A cross-party council of MPs and peers
believes that Western nations, including the UK, must back Iran's democratic
revolution.
A considerable portion of Iranians, according
to the argument made at the discussion in the UK Parliament on Wednesday,
oppose the regime and would favour the development of a free, democratic, and
secular republic but not a return to the nation's past monarchy.
However, the UK must take action to help
demonstrators, including designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a
terrorist organisation and supporting the resistance movement, according to
MPs, in order to help Iranians overcome the "brutal autocracy" that
has cracked down on months-long nationwide protests.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran was
supported at the meeting as a "viable democratic alternative to the
dictatorship."
The NCRI, led by Maryam Rajavi, has proposed a
ten-point reform plan for Iran's democratic future, which is backed by
thousands of Iranians abroad.
Struan Stevenson, a former Scottish MEP and
current coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, pleaded on the UK
government to sever ties with Tehran and back the NCRI.
"The mullahs have started using a
different technique during the current protests, seeking to link the opposition
to the monarchy, to dissuade people from joining the rallies," he said.
Stevenson presented his latest book,
"Dictatorship and Revolution: Iran — A Current History," which
explores the nation's political past and identifies its most serious present
and future problems, at the meeting.
"As Struan explains in his book, the
Iranian people see only one way ahead to liberty and human rights, and that is
an Iran under true popular rule, a democratic republic," said MP Steve
McCabe, who also serves as co-president of the British Campaign for Iran
Freedom.
Because they oppose democracy and democratic
government, the masses reject the shah and the mullahs.
McCabe drew comparisons between Pahlavi's use
of the Savak secret police organisation to terrify opponents and the Iranian
regime's use of the IRGC to keep power.
The shah and the mullahs are considered to be
synonymous with totalitarian dictatorship in the minds of the majority of
Iranians, according to MP Bob Blackman, co-president of the International
Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran.
The highest price has been paid by generations
of Iranians to ensure a free and democratic Iran for as long as it takes
because of this.
A member of the House of Lords named Baroness
Verma claimed that women are both the "driving force for change" and
the "guarantor of democracy" in Iran and that they are playing a
"prominent role" in the country's protest movement.