Brussels, February 10th, 2025 – Marking the 46th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran, European Coalition for Israel issued the following statement.
It is high time for the member states of the European Union to start engaging pro-actively with the democratic opposition of Iran. To cancel prominent opposition leaders, such as Reza Pahlavi, from addressing political forums across Europe only empowers the Islamic regime and its military partnership with Russia in its deadly war in Ukraine. By providing drones to Russia and on-going support worth 90 billion euro to its terrorist proxies in the Middle East and around the world the Islamic regime has ruined its own economy, while suppressing its people and causing havoc and destruction in the Middle East and around the world. This will have to come to an end. The Iranian people deserve something better.
ECI congratulates the Munich Security Conference for inviting Reza Pahlavi to their upcoming international summit this coming weekend but asks why the Dutch Foreign Ministry has cancelled the same opposition leader from speaking in their national parliament.
By refusing to openly engage in dialogue with the democratic opposition in Iran, the Netherlands and other EU member states fail to live up to their core values. By doing so they risk repeating the mistake from the Arab spring when they foolishly stood by dictators such as Muammar Gaddafi till the very end instead of supporting the opposition.
It is especially alarming that the government of the Netherlands chose to silence the democratic opposition during the very week of the 46th anniversary of the Islamic revolution instead of giving those who seek freedom and democracy a voice.
In 2023 Iran based human rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her two-decade fight for human rights in the Islamic Republic and for her involvement in the 2022-2023 protests sparked by the custody death of the young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. Last month Narges Mohammadi called for the end of the Islamic Republic and urged human rights to be a pre-condition to any negotiations with the current regime. She has been in prison for over three years but was released in December for a limited period of medical leave but can be re-arrested and sent back to jail at any time.
European Coalition for Israel concludes:
As EU citizens we demand moral clarity from our leaders. This means applying maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic while amplifying the voices of those courageous men and especially women who seek peace and freedom for their people. This means sanctioning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC – and not the democratic opposition!
