Brussels, March 5th, 2026 – Concluding a full week of meetings in the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell joined the European Report talk show where he said that “a regime that kills its own people cannot survive.” The statement echoes the words of German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz who earlier in the week gave his full support to the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran which began on Saturday morning. Addressing those who resist military strikes on humanitarian grounds Sandell asked where all these voices were when Iranian civilians were murdered in the tens of thousands earlier in the year. The truth of the matter is that those who for the last two years demonstrated against the war in Gaza and now are against the liberation of Iran, remained completely silent during the Iranian uprising. Quoting several Iranian dissidents in Europe he went even further, stating that “those who have kept quiet for the last 47 years during which the people of Iran had to suffer under an Islamic dictatorship have no right to speak up now.”
In the program Finnish MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen explained why he is actively backing the Iranian opposition, naming the internal threats of the Islamic Republic to Europe, the destabilising effect of its terrorist proxies in the Middle East, its compliancy in the Russian full scale aggression in Ukraine but most importantly the need for freedom and democracy for the people of Iran.
Earlier in the week ECI marked the Jewish festival of Purim by listening to the whole Book of Esther which documents how a young Jewish girl by the name Esther saved her people from annihilation in ancient Persia more than 2,400 years ago, thus reminding the audience in the European Parliament about the ancient hatred of the Jewish people. Tomas Sandell called upon all people of good will to continue the work of Esther and her guardian Mordechai in order to protect the Jewish people in a time of rising antisemitism and to ensure that the brave people of Iran will be liberated from the Islamic Republic and can live in freedom and security.
In meetings with leading Members of the European Parliament Sandell called upon the EU institutions and member states to seize this historic opportunity to topple the Iranian regime by maximising their diplomatic efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic by expelling its ambassadors, severe their diplomatic ties with the regime and remove its flags from their embassies.
“This is a defining moment for Europe’s standing in the international system,” he said. “Europe has an important role to play in assisting the people of Iran in their historic transition from a repressive dictatorship to freedom and democracy. In doing so Europe needs to respect the will of the Iranian people by establishing official contacts with the opposition led by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as a unifying alternative to the current regime and with widespread support both within Iran and the diaspora. Reza Pahlavi champions a democratic, inclusive and unifying agenda for the future of the nation and by recognising his leadership the European Union can contribute to shortening the war and prevent a future power vacuum,” Sandell concluded.
The European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee is currently considering a list of Iranian opposition leaders, featuring Reza Pahlavi, to be invited to the European Parliament in a near future for an internal hearing. The complete list of leaders to be invited and the date for such a hearing is yet to be announced.
