No Shah No Mullah flags at Iran rally in Berlin (Image: PBaldwin)
The appalling death-toll resulting from the murderous Iranian regime’s slaughter of its own people may have hit 40,000, Donald Trump’s CIA boss said today.
Mike Pompeo told more than 100,000 protesters at the biggest Iranian pro-democracy demonstration ever seen outside Iran: “The massacre of January 8 and January 9 claimed at least 20,000 lives – perhaps twice that – murdered by the Ayatollah and his henchmen.”
Mr Pompeo was one of the key speakers at the mass rally at the Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin, which marked the anniversary of the 1979 anti-monarchy revolution which was hi-jacked by radical Islamic clerics who have maintained a murderous grip on power every since.
His claims were supported by the media group Iran International whose reporters claim to have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard documents estimating at least 36,500 people – mainly youths – were killed in the slaughter over two days.
Keynote speaker Maryam Rajavi, President Elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, praised the bravery of the “the Uprising Army, the great army of the Iranian people’s freedom”.
Rajavi is seen as a front-runner to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should his regime fall, and has produced a 10-point plan Iranian ‘Bill of Rights’ promising free and fair elections, separation of religion and state, gender equality and a nuclear-free Iran.
She praised Iran’s youth Resistance Units – small groups which have been carrying out low-level acts of opposition to the ruling mullahs for decades and became a key factor in the January street rebellions.
She said: “Following the January uprising, no one in the world doubts the certainty of the clerical regime’s overthrow.
“The courage of Iran’s rebels shone and became global. And the spell of appeasement toward the IRGC in Europe has been shattered. Now is the time to recognize the 44-year resistance of the Iranian people for overthrow.”
The 72-year-old called on the UN Security Council to stop the execution of those arrested during the uprising and to refer the Ayatollah to an international tribunal for crimes against humanity.
She insisted countries should close the regime’s embassies across the world and expel both its diplomats and agents of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps which carried out most of the recent killing.
Britain has come under attack as she currently stands alone in Europe for failing to proscribe the IRGC as a terror group.
Former President of the European Council Charles Michel also addressed the crowds. Referring to the wartime French Resistance Charles Michel said Iran’s brave young freedom fighters were the “Resistance of the 21st century.”
Thursday January and Friday January 9 were the darkest days of the uprising after Khamenei issued the order for mass killings and the regime shut down the internet closing the massacres off from the rest of the world.
But reports emerged of hospitals treating the dying and injured coming under attack from the IRGC.
One particularly disturbing eye-witness report from Rasht, just north of Tehran said a bazaar in Shariati Street, was set ablaze and fire-fighters prevented from attending.
Those emerging from the flames were shot dead.
One eye-witness said: “They said the municipal market and bazaar had been set on fire. Firefighters were not allowed to enter. The bazaar’s narrow alleys trapped people. When the fire spread, people were forced to choose: stay inside and burn, or come out.
“When they came out, they were shot.”
Iran’s official state media said the bazaar was “burned down by foreign-backed rioters”.
Today’s rally followed controversial talks between Donald Trump’s government and Iran’s regime.
Trump, who has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group, fighter jets and air defences to the region, called the talks “very good” and that negotiations would continue next week – but he warned that the consequences for Tehran would be “very steep” if they did not reach a deal.
A US intervention is welcomed by few in Iran.
Ms Rajavi said: “The message of the Iranian people and their Resistance has been and remains this: No appeasement. No war or foreign intervention. Regime change and sovereignty of the republic of the people, by the people and their organized Resistance.”
And Mr Pompeo added: “The plan doesn’t ask for American boots on the ground or for money. The only demand of this resistance is the recognition of the Iranian people’s right to bring about the end of the regime, and the right of the Resistance Units to combat the regime’s repressive forces, specifically the IRGC.”