Since the early days of the Iranian Revolution, the U.S. and its allies have pursued a strategy of reaching out to supposed moderates within the regime, while focusing on a narrow set of issues to the detriment of human rights and the Iranian people’s struggle for democracy.

Separating Iranian people from regime a good first step

The Trump administration’s strategy of confronting the regime's onslaught is a departure from this trend. In that speech and several others, President Trump has placed notable emphasis on the plight of the Iranian people, accurately describing them as the primary victims of the clerical regime.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the fact that the Tehran regime is the leading per capita executioner of its own citizens.

It remains to be seen how far Europe will follow the United States' lead, but there is reason for optimism if the White House maintains the proper focus as it continues to develop and implement an “integrated strategy” for addressing all of Iran’s malign activities.

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I salute the brave women who have put up a staunch resistance against the mullahs’ misogynous tyranny in Iran the epicenter of violence and injustice against women. I call on my fellow sisters, the women of Iran, to defy and stand up to this misogynous, anti-human regime.

Maryam Rajavi’s message on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, November 25, 2017:

Assaults, intimidation, insecurity, lack of support, denial of rights, humiliation and discrimination against women increase every year under the mullahs’ rule.

The regime’s extensive measures to impose the compulsory veil on Iranian women and the punishments and humiliation accompanying them are yet another part of the unremitting violence directed against women.

Today, the number of victims of corruption surpasses hundreds of thousands in Iran. The age of young girls dragged into prostitution has dropped considerably and the age of run-away girls has reached 9.
At work place, at school, on the streets, at home and in the family, discrimination against women and humiliating them, and various verbal and psychological forms of violence have become a pervasive epidemic.

The life of girl children who make up a large number of child laborers is the most tragic. Hungry, injured and exhausted by hard work, these frail girls are abused and they have no refuge. The regime’s officials have admitted that “90 per cent of child laborers are outraged.” They say, “Sexual abuse is the worst ailment among young scavenger children.”

Protest gatherings by people plundered by IRGC-backed credit institutes continued in Tehran and other Iranian cities on November 11, 2017.

Iran: Plundered women and men stage protest after officials’ lie

To quell the protests, the Iranian regime’s officials had made announcements that people having deposits in Caspian and Fereshtegan credit institutes could get their money back.

However, when people cheated by Caspian Institute referred to its branches on Saturday, November 11, 2017, they saw that their 

accounts were still blocked and no money had been deposited despite promises made.

كسر الموانع من قبل جماهير المحتجين في منطقة باسارغاد

, the former House Speaker stressed, “I hope that this administration will now as part of this process of beginning to unravel both the IRGC and then ultimately the dictatorship, will reach out [to the source of that information in a much more collaborative way to coordinate information and to coordinate advice and find ways to work together. The National Council of Resistance of Iran has a tremendous potential, and [NCRI President-elect] Mrs. [Maryam] Rajavi has done an amazing job of leading an organization through a very long, very difficult period. And I would hope that at some point in the near future that she would be given an invitation to officially visit the United States, and have a chance both to meet with American leaders in Washington, but also to go around the country.

Newt Gingrich: State Dept. Has Listened to Iran More Than to ‘The Resistance

“As long as that dictatorship is in power, as long as it’s able to spend money, as long as it is able to project terrorism around the world, it is ultimately a mortal danger to the United States. And of course, it was a terrible thing for the Iranian people. A dictatorship which in 1988 killed 30,000 people. They’re surviving by sheer repression. It is a fantasy to suggest that the dictatorship would survive without repression,

Huffington Post, OCT. 21, 2017-- Former House Speaker and Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich described the clerical establishment of Iran as “a dictatorship with a façade of democracy,” adding, “If you’re not part of the dictatorship, and you’re not acceptable to the dictator, you can’t run, and therefore to pretend that the elections actually offer any serious choice to the Iranian people is simply a fantasy. Mr. 

Gingrich was speaking at a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Friday, held by the Organization of Iranian American Communities, OIAC. The event was moderated by Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield Jr., the Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs under the George W. Bush administration.

TOM RIDGE: WE NEED REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN President Trump has been very clear about his strong commitment to combat the global scourge of terrorism and to combat those nations that support and enable it. He has signaled his desire to build meaningful partnerships to achieve these goals and his focus in the Middle East is particularly relevant. In his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month, the President unhesitatingly identified which players are our friends and which are our enemies in that unstable region.

WHY WE NEED REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN

Since taking office, he has strengthened ties between our traditional Arab allies, led by Saudi Arabia, with a determined and specific eye toward challenging a mutual, longstanding enemy, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This approach should be taken a step further. In addition to working with supportive countries to confront Iran, there is a meaningful partnership to be built with an Iranian democratic resistance group with a global diaspora and significant presence in Iran itself – the NCRI (National Council of Resistance in Iran).

It was the NCRI which first blew the whistle on Tehran’s hitherto 20-year clandestine nuclear weapons program in 2002, which triggered inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
President Trump also clarified his message distinguishing the repressive Iranian government from the people of Iran in his remarks before the UNGA.

For the first time since the popular revolution that overthrew the Shah in 1979, a U.S. President reiterated the ties between the U.S. and the people of Iran, acknowledging their shared goal of changing the behavior and agenda of the ruling regime, and encouraged them to choose their “nation’s proud roots as a center of civilization, culture, and wealth.

The 2014 poverty line in Tehran for a family of five stood at about $900. Therefore, many teachers end up living under the poverty line. So they have to work two or three shifts or have several jobs.

A glance over the situation of Iranian teachers on World Teachers’ Day

Teachers are grossly underpaid and sometimes they do not receive their meager salaries for several consecutive months. Iranian teachers also are deprived of insurance, bonuses and other benefits.
Education Ministry statistics show that some one million Iranian teachers make between $200 to $1,400 per month.

The 2014 poverty line in Tehran for a family of five stood at about $900. Therefore, many teachers end up living under the poverty line. So they have to work two or three shifts or have several jobs.
This situation has a direct impact on the quality of their work and education of students.
Iranian teachers have been demanding enactment of the Pay Parity Bill, which could promote their livelihoods, minimum benefits and equal pay similar to other government employees.

Iranian educators are deprived of the right to organize. Nevertheless, they have staged nationwide protests over the past years to demand their basic rights. The Iranian regime has not responded to their demands and security forces have harassed, repressed and imprisoned Iranian teachers. This is while according to Articles 26 and 27 of the Iranian Constitution, holding protests and rallies are free.