Stand with the Iranian people as we strive to throw off the shackles of the regime

Over the last few years, it has been an honour for many free Iranians in the UK to march alongside our Jewish friends in support of Israel. Side by side, both the Star of David and the Lion and Sun flag of a free Iran have proudly been flown. We share the same foe – the regime of the Ayatollahs, which has brought great suffering both to the people of Iran and the people of Israel. 

I personally left Iran prior to the 1979 Revolution, but many members of my family remain there. Some have faced arbitrary imprisonment and the seizure of their property. Others were assassinated by the regime – another lost his life at 18, drafted into the army to fight for an ideology that has thrown away the lives of so many in its ruthless pursuit of its own survival.

Now, once again, the brave people of Iran have once again taken to the streets demanding freedom, an end to the tyrannical rule of the Islamic Republic and the return of the Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. Many of us will gather here, demanding that the British government ends its moral vacillation with regards to the dictatorship which is ultimately responsible for the vast majority of death and suffering in the Middle East today. We hope that British Jews will join us in those calls.

A number of international media outlets, especially Al-Jazeera, have reported that the protests are only related to the economy and the exchange rate. This is a false and inaccurate narrative. Was the uprising sparked by the implosion of the Iranian currency? Yes. But there is far more to it than that. In 2022, the murder of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the religious police for not wearing a hijab led to nationwide protests calling for regime change. The national uprising in 2022 was not for a strand of hair or a religious veil, but for freedom. Similarly, these protests are not simply about the collapse of the currency – but on the reason for that collapse, which is the ruinous behaviour of the grotesquely corrupt regime. Iranians are once again demanding change after 47 years of dictatorship, execution, imprisonment, non -existent human rights, the collapse of the environment and the economy.

The regime in Tehran is a direct threat to the U.K. It funds and sponsors multiple Islamic cultural centres and schools in this country that have been linked to extremist, antisemitic views. It has a close involvement with a variety of organisations – spanning media, politics and so-called ‘human rights’ – which promote an agenda within the UK of trying to foster hate and drive communities – particularly British Jewish and Muslim communities – apart. The Islamic Republic stands against the principles of freedom, equality, human rights and decency. These principles are the very fabric, heart and soul of Britain.

In the Middle East itself, via its so-called “axis of resistance”, the Ayatollahs have funded, armed and trained terror groups to carry forward their message of fundamentalism, fanaticism and death. Its proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have caused untold misery to tens of millions. It is not a coincidence that protestors against the regime have chanted “Neither Lebanon or Gaza, but Iran”. The mullahs impoverished their own people in pursuit of their disastrous foreign policy aims – all of which have either failed or in the process of failing. Their legacy will soon be ashes.

The regime, of course, is now meting out death on Iranian streets, as it has many times before. Its forces and militias are now firing live ammunition, resulting in multiple fatalities. The protestors are unarmed, and their slogan of ‘freedom’ and ‘long live the King’ are their only shield against bullets.

We ask for your support in our fight for freedom from a tyrannical Islamist dictatorship. Our freedom will have a direct impact on the world. A free Iran will result in regional peace and stability.

The U.K and Israel will no longer have to face the threat of Islamists alone, as a free and secular Iran will starve the terrorist cells of funds and support and share vital intelligence with our friends and partners. Terror groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas will shrivel and disperse due to the lack of Iranian funds and support.

Support the Iranian people’s fight for freedom. Stand with us as we march, as we have stood with you. Write to your MPs and ask for the British government to stand with free Iranians and condemn the crackdown by regime forces. With your help, a better future is not merely possible, it will be inevitable.