He emphasized that as far as the clerical regime is concerned, everything will be settled before the next presidential elections in May 2001. NLA's responsibilities and its readiness in the current phase were also addressed in this gathering.
A number of officials from Mojahedin's offices in different countries also took part in the session which ended this morning.
Mr. Rajavi said: A striking feature of the current phase is that the clerical regime's leaders and key officials have stepped onto the stage from behind the curtains. [Mullahs' Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami, the Majlis Speaker and the Judiciary Chief directly challenge and confront one another.
Since the regime lacks the capacity to reform, in tactical and practical terms any attack by Khamenei against the rival faction and in strategic terms, any attack by Khatami are to the Iranian Resistance's favor, he noted.
The Resistance's leader added: Contrary to some claims, Mojahedin's military operations have aggravated the ruling factions' contradictions and undermined the clerical regime in its totality, particularly the dominant faction.
Pointing to spontaneous armed operations by the young people against this anti-human regime in recent months, Mr. Rajavi said that in the past year, Mojahedin's military operations have given a sense of direction to society's developments and prompted the youths to take up armed resistance and join the NLA as the sole path to national liberation.
In another part of his speech, repeatedly interrupted by the audience's tumultuous applause, NLA's Commander in Chief reiterated: As we said six months ago, it is clearer now that "political reform" is only possible by brushing aside the vali-e faqih (the Supreme Leader). The yardstick for such a reform is free elections with sufficient international guarantees, something to which none of the regime's factions, including Khatami's, are willing to submit.
If Khatami were a true reformist, he would made the most out of the Mojahedin's political and military activities to cast aside Khamenei, Mr. Rajavi underlined, adding: Khatami's stances and conduct during his two years in office have demonstrated palpably that he is personally not inclined to initiate any reform and that his only objective in his rhetoric about "civil society" and "rule of law" is to get a bigger share of power.
He stressed: The Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance have been the most important factor causing schisms within the regime in the past two decades, bringing the illegitimate and unpopular mullahs to their current state. The task before them, today, is to overthrow the theocracy ruling Iran in its totality.
At the conclusion of the gathering, those present vowed to do their utmost in realizing this historic mandate, until democracy and popular sovereignty are established in Iran.
People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran
May 17, 1999
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