WEBVTT

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the phone. And I'm Frederica, thank you for doing this with us.

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So we have, as you can maybe see the other guest here, is our engineers and they're gonna

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just make sure everything looks and sounds good before we officially start. While we're

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doing that, I will let you know that this conversation will be a little bit different

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from your conversation with Stephen in that it's a little shorter. The questions are a

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little more straightforward and kind of lets you get the conversation where you want to

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go. But this is kind of like a short update. So just so you understand kind of what you'll

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expect to see in a segment. Before you start, as I told you, I don't know if I talked to

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you on the phone, right? So this Saturday is going to be a big demonstration in Paris

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in support of Mariam Rajabe's 10-point plan with our opposition. It's more than 100,000

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people are expected to join us. So I'm going there on Thursday, I'm flying there Thursday

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to attend that a lot of people from our community feelable when I'm from Chicago, a lot of

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people are also going. So just wanted to let you know if you wanted to cover any of

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that. That would be quite an event. Yeah, it's huge. Yeah, I can actually send some pictures

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and videos after I come back or even during that time because I'm going to stay there

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for a comeback the Wednesday after because there are a lot of meetings that's going to

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happen between the leaders of opposition and the people. Just to tell them what this

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status is. How long has this been planned? This was planned. This is a yearly event.

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This is the memorandum of the political prisons that were executed in 1987, 30 more than 32,000

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people, political prisons were executed in jail in Iran and every year this is happening.

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It's been going on every year. So this is a yearly event. Okay. It just so happens to

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kind of coincide with this latest. Yeah, it happened in 20th, around 20th June of this

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year of, you know, in 1987. So every year, right around that time, they wanted to make

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it a Saturday kind of. So it's day before or after something around that time. In 2018,

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that event was in Bill Pant in Paris. And that's where the Iranian regime tried to bomb

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that. I mean, that was big news to bomb that event. It was an indoor event. More than

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100,000 people were also there. There were 600 dignitaries from the United States, from,

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you know, Secretary of State, from Mr. Pompe, not Mr. Pompeo, but Rudy Giuliani and a lot of

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the senators and congressmen were there as well. So it was, you know, it's an international

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event, basically, all the supporters of the Iranian resistance are there. So since then,

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we haven't had indoor like that because of the fear of that kind of event. It's been outdoor

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and mostly been, you know, in the street rallies in the streets. So amazing, really quick. I'm

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going to ask Andrew and Andy, are you guys ready? I'm going to add it away. Okay. Well, thank you

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for that information about the Parisian giant event. It's super interesting. And as Marissa

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said, particularly right now, you know, yes. But so I wanted to ask you about your take,

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your opinion of this MOU that's been signed between the US and Iran.

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Well, we don't know the details, much details. And as you know, it's been going back and for so

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many times. So really don't know the detail. But what we have to realize is that this

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cessation of hostilities, peace talks, whatever you want to call it, it's only possible with

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freedom for the Iranian people. The nature of this regime has not changed whether what they're

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doing is the result of basically military pressure. So they welcome war. They want war. They want

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crisis. They want these kinds of things to suppress the internal aspirations of the Iranian people.

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So they're there because they're forced to. The real fight is actually between the Iranian

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people in this regime. Within the last four days, since Saturdays till Tuesday, they have executed

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61 people, 61 prisoners. That is one every three hours. So they're very scared of the people,

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and they're uprising, and they're organized resistance. That's why I try to intimidate

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people by increasing number of executions in Iran. We welcome any effort to stop the

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nuclear ambitions of this regime. Actually, the NCRI National Council of Resistance of Iran is

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the one that in 2002 revealed the atomic sites and nuclear sites of this regime. So we welcome

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that. But again, the actual fight, the actual peace will happen between the Iranian people

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and this regime, and this regime is not capable of creating any lasting peace for the Iranian people.

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We think any economic help to this regime will also will not benefit the Iranian regime,

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as it did not in the past. During the Obama administration, $6 billion cash was given to them

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besides another $40 billion that was given to them. The Iranian people did not benefit.

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It's the IRGC, the corrupt system in IRGC, used it, and also it was used for the suppressive forces

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of the regime against the people. They bought anti-riot weapons, you know, anything that you

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can tell. They bought face recognition cameras and put it all over the streets. So we basically

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think that as long as this regime is in power, peace will not be in the region. This regime will

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find some way of cheating any agreement as they did before. So we need to support the Iranian people

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to once and for all get rid of this regime that will bring the lasting peace for the Iranian people

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and the region in general. How do you do that if the superpowers of the US and Israel

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couldn't? Well, you cannot overthrow a regime with bombing, okay, from air. It's impossible,

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especially a regime that's ideologically driven. You need the people inside Iran,

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the organized opposition that we have. They know every way there is. They know the people inside

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Iran. They know who is responsible. I mentioned that in your last interview that five days before

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that attack that Khamenei was killed by the American, you know, the bombarded his compound,

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the Iranian opposition, the MEK, the Mujahideen Haal, they attacked with 250 members,

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attacked that compound. Unfortunately, about 100 of them died, but 150 returned to their

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bases. So there is an organized opposition inside Iran, which is united with Kurds,

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and Baluchis, and other minorities inside Iran, and they are the force that they need to overthrow

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the regime. The regime cannot be overthrown with foreign intervention, especially from air. I mean,

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they need more than 200,000 troops. It boots on the ground to do that because Iran is full of

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mountains. It has 95 million people, almost, and it's a large country. So we need to rely on the

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Iranian people themselves. So far, the West, United States, including United States and the

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international community, they have been appeasing them all us. They need to recognize the right of

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the Iranian people and their opposition to fight this regime and not help this regime. That's

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that's the way to do it. Do you feel as though at this point the opposition is in a better place

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to take over or not? It is, it is better. I mean, regardless of what, you know, the people who are

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pro-war or pro-peace, the regime is much weaker. It has lost his leader. It has a son of that leader,

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which we don't know even if he's alive or not. It has lost a lot of his military top ranked

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officers. It is much weaker. Inside Iran, there's also a division between factions of

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regime because some people are saying that why are we having a peace treaty with a country that

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killed our leader? And then some people who know that they have no other way, they have to have

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some sort of peace. Otherwise, they'll be, you know, in more shape. So the regime is much weaker.

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The Iranian people are much stronger now and more organized. And there's a unity between

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different factions and different minorities in Iran. You know, the last four uprisings in Iran,

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one in I think was 2019, was for the gas prices that went up. In 2018, I think was price of chicken

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that went up. In 2026, the last one that we saw, it was started from Bazar because of the price of

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the dollar just increased a lot. So this regime is incapable of solving the Iranian people's

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problems. So as long as the structure is corrupt and you cannot address the basic

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needs of the Iranian people, these uprisings will happen. It's a matter of time. And this time,

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people know that there is no help from outside. Some people were thinking that, okay, United

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States will come bombard these and these guys will go away. And that's it. And they bring,

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let's say, the son of a Shah, you know, that's not going to happen. The people of Iran need to

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rise up themselves and they do have organized resistance. They need to basically get the

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international community's recognition. That's what we need. We don't need any help, money. We

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don't need any soldiers or boots on the ground from foreign powers. We need their recognitions

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and their help to basically help the Iranian people. You spoke to conditions of the Iranian

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people after all of this most recent warfare strikes, killings. What are the conditions

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on the ground for the people in Iran? They are, they're much more self, obviously, financially.

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The prices have gone up huge. I mean, they weren't gone up a lot and that people are

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struggling. A lot of people are struggling financially. But I was talking to a couple of

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people from Iran, they're hopeful. They know that they cannot wait for anybody from outside.

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They need to do everything themselves. So they are hopeful. They were actually, I was a little bit

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kind of down and I was saying, well, this always happened. You guys are okay. And said, oh, no,

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we're great. Just, you know, we will make it happen. So there is despair as far as financially,

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but they're hopeful that, you know, the Iranian people will overcome this regime. We have to,

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because again, last 47 years, they have destroyed Iran. They have taken Iran back economically

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about 100 years and people are fed up with it. Is there anything you'd like to add on this?

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I want to basically let everybody know that, as I said, there's a organized and well organized

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and opposition that we're going to have a demonstration in Paris this Saturday. More than

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100,000 people are expected to attend. And we need to basically let the world and the people

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of Iran and everybody know that this is happening so more people can join. So we have a better force

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to overthrow its regime. All right. Well, thank you. And safe travels.

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Thank you. We look forward to seeing some of what you might capture there.

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Yes, I'll take some videos and pictures and I'll send you guys.

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That was great. Thank you so much. Thank you.

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Thank you. I will follow up to send you the segment when we air it this Friday.

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Thank you, Marzia. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you, sir. Thanks.

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Thank you. Have a good one. Bye bye.

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You