Meeting at the Luxembourg Palace with Struan Stevenson

By the Editorial Staff 

During a meeting held at the Luxembourg Palace on November 25, former Member of the European Parliament and Middle East expert Struan Stevenson met with senators to discuss the outlook for the Iranian situation. The Scottish figure, a senior official with the Committee for the Search for Justice (ISJ), coordinator of the Campaign for Change in Iran (CIC), former chair of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with Iraq (2009–2014) and of the intergroup "Friends of a Free Iran" (2004–2014), as well as author of several books on Iran and the Middle East, alerted elected officials to the fragility of the Iranian theocracy and the need to support the Iranian people in their aspiration for democracy and secularism.

This meeting was held at the invitation of Senator Vincent Louault, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Committee for a Democratic Iran (CPID), and Jean-François Legaret, President of the Foundation for Middle Eastern Studies (FEMO), and was attended by several senators from across the political spectrum. 

Struan Stevenson painted a particularly alarming picture of the situation in Iran: mass executions, systemic corruption, propaganda and disinformation, as well as the export of violence beyond Iran's borders. He noted that 1,455 people have been executed this year, emphasizing that Iranians have lurched from one dictatorship to another, each leaving a bloody mark on their contemporary history. 

He also warned senators about the international activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is involved in terrorist operations across Europe. He specifically cited the attempted bombing of the major Iranian opposition rally in Villepinte in 2018, which targeted Maryam Rajavi, a prominent figure in the Iranian resistance. This strategy of eliminating opponents is not limited to France: at the same time, the trial of a commando unit linked to organized crime is taking place in Madrid. This same unit had shot the former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a supporter of the Iranian resistance, who was seriously wounded in this assassination attempt attributed to the regime in 2023. 

Despite these events, Struan Stevenson lamented a certain leniency shown by several European governments towards Tehran. Senators present spoke of a veritable political and media blackout, as well as smear campaigns targeting the Iranian resistance and the many elected officials committed to supporting it. The maintenance of Iranian power also relies on hostage diplomacy, combined with a strategy of political blackmail to which many governments have succumbed.

 Stevenson denounced the difficulty within the European Union in designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, while Canada, the United States, and now Australia have already done so. The question of a political alternative occupied part of the discussions. Struan Stevenson presented the conclusions of his latest research, particularly on the counterproductive role played by Reza Pahlavi, whose political limitations he described: the egocentric heir of a fallen regime, surrounded by former officials of SAVAK (the Shah's notorious secret police), and living in the United States since the fall of the monarchy after siphoning off billions of dollars embezzled by his father, he is vainly attempting to present himself as an alternative to the Iranian regime, while simultaneously benefiting from its favor, notably through fictitious support campaigns on social media orchestrated from Iran.

 Mr. Stevenson demonstrated in particular that attempts to rehabilitate the Revolutionary Guards by the son of the former dictator have had a devastating effect on Iranian public opinion, which rejects a return to the past, as expressed in the now-famous slogan: "Neither crown nor turban." For Stevenson, the only viable alternative must be republican and secular, without ties to the factions of the current regime or to the authoritarian systems of the past. It must be rooted in the Iranian people's will to overthrow the regime by its own forces, without foreign interference or international appeasement of Tehran. 

The work carried out over several legislative terms by the Parliamentary Committee for a Democratic Iran (CPID), both in the National Assembly and the Senate, was commended by the participants. On behalf of the CPID, Senator Vincent Louault expressed the support of many elected officials for a democratic and secular future for Iran, and their solidarity with the Iranians who, at the risk of their lives, denounce the regime's abuses.