national press club. i say welcome back because he has spoken here at least twice before, march 1st, 2006, when he discussed the situation in a run at that time. i also want to thank her for role. today he will give us his view on the ongoing an unprecedented threat post-election administration and iran. he thinks they reflect a fundamental change in the attitude of the iranian people to the islamic regime, and has some ideas about what the west should do about it. after he speaks, he will take your questions. . .

in the most troubling region of the world. on the other hand, their defeat will encourage extremism all the way to the energy jugular's of the world. at the very least will threaten global tranquillity and economic recovery through fears of terrorism, slowdown of globalization and steeply higher energy prices.

at worst, fanatical tirntse -- tyrants 0 who know the future is against them may end things on their course, a nuclear holocaust. but which will it be? that is the question of the day. my message to you is do not underestimate the role you play in the outcome. international media are already the information artery connecting different parts of the freedom movement in iran. that is why the o'ree jeem has ominously warned media that only officially approved reports can be dispatched out of the country. having restricted the return path of media, they are also jamming electronic transmissions and restricting internet traffic into the country. but it is the third leg of

communication from people to people, from one resistance cell with another, from leaders to supporters inside of which the regime is most fearful. they can in the fight people who stand together. only and information blackout can isolate individuals so that they can be oppressed separately. thus, the outcome of the struggle would depend on your ability, the free media, to fight their blackouts with the light of information. your second contribution is keeping your political leaders informed about the brutal violence of the regime's plain-clothed thugs against

unarmed people. your governments have insisted that they would not interfere in iran's internal affairs. i applaud that. any such attempt will give the tyrants the excuse they need to paper over their own differences and target every man struggling for freedom as a foreign agent. but that is not all they do. they are painting every statement in defense of human rights as foreign interference, benefiting from the confusion between the two. it is vital, it is vital that the free world not fall for such cruel cynicism in the name of application. the universal decoration of human rights knows no national boundaries.

it's defense is not only a matter of ethics, but a mutual obligation of all governments who are its signatories. it is also in their interests. no one will benefit from closing his or her eyes to knives and cables, cutting into the faces of our young and old. or from bullets piercing our beloved.

[applause] >> whose only thing was a quest for freedom. no one but tyrants in their hearts. do not let them define what is sovereignty what, is interference in others ace affairs. ladies and gentlemen, a movement was born on the 12th of june on your calendar. it is not islamic or

anti-islamic. it is not for capitalism or socialism, nor any other ideology or specific form of government. it cares little about historical squabbles before its birth, but it is about the sanctity, even more, the sovereignty of the ballot box. it may not succeed immediately. it may have ebbs and throws. but let me assure you, it will not die, because we will not let it die. a week later the supreme leader of the islamic republic decided to stand erect as a dam in front of this movement, sanctioning theft of the ballot box and flagrant fraud, all in the name of islam.

it was an ugly moment of disrespect for both god and man . it was not stand. the citizens of iran will not stand it. and at the end, he will not stand. rest assured, the movement, there are invested with the blood of my brave countrymen, with energy and support will not stop until it achieves human rights in iran. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much, mr. las vegas. if you have any questions, please line up at the alternating makes.

>> i have a few questions. first of all, can you talk about what you have heard about anything going on outside of tehran? obviously media isn't able to get there. you spoke very briefly about what the international community can do. specifically, do you think that president obama has struck the right tone? is there anything else he should or could be saying, or is there anything else the u.s. should or could be doing? zhr the u.s. have any influence here in the absence of relations with iran? >> thank you very much. what i can tell you first and foremost is that the violence is far more widespread than has been reported by the media, probably because allowed media has been mostly focused on

major cities. but i have been receiving many reports from provinces and smaller towns where there has always been a tremendous amount of repression there. what could be interesting to all of you is that even just today, driving here to the national press club, i received calls from various parts of the country. i received a call from a member of the revolutionary guards passing through an alley where a kid was writing a slowing ann -- and moving on. there is a sense of come policity. if we don't hit you, our superiors will hit us. i had a report from yaz where some leaders there would dress

in civilian clothes and gather in some of the civilian protests. this is getting amazingly by the minute a sort of dissention, and people abandonning the sinking titanic that the regime is. i can go on and on, but what is most important, we are seeing that our messages and our appeals to the security forces not to hit their own brethren and join with them is gaining ground. it is unfortunate that it has failed to show and demonstrate, but many elements within the security forces and revolutionary guard are showing their discontent. there was a specific report i received today, and i cannot name names, but one of the higher names of the revolutionary guard who was

specifically assigned to stopping any kind of unrest, recently said that after what happened last year, he said i can no longer morally or consciously stick to a stick after what is happening to the people. so there is an amazing reflection that is happening not just for the people obviously, but elements in this regime. this is what i hear and the kind of reports i receive. you asked about the u.s. and the administration. i was encouraged by the latest positioning and words of president obama specifically. as i mentioned earlier in my speech, the distinction between what is considered or could be interpreted as interference in the sovereign affairs of a state as opposed to standing for the principles of violating

human rights. this is important. this is precisely what the iranians at home demand from world leaders, particularly someone like president obama. his entire message of hope, and change and affirmative action was a big inspiration to many. and as such, the world community has been for the most part in an unprecedented fashion, showing more and more solidarity. that is important. that is heartening. that gives life in the streets of tehran, that people finally after 28 years and god knows how many times i have said that , and it has fallen on deaf ears, but finally it there for the world to see. such solidarity can only be helpful. i can say as a final comment on this topic, i received at least in the past five days personally over 200 calls, at

least, of various people inside iran, irrespective of which movement they represent, tell on their behalf to the world, do not quiet down, keep talking, keep supporting us, keep being there for us. we are dying here. we need to know we are not alone. i can't stress that enough. >> are you looking for anything else specific from the u.s., or is there anything else they could be doing? >> well, i think the key element would be -- look, the mask from this regime is coming off and it is turning out to be a police state. is it going to be a genocide or a major crack down? is the world prepared to take the next step? we have to applauseably anticipate that. the question is what would governments going to do this time? is it going to be tiananmen

square revisited? this could lead to a much more dire problem, not just for the iranian people, who would be tremendously set back for their hopes of freedom any time soon, but the dangers this presents beyond its borders to the international community. >> i wonder how you would define what we are seeing right now? is it a revolution? what will be the aftermath? will it be a regime change or only a change in the regime? >> as i mentioned in the opening statement, june 14, and what happened shortly thereafter may have been at the beginning a dispute or election results. suns then, i think most iranians today, including the camp of the opponents and others, are realizing now this is far beyond the question of

election results. it has become a question of not only the sanctity of the ballot box, but a matter of sovereignty and liberty, that with such a regime that has pretty much drawn the line in the sand and would make it now almost impossible for anyone to demand anything less than moving beyond this system. it is going in that direction. the momentum is there. there is no avenue or recourse left for that nation, for my come patriots, to find any resolution of the problem. even if the guard was willing to admit there was scripeans, they claim that is not enough to warrant a recount. so pretty much the line has been drawn in the sand. from now on the question is to offer every opportunity for anyone who are joining with the

people, to get off this sinking titanic that the islamic regime is all about. we encourage that, but at the end, it will become a matter that we can no longer say we are for the people and on the other try to sustain the reject. it is an untenable position. so yes, it is almost a revolutionary climate. however, i don't use the word revolution, because i think revolution has a negative connotation in everybody's collective memory. i am talking about nonviolent civilian disobedience. i have seldom seen nonviolent movements of change succeed without international support. that is a very key element, and that is what i would like to stress here tonight. >> my question to you is actually as a follow-up to

ellis' question whether obama said -- had set the right tone or not. i wonder whether you believe the regional countries have set the right tone. iran's immediate neighbors like turkey and iraq had called mahmud ahmadinejad to congratulate his victory. do you think that is a stand against the people on the street or an alliance to the current regime. how do you interpret it? thank you. >> well, i think it is hard to interpret it as anything other than standing in complete opposite of where the iranian people stand today. yes this did this? ask them. i don't think it is my place to

discuss why a government does that. at a time when they are risk everything they have got to earn their freedom, was on their side. if we have a long term vision, that will lk more of a -- will become more of a vision. >> i would like to ask you about the relations between chavez and ahmadinejad. they have established relations in recent years. what do these two governments have in common to be so close? also, my second question is if you think that iran should have nuclear energy, isn't that up

to the world? thank you? >> well, on the first question, the french have an expression. that means people who resemble one another assemble with one another. i think the writing is on the wall. [applause] >> i don't think i need to elaborate. i have a lot of venezuela one-and-one friends, and dash venezuelan friends. my position has always been clear on the nuclear issue. let's make one thing clear. iran before the revolution was a signatory to the nonproliferation treaty, as a result of which we became 10% shareholders in a consortiums

which was going to furnish iran the nuclear rods to fuel our nuclear reactors that were going to be started and should have been completed around 1983 if i am not mistaken. at the time, the world community was not concerned about iran's civilian nuclear program. as a matter of fact, most countries that are demanding tougher sanctions were countries competing. what has changed? it is the nature of the system. it is the trust that you can have to a system that makes the whole difference. lack of transparency, lack of responsibility or accountability is the threat. of course, the regime, as

capable as they seem to be in twisting every word and fact to make it a national cry, do not tell people of iran, that they, the regime is responsible for us having lost that right, and only them. but as far as the military usage of that, again it would be in title violation of our own signature to that treaty. in principle i would end up by saying there is no question in my view that a democratic iran and a nation committed to peace need not pursue weapons of mass destruction. i cannot envision in my own mind if i were there today, that as an iranian i would feel safer if everybody around us had their own said of nuclear weapons pointed at each other. that is not a safe environment under any circumstance. i don't buy that argument. don't forget last, and not

least, that most of the regime's rhetoric in the last few years, and perhaps enlonger before that, had always been mostly aimed for not domestic consumption, but for external consumption, particularly towards the arabs in the region. that often has deflected attention from the problems in iran itself, which have left many confused as to the real sentiment of the people. and today you will hear more and more, because of your presence there, what i knew all along. what the iranian people really think, when you have people struggling to make ends meet, when you have a factory worker who has not been paid his salary in over a half a year, and his entire salary is only

$2,000 or $3,000 a year, and this regime gives twice or 10 times that amount to a hezbollah family in lebanon or a family in palestinian, when he is starving, those rirets are not in the interests of your own people. i have heard them celebrating making yellow cake? how about making bread for us because we are starving. if you trust the iranian people, and you should in their decision, i have no doubt that first and foremost we have a sense of respect for ourselves. our signature must mean something. we have signed a treaty. if we violate that treaty, how could we possibly think if tomorrow we wanted to become a member of the world trade organization, and we have violated this signature, how could you ever trust them. that is my position and principle on the subject. thank you. >> i would like to refer to a

former question concerning the future of iran. when you look at the people who have not an important roll, like mr. moose wie and others, they are all part of the regime. how do you envision the future of iran? is it going to overthrow it? it is probably not going to be a return to the old monarchy, and what role do you envision four receive and your family? >> as i partially explained earlier in the question, the situation has grown beyond the result of an election. as a result, most iranians are quite aware of the fact that having always been limited to prescreened candidate of the regime's choice as to who they

get to vote for to begin with. they are stuck in the position of having to choose between the lesser of two evils. in that sense, i think that today if it presents an opportunity for such prescreened candidates to join with the masses, it will be very difficult for us not to anticipate that at some point, surf candidates will be faced with an impasse. either they have to really take the side of the people, peeling completely away from the regime and allegiance to it, because you cannot at the same time hold allegiance to the regime and claim that you are with the people. a decision will have to be made pretty soon. the legitimacy of such candidates is a direct result of whether or not they actually take the side of the street and peel away from the regime, or

forever lose their legitimacy the way the supreme leader has lost it now. towards the future, i have always said to all of you many times, and i repeat it yet again today, that my sole objective is to help my compate rots reach freedom. let's have the liberty to vote and choose freely. i would like to be able to be in my country one day, come behind such a podium, talk to my people, and every other candidate for whatever reason like like to talk to the people, and let the people decide. right now i am not running for any office. right now all i am trying to do is help liberate my country sooner rather than later so we don't have hundreds or thousands of other people in our country die, when they could stop dying and being

repreffed. my object tiff is to see a day when iranians can go to the polls and elect a leader of their choice. i am very clear in what i am proposing as an alternative to this three seconds rece. i demand a clear separation about religion and government. a constitution based on the international decoration of human rights. i believe on that subject, having talked to a whole host of political grooms, with different ideologies, we differ in ideology, we differ in the ultimate form the government too take, but the important thing is that we all agrew that the only sio