OPINION:
On Sept. 22, as world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, thousands of Iranians and supporters of a democratic Iran are expected to gather outside the U.N. headquarters.
Their demonstration will draw attention to executions and repression in Iran at the very moment representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran address the international community.
It raises a question often overshadowed by nuclear negotiations, sanctions and regional security: Whom does the government in Tehran really represent?
For decades, international policy toward Iran has largely focused on managing the government that holds power. Nuclear activities are treated as a nonproliferation problem, human rights as a matter for resolutions and sanctions as an economic tool.
Yet these issues are connected by a deeper political crisis inside Iran.
Iran’s nuclear program has become increasingly difficult for international inspectors to verify. Its economy is under severe pressure, while executions, arrests and repression remain instruments of political control. These developments should not be viewed as entirely separate problems.
What happens if the Islamic regime can no longer maintain its current level of control?
The National Council of Resistance of Iran has spent decades developing an organized political alternative. Its president-elect for the transition period, Maryam Rajavi, has advocated a democratic and secular political system.
The NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan calls for universal suffrage, separation of religion and state, gender equality, abolition of the death penalty and a non-nuclear Iran committed to peaceful relations with its neighbors.
No foreign government should dictate Iran’s political future; ultimately, that must be determined by Iranians themselves. Neither should governments assume that the authorities in Tehran and the Iranian people are synonymous.
On Sept. 22, that distinction will be visible in New York. Inside the United Nations, representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran will speak in the name of Iran. Outside, Iranian demonstrators will argue that Iran’s future belongs to its people.
The international community should be prepared to recognize that the two are not necessarily the same.
NASSER RAZIL
London, England
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