Mideast security conference hears demand for Iran regime change
Iranian opposition activists calling for regime change in Iran marched through the streets of Warsaw in Poland on Wednesday ahead of an international conference on Middle East security.
“This regime has become a major threat to security and peace in the world,” Dr. Sanabargh Zahedi chairman of the judicial committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told Arab News as the protesters gathered. “Therefore, this regime must be challenged.
“We have been calling for confronting this regime, and now we are beginning to see that the international community has begun to do that, especially through the imposition of sanctions on oil and weapons, and by countering Iranian terrorism.
“The first step is for the international community to recognize the right of the Iranian people to resist this regime and bring it down to establish a free and democratic republic. It is the right of the Iranian people to live in security, peace, freedom and democracy like other countries.”
The US-sponsored conference, which formally began on Wednesday evening, brings together foreign ministers and other officials from more than 60 countries aimed at building a coalition against the threat posed by Iran. There will also be talks on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Vice President Mike Pence is leading the US delegation, accompanied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House adviser Jared Kushner.
“We’re trying to expand the number of nations who are engaged and have a stake in the future of a peaceful and prosperous Middle East,” said Brian Hook, the State Department’s special representative for Iran.
“Iran isn’t behaving like a normal country. They have a very expansionist foreign policy and that destabilizes other countries.”
The main conference session will take place on Thursday when Pence and Pompeo will address delegates and working groups are assigned to discuss areas of concern.
“This is a global coalition that is built to deliver on the important mission of reducing the risk that has emanated from the Middle East for far too long,” Pompeo said when he arrived in Poland.
Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will brief delegates behind closed doors on US plans for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.