania. This relocation was made possible through efforts placed forward by US lawmakers. Recent developments in Iran and the Middle East, parallel to solutions to end the Middle East crisis, were matters also weighed in this meeting.

The Senate delegation included Senators Roy Blunt, Vice President of the Republican Conference, and member of the Appropriation, Select Intelligence, Rules and Administration, and Commerce, Science, and Transportation committees; Senator John Cornyn, the Majority Whip, and a member of the Judiciary, Select Intelligence, and Finance committees; and Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Armed Services, Judiciary, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs committees.

“Led by Senator Blunt, the delegation congratulated the safe and secure relocation of all Camp Liberty residents outside of Iraq and wished them success in their struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran,” according to a statement issued by the NCRI in its official website.

Senator Blunt, who played a very important role in the safe transfer of PMOI/MEK members to Albania and other countries across Europe, described the relocation as a foremost achievement for the Iranian people and opposition, lauding the efforts of Maryam Rajavi and her movement for the success of this seemingly impossible task.

Expressing her gratitude for Senator Blunt’s effort in the PMOI/MEK relocation initiative, Mrs. Rajavi also cited the Senator’s significant role in the adoption of the recent Iran sanctions bill. This especially refers to the passage of the new resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran and the IRGC for human rights violations, ballistic missile program and exporting terrorism.

The group transfer of all PMOI/MEK members out of Iraq delivered a rather crushing blow to the Iranian regime. This development came last September as the mullahs’ intended to annihilate the sole force able to bring about change in Iran and prevent their overthrow. Failure in this regard has Iran facing a long slate of turmoil.

In assessing current Middle East dilemmas and the threats posed by Iran against regional and international peace and security, Mrs. Rajavi emphasized that in contrast to the propaganda delivered by Iran apologists, the ruling theocracy in Tehran is actually very weak and extremely vulnerable. Without foreign support, especially the appeasement policy pursued in the U.S. and Europe, the mullahs would not have survived for such a period of nearly 40 decades. Regime change in Iran is necessary and within reach considering the existence of a viable and democratic alternative, Rajavi underscored.

In April Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee visited Albania and met with Maryam Rajavi. In a short speech at a PMOI/MEK gathering, Senator McCain highlighted his support for their efforts to establish a free and democratic Iran.

A major convention in Paris was also staged last month in support of the Iranian opposition. Hundreds of political and parliamentary figures, alongside former US military generals who for years served in Iraq and the Middle East, and are very familiar with Iran’s threats, voiced their support for the NCRI and Maryam Rajavi.

From a series of meetings held to this day, there appears an emphasis on three different principles.

- Regime change in Iran is necessary.

- This change is at hand more than ever before.

- There is an organized opposition, enjoying widespread domestic and international support, capable of overthrowing this regime without a new war or foreign military intervention.

In Saturday’s meeting, Mrs. Rajavi said associating regime change by the Iranian people for democracy with war and instability in the region is nothing but a sheer lie spread by Tehran’s lobby in the West. They demagogically alter the truth, she noted, adding the mullahs’ toppling is a prerequisite to bringing an end to crises and a string of Iran-fueled wars across the Middle East.

The Senate delegation also met with a number of PMOI/MEK members, and witnesses and victims of the mullahs’ atrocities in Iran, and camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq.

*Shahriar Kia is an Iranian dissident and a political analyst on Iran and the Middle East. He is a member of the Iranian opposition and a graduate of North Texas University.