Iran’s former crown prince called on the EU to designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization

iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavione of the main figures of the opposition to the regime in Tehran, on Wednesday urged the European Union (EU) to consider the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

“It is of the utmost importance that the European Union confronts this regime and holds it accountable for its criminal behavior. As an immediate measure, I call on the EU to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization,” Pahlavi told a European Parliament hearing organized by the European Conservatives and Reformists group.

Pahlavi, son of the shah Mohamed Reza PahlaviFallen in 1979 by the Islamic revolution which established a theocratic system in Iran, he visited the European Parliament for the first time.

In his speech, he made it clear that the Islamic Republic “cannot be reformed” and that it cannot “dialogue with those who are part of the problem”.

He condemned the repression suffered by the Iranian population and in particular women, and expressed his conviction that the designation by the EU of the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization “this would significantly limit the regime’s ability to oppress the Iranian people and terrorize its own.”

According to him, this would further facilitate and accelerate “defections from the regime by encouraging members of the Iranian armed forces, who are wholeheartedly with the Iranian people, to join the people and support the peaceful transition to secular democracy in Iran »for which he “always” claimed to have “pleaded”.

According to Pahlavi, the path to this secular democracy “continues with civil disobedience, public demonstrations and national strikes towards systemic collapse”.

“After the fall of the regime, this path must continue with free and fair elections for a constituent assembly. And ultimately, this path must lead to a national referendum in which every Iranian can cast a single equal vote for the establishment of a secular democracy, designed to protect the human rights of every citizen,” he explained.

Pahlavi defined himself as a “coalition builder” that he must remain “neutral as an agent of transition” and refrain from projecting himself in favor of monarchists or republicans, despite their lineage.

“There are monarchists who want me to be the next shah. There are Republicans, some of them, who say I should be president,” he said, but he assured that he had made it clear to both parties that his goal was for the opposition Iranian be united.

“I’m not running for any position. Therefore, I do not compete with anyone. And in that sense, I would like to try to remain neutral,” Pahlavi said, adding that “the agenda here is not to define the political structure and form of the regime,” but “to work together for a political and democratic process”.

“We can all work together while staying true to our own ideological preferences,” he asked.

On the other hand, Pahlavi judged “dead” the international agreement of renunciation of Iran to nuclear weapons (called JCPOA) in which the EU is a mediator and which is currently at a standstill.

Moreover, he assured that has always had a “negative view of the nuclear program, including its civilian applications”given the high seismic impact zone in which Iran is based and that “there are so many safe and clean renewable energy alternatives”.

“For us, it makes much more sense to develop them than to cling to an outdated nuclear program with much more efficiency and at lower cost, and certainly without risk of error,” he said.

Reza Pahlavi also pointed out that “the opportunities for investing in the Iranian economy and partnering with Iranian companies in a free Iran are incalculable.”

(With information from EFE)

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