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"It is a time of choosing. I choose the Iranian people over the murderous ayatollah. It is time for him to go," Republican senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham told a massive crowd of Iranian protesters in Munich as he waved the pre-1979 Lion and Sun flag of Iran.
"Liberation is at hand. To the people of the world: Speak up. Speak loudly. This is a moment of choosing. This is a moment of change. It's been a moment. I've been dreaming of a free Iran. A road that doesn't want the darkness. But embraces the light," he said.
"To the American people. The Iranian people will be your friend. They will be your ally. Stand with the Iranian people. They deserve their freedom to the American people. Remember when we fought for our freedom? Do you remember when we wanted to be independent and free?"
A group of Iranians gathered in Amsterdam on Saturday in solidarity with the protesters inside the country.
Participants chanted slogans including, “We swear by the blood of our comrades, we will stand until the end.”
Debate in Europe over Iran’s future has intensified and Iranians’ rally in Munich could influence decision-making by European leaders, a German lawmaker said at the large gathering of Iranians in Munich.
Bundestag member Reza Asghari said such demonstrations send a signal that can shape Europe’s approach and affect the stance of global leaders.
Germany’s parliament, he added, had adopted a resolution addressing the killing of people in Iran, and that an overwhelming majority of lawmakers, along with the chancellor, condemned the abuses.
The United Nations has been powerless to constrain Iran’s nuclear program, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday, arguing that the US had to step in to address the issue.
“It was powerless to constrain the nuclear program of radical Shia clerics in Tehran. That required 14 bombs dropped with precision from American B-2 bombers,” he said at the Munich Security Conference.
The UN has also played virtually no role on other major crises, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and in addressing security threats from Venezuela, he added.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that people in Iran need today what Ukrainians needed at the onset of Russia’s war on the country, urging the international community to speed up its support for Iranians.
“Today, the people of Iran expect from the world what we in Ukraine needed on February 24th (2022), when the Russian invasion began: unity, determination, and speed," he said at the Munich Security Conference. “And regimes like the one in Iran must not be given time. When they have time, they only kill more. They must be stopped immediately. And this is exactly what should have happened with the Ayatollah after all the wars his regime unleashed and all the lives it took.”
He further slammed the Iranian government sales of Shahed drones to Russia to target Ukrainian people and infrastructure, calling for an end to the government in Iran.
“The Iranian regime has already done and can still do more harm than many other regimes could do in the century. And yet this regime still exists, and it hopes to survive everything, even this crisis,” the Ukrainian president said.
