‘Outrage over oil price but none over Iran’s murder of its children’ | World | News

Donald Trump’s war has made life unbearable for the real people of Iran and aided the Islamic regime at home, London-based dissidents said today.

US/Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent blockading of the Strait of Hormuz, have left the world talking about petrol prices instead of the ongoing slaughter of opponents of the Ayatollah’s rule, they added.

Londoner Rosa Zaraei, who is helping publicise a mass 100,000 strong pro-democracy rally in Paris next month, said: “This whole war couldn’t have come at a better time for the regime. They have prepared for it for years and are now using the conflict and the internet blackout to cover up the killings to suppress dissent.

“It is not helping, it is hindering.”

As many as 40,000 Iranians are believed to have been killed by Iran’s security services the IRGC in street-level uprising against the Ayatollah’s handling of the economy in January. Another 43,000 were arrested, their fate currently unknown, but the regime has been hanging political opponents on a near-weekly basis since mid-March.

President Trump said on Monday evening called off a planned attack against Iran after being convinced by the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to continue peace talks.

But the nominal ceasefire, which has been in place since April 7, looks increasingly fragile amid continuing clashes between US and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf and Iran’s Parliament drawing up plans for £44m bounty for anyone assassinating President Trump.

Ms. Zaraei, who is about to start a PhD in international relations at City University, and is a supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said: “My dad was an NCRI activist and was imprisoned in Iran for eight years, and my aunt was a victim of the 1988 massacres, but I was lucky enough to be born in London after my parents fled the theocracy.

“Much of my family is still in Tehran but communication is very difficult not just because there has been no internet since January but even Starlink is very much being censored. The regime looks for any reason to crucify people.

“This war is one of the best case scenarios for the regime – they have prepared for it for years. And now they are ruthlessly cracking down on any dissent because everyone is focused on the regime and politics and no-one is focused on the people.

“In the past few weeks more than 25 dissidents have been executed, some hanged, some with piano wire. Eight of the victims have been members of the people’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the principal Iranian resistance movement.

“Some of them were 18 and 19 years old – they’re killing kids but all anyone talks about is fuel prices.”

Fellow activist the Persian rapper Mohammed Soleimani said he arrived in Britain at the age of 14 after being “brainwashed” by Islamic teachers in Iran.

He said: “They were teaching us in Iran that people outside of Iran were infidels and were against us. We were taught that anyone against the regime – and that meant anyone living in the West – were bad people. When I went to school over here I was afraid people would attack me, but it was the opposite, people were friendly and helpful and kind.”

Mohammad, who is also helping mobilise for the Paris mega rally, also said: “The war is not helpful for the Iranian people. The regime, as we have seen, is not afraid of a foreign war but it is afraid of the Iranian people and the organized resistance, that is why it has killed so many and is still killing them.”

He called for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) who are the prime movers behind the on-going slaughter, to be proscribed in Britain and added: “We want the British government to acknowledge the executions and condemn them.

“We need to stop this appeasement and close the embassies.”

Ms Zaraei agreed. “Being British I feel very disappointed that Keir Starmer consistently tries to appease, to keep relations good, but my family and friends have to pay the price for those decisions,” she said.

“It’s like Trump thinking he can find a good person among the top echelons of Iran, but he can’t, they’re all the same.”

Both Zaraei and Soleimani are supporters of the NCRI, a pro-democracy group led by Maryam Rajavi, whose Ten Point Plan is an Iranian Bill of Rights, which will serve as the basis of any future NCRI government.

She has formed a provisional government and pledged to establish full and free elections within six months of assuming power.

The NCRI will hold what it says is the biggest ever rally of ex-pat Iranians and supporters in Paris on June 20, aimed at high mobilisation effort is part of the Europe-wide campaign against the Iranian regime.