Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024 at 12 PM ET
On Sunday, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as well as the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian crashed, resulting in their confirmed fatalities, as well as those of six other people.
One would like to believe that this might be the beginning of a new era of freedom for the Iranian people who have had to endure 45 years under an oppressive, authoritarian theocracy.
Although the helicopter flew over heavily forested, mountainous terrain, and there was heavy fog, this did not prevent the former Iranian Foreign Minister Javid Zarif from blaming “The Great Satan”, the United States for the crash. Ayatollah Ali Khomeini has said “There will be no disruptions to the operations of the country”, and will appoint the First Vice President, Mohammad Mokhiber as President.
What can the United States and the international community do, at this point, to assist the millions of Iranians who passionately resent this evil regime?
Come listen to Vahid Beheshti, who will help us navigate through this sensitive juncture and finally be able to assist the muted voices of millions upon millions of oppressed Iranians who deeply despise their regime.
About the Speaker: Vahid Beheshti is a former Iranian political prisoner, and former member of the opposition party of Iran who has dedicated the past 18 years of his life towards fighting the Iranian regime. Mr. Beheshti currently resides in London where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hamas supporters have tried to attack him. Mr. Beheshti risked his life twice in the past year to overthrow the regime, camping out in front of the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office. He has engaged in a 72-day hunger strike with the goal of having the IRGC designated as a terrorist organization, for which he has had to be hospitalized. Mr. Beheshti, because he had displayed an Israeli flag during a Palestinian protest in London, was chased by a mob of Hamas supporters, and one knife-wielding Hamas supporter had threatened to behead him, (who has been apprehended by the British police). Mr. Beheshti is the first member of the Iranian opposition to have spoken at the Israeli Knesset, which he has repeatedly spoken about as “the only democracy in the Middle East”.
Mr. Beheshti is convinced that Iran has been at the heart of waging a continuous and systemic war to eliminate the state of Israel since the Islamic Revolution of 1979; that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the prime destabilizing force in the Middle East; that it has hegemonic designs for Europe and the United States; and that domestically the Islamic Republic in a very weak position with “18 million Iranians on the ground who are thirsty for freedom.”
