Disgraceful retreat by mullahs' President, victory for our fellow Iranians in U.S.

Mullahs' President Mohammad Khatami stated yesterday that his trip to the United States will not last more than two days and that there will be no welcoming ceremonies at the airport or elsewhere. Khatami also said that he will take along only 12 officials and will not meet any American officials.

It had been announced previously that the delegation accompanying Khatami had more than 100 members and that the U.S. had agreed to grant them entry visas. Moreover, since several months ago, the regime's agents in the U.S. had spent millions of dollars in a desperate attempt to bring a number of Iranians to New York to welcome Khatami.

The change in Khatami's itinerary in the U.S. is, before all else, a disgraceful retreat in the face of extensive protests by freedom-loving Iranians living in the United States against Khatami's trip and the exposure of his nature and crimes as well as placating policies by some Western circles to "resurrect the clerical state" to the detriment of the Iranian people's sovereignty.

Previously, it was announced that upon the invitation of the Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance, thousands of Iranians will take part on September 21 in the largest-ever gathering of Iranians in the United States across from the United Nations in New York to protest Khatami's trip.

Reports say that after the call for the demonstration, the regime's mission in New York and many of the mullahs' operatives in the United States sent scores of messages to Tehran and requested that Khatami's trip be canceled. They stressed that the protests and political activities by Iranians in the U.S. will be far more extensive than their demonstration during the Iran-US football match in the French city of Lyon and that Khatami's trip does not serve the regime's interests.

The change in Khatami's schedule in the U.S. is already a political victory for the Iranian Resistance and fellow Iranians residing in the U.S. for they have demonstrated their resolve neutralizing behind-the-scenes deals designed to prolong the reign of the mullahs.

Simultaneous with the change yesterday in Khatami's itinerary in New York, the Iranian regime's Air Force was put on full alert. In a clear reference to the mullahs' plans to target the bases of the National Liberation Army of Iran, the Air Force commander said that in line with Khamenei's orders, "we are fully prepared to take action at any time and anywhere with all our might."

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 16, 1998

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