EUBULLETIN talked in an exclusive interview with Mr Perviz S. Khazai, who is currently one of the leaders of National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The NCRI, which was founded in France in 1981, is one of the two parliaments in exile of the “Iranian Resistance”, and also a political umbrella organization of five Iranian opposition political organizations, the largest organization being the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK).
EUBULLETIN: The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), of which you are a representative, aims to establish a democratic, secular and coalition government in Iran. How would you describe the progress towards this ambitious goal?
Khazai: The most basic thing is to have big will power. There are nations that managed to get rid of Nazism or dictatorship before – like Poland or Czechoslovakia – which have a long record of fighting against the dictators, regime, and the system. Iran is a very old country, one of the first layers of civilizations. The Cyrus Cylinder – the oldest known declaration of human rights – originated in today’s Iran and was written in the 6th century BC by Cyrus the Great.
Over 100 years, we have struggled for freedom. The first serious attempt to install freedom was in 1905-1907 when the king was forced to accept constitutional monarchy (the Persian Constitutional Revolution) and the second attempt followed later during the 1953 Iranian coup d’état. Both attempts failed. In the Cold War period, Teheran was mostly in hands of pro-Moscow rulers. Iran was a de facto pro-Moscow satellite – Iranistan – one-party system.
EUBULLETIN: And then the infamous revolution of 1979 came.
Khazai: Yes, in 1979, the revolution started – the most expendable revolution. I was a young diplomat then, I joined the revolution because it began as a democratic revolution, not an Islamist one, but the clergy, lack of institutions and prevalence of extremists were there too with their money, and power trying to hijack the ideals. It began as a good revolution – all people of Iran together – the Muslims, Christians, Jews – but it was all hijacked by Khomeini to create the Shia Khaliphate. After the revolution, there was democracy for only 15 months. I soon realized that Khomeini was ready to establish Nazism.
The NCRI is a 600-member strong organization where about 90 percent of leadership are women. We believe that the liberalization of women means the liberalization of the entire nation and we have many activities such as non-stop satellite TV reporting news, many activities in the Parliament, we organize rallies which are attended by many VIPs, American congressmen and presidential candidates.
EUBULLETIN: Before the continuation of nuclear talks between the Western powers and the Iranian regime, you warned of “illusions”. Does this effectively mean that you are on the side of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a few Republican hawks in the U.S. Congress?
Khazai: The NCRI has rendered one of the biggest services to humanity by revealing to the world that the regime is constructing an atomic bomb. The regime is basically sustained by two pillars – exporting extremism in the region and making of an atomic bomb. These are its two raisons d’être. An atomic bomb is a guarantee for the existence of the regime. It is the same scenario as in North Korea, which is a very peculiar country. The only tool to survive is to make the bomb. The Iranian regime has been hiding it from the world for 18 years, secretly taking help from Soviet scientists. In 2002 when we presented evidence that the regime had been trying to construct an atomic bomb, the whole world was awaken. We are very happy we said it to the world.
You know, Hitler was also trying to build an atomic bomb, in Norway, and had he managed to do it before Oppenheimer, our world would be different today. But the Iranian regime is still proceeding to make a bomb underground. They are cheating the West as the West shows its indecisiveness. The Obama administration is very lenient and Iran sees it as a weakness, they have the courage to proceed, they are playing with the West.
EUBULLETIN: You seem to be genuinely sceptical of any kind of deal that will come out as a result of the negotiations between the so-called P5+1 – the U.S., UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany – and Iran.
Khazai: The new deal is saying that the West must be constantly checking whether the regime is abiding but the regime has hidden sites inside military zones. Pasdaran (Note: the Revolutionary Guards intended to protect the country’s Islamic system), something like the SS army, is protecting atomic plants inside military installations. It is not done by a regular army but by this specialized SS-like branch of Iran’s Armed Forces. The regime can hide these plants and it will never agree that these places are checked by international observers as well.
We share agony of all the people who are against the regime. The regime has demolished Iran and cannot be trusted. It is cheating Iranians themselves and lying about the bomb. They think that the North Korea-like scenario is the only continuation of their rule. In Iran, 80 percent of the people are poor, they do not get salaries. The regime needs an external crisis. Remember what Orwell wrote in his 1984 – the big brother needs a foreign enemy. They need an atomic bomb.
In Hiroshima, atomic bombs were heavy but today you can make an atomic bomb that is a size of a Coca Cola bottle. You can carry it in a briefcase. They have no hesitation, they could come to the city of London, New York and … This is not a pessimist scenario just some naïve people think this could not happen.
