In an open letter to the U.S. President Donald Trump, hundreds of Iranians in and outside Iran have called for launching a financial fund under Washington’s supervision to support anti-Islamic Republic movements.
Meanwhile, the signatories to the letter have praised exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, presenting him as the most trustworthy national epitome in bringing back stability, law, and order to Iran.
Prince Reza, 60, the heir apparent to the throne of Iran, has been living in exile in Maryland, since the collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty and establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, in Iran.
Expressing full support for the exiled prince’s proposal for free elections to replace the current regime, the letter asserts that “time after time, Iranians have declared the theocratic kleptocratic Islamic Republic illegitimate and expressed love and friendship for free nations.”
The letter goes on to urge that Iranian assets frozen abroad – approximately $2 billion of which are held by the U.S. — should be turned over to opposition activists “to enable Iranians with their most trusted opposition leader to establish a federally supervised Trust Fund…these funds can be utilized to create a democratic Iran and build infrastructure after the Iranian people Reclaim Iran Again.”
The signatories to the letter have also maintained that the reason behind the failure of anti-Islamic Republic movements so far has been the lack of a cohesive organization for supporting and financing them.
Million of Iranians went into exile after the 1979 revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, many well-educated and successful. They have tried to organize opposition activities in Europe and the United States, but until recently their efforts had little visible impact in Iran.
However, as mass protests increased in Iran at the end of 2017, many protesters expressed their support for the Pahlavis and for the exiled prince.
“An effective and successful campaign with such dimension needs a financial back-up to let Iranians, side by side the most trustworthy national figure (Prince Reza) overthrow the theocratic apartheid kleptocratic the Islamic Republic that has occupied and dominated Iran for almost four decades.
“When Khomeini and his supporters occupied Iran in 1979, the Royal Army surrendered to prevent a Syrian-like civil war,” the letter notes, adding, “Nonetheless, establishing a global Islamic state was declared the number one priority by the theocratic authoritarian regime.”
The national assets of the oppressed Iranians plundered and expropriated by the occupier Islamic regime, the letter reiterates, “should be deposited in a trust fund until they are returned to their genuine owners, i.e. people of Iran.
President Trump and his team have repeatedly criticized the Islamic Republic for wasting Iranians’ wealth and assets for its adventurist schemes.
Earlier, in a speech delivered at Washington Institute on December 14, Prince Reza had also urged the U.S. and other western governments to freeze the Islamic Republic’s assets in favor of its opposition.
The letter, reflecting the Prince’s demand, notes, “Based on Iran’s Parliamentary Constitution and the Royal Oath, Iranians respect Prince Reza Pahlavi as Iran’s legitimate leader whose only aim is liberating eighty million hostages (of the Islamic Republic) and peaceful transition of Iran into a democratic state with free elections to establish a new secular democratic constitution.”
In the meantime, the letter has praised Trump for being “the first world leader in 39 years who has the courage to speak to the Iranian nation directly, and hear their voices through the darkest veil of the tyranny of Islamic State of Occupied Iran.”
Presenting Iranians as a peace-loving civilized nation with thousands of years of history, the letter has averred, “Iranians believe the light will ultimately vanquish the darkness. They also have common values with the free world; the values that will ultimately defeat war, violence, insecurity, and chaos.”
The open letter to President Donald Trump is signed by more than 400 Iranians in and outside Iran, including students, university professors, civil rights and political activists.
Shabnam Assadollahi, a former child inmate of Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison who is now based in Canada, and Marjaneh Rouhani, U.S.-based medical doctor and political activist, are the coordinators of the letter signed by Iranians in and outside Iran; including prominent former soccer analyst, Manook Khodabakhshian (USA), Saeed Hamzavi (France), Secretary general of the Constitutional Party of Iran, Haideh Tavackoli (UK), ex-diplomat Ali Akbar Omidmehr (Denmark), ex-diplomat Mohammad Reza Heidari (Norway), Nader Golpa (Germany), Shokouh Ershadi (Sweden), political activist, Pari Asgari (Netherland) and Mani Saba (Iran).
