TOP US politician Newt Gingrich has slammed European powers over their response to protests in Iran. ‘They’re hiding from reality’ Top US lawmaker SAVAGES European countries over Iran protest

TOP US politician Newt Gingrich has slammed European powers over their response to protests in Iran.

‘They’re hiding from reality’ Top US lawmaker SAVAGES European countries over Iran protest

1/21/2018 8:22:55 PM

TOP US politician Newt Gingrich has slammed European powers over their response to protests in Iran

By Rachel O'Donoghue

Daily Star Sunday, Jan. 20, 2018 - Angry demonstrations over unemployment and food prices in the Middle Eastern country quickly spiralled last month, with marchers calling for the collapse of the ruling Islamic regime.
But while US President Donald Trump threw his weight behind the protestors, saying he had such “respect” for them, most European leaders didn’t immediately comment on the widespread protests.
Mr Gingrich, who is a White House advisor, accused Europe of basically burying its head in the sand over the unrest in Iran.
He told Daily Star Online: “Some European countries have finally begun to admit and say publicly how bad it is, but I think there’s still a tendency in Europe to hide from reality if they think it’s going to cost them jobs.”
 

 

The demonstrations stem from dissatisfaction with the weak economy, unemployment and rising prices

He also said Trump’s hardline approach to Iran is showing is strong leadership, adding: “(Former President) Obama’s policy was a fantasy based on a belief that there was a good dictatorship if only we paid them enough money and Trump’s policies are a much more realistic assessment that this is a bad dictatorship that does bad things and that we have to be in favor of changing it.
“Trump actually believes in leading from the front, not leading from the rear.”

OPPOSITION: Newt Gingrich praised PMOI leader Maryam Rajavi

Mr Gingrich was speaking to Daily Star Online in Paris yesterday at a conference organized by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) – the exiled Iranian opposition group.
Praising the PMOI, which was instrumental in exposing Iran’s nuclear program back in 2002, Mr. Gingrich described the regime as fearful of PMOI leader Maryam Rajavi.
Newt Gingrich
The former speaker of the US House of Representatives explained: “The MEK/PMOI is clearly the largest resistance organization and deserves respect and I think the fact Khamenei (Iran’s supreme leader) appealed to President Macron to curtail Mrs. Rajavi, by itself is pretty good evidence that the dictatorship thinks they’re effective.”

 

He has called on the United States to help protestors trying to organize demonstrations after Iranian officials tried to block the internet.
“I think the United States should adopt a strategy of maximizing the ability of the protestors to organize and communicate no matter what the Iranian dictatorship does to try and cut off their telecommunications,” he said.
“I would be very surprised if the dictatorship survives another generation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it survived another four-five years.
“Our job is to apply the maximum pressure to recruit the young people, to empower the young people and do everything we can to help them be effective and to help them survive.
“I think the level [the uprisings] delegitimized the dictatorship was very real.”

 

 PMOI head Mrs Rajavi urged the United Nations (UN) to step in after Iranian government forces launched a crackdown on protestors, torturing and jailing them.
She said: “The people of Iran urge the UN and the world to recognize the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the mullahs’ religious dictatorship.
“They urge the United Nations and all governments to pressure the clerical regime to free those arrested in recent protests and hold them accountable regarding those who have disappeared. They must form a commission of inquiry to investigate the arbitrary arrests of thousands of people and the killing of prisoners under torture.
“The people of Iran expect that all governments severe their political and economic relations with the clerical regime, particularly with the IRGC which is torturing and killing the protesters.”