![\"Giuliani](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Giuliani-at-MEK-rally.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nUS President Donald Trump\u2019s close ally and lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke of \u201crevolution\u201d and the \u201coverthrow\u201d of Iran\u2019s ruling clerics at a rally of anti-government Iranian Americans on Saturday as the administration continues its offensive against Tehran.<\/span><\/p>\n Giuliani spoke at the so-called 2018 Iran Uprising Summit in midtown Manhattan, hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile that seeks an end to clerical rule in Iran \u2013 and the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an anti-government Iranian religious group that used to be on the US terror list.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know when we\u2019re going to overthrow them. It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years, but it\u2019s going to happen. They\u2019re going to be overthrown, the people of Iran have obviously had enough,\u201d Giuliani told a cheering crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe sanctions are working. The currency is going to nothing \u2026 These are the conditions that lead to a successful revolution, and, God willing, non-violent revolution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The end of Iran\u2019s 39-year-old clerical establishment would not echo the chaos that followed the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, thanks to the NCRI and Iran\u2019s multi-skilled diaspora, Giuliani said in a 15-minute address.<\/span><\/p>\n The rally came after the Trump administration pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in May and is ratcheting up sanctions which, officials say, are aimed at deterring Tehran\u2019s military expansionism rather than topple its government.<\/span><\/p>\n But some Iranian Americans see parallels to the build-up to the invasion of Iraq and say that links between the Trump administration and the NCRI, which presents itself as an Iranian government-in-waiting, are worrying.<\/span><\/p>\n That is not least because of NCRI\u2019s president-elect Maryam Rajavi, who also heads the highly controversial MEK, which has a background in leftist, Islamist-style violence and fosters cult-like devotion among its followers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIran is in a critical moment, with the continued protests in Iran. The time for the mullahs is ending. It is also time for the world to recognise the legitimate demands of the Iranian people for a free republic based on the separation of religion and state,\u201d Rajavi said.<\/span><\/p>\n In a recorded video message, she urged the US and the UN to sanction and pressure Iran, while laying out plans to tackle poverty, improve human rights and hold free elections in Iran within six months of the mullahs being toppled.<\/span><\/p>\n Rajavi and Giuliani addressed and roused the crowd at the New York Sheraton, backed by Iranian rock and classical music and other speeches from former US Gen James Jones and France\u2019s former foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.<\/span><\/p>\n They made no mention of an attack on a military parade of Revolutionary Guard troops and officials in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday, in which at least 25 people were killed.\u00a0Iranian leaders said US-backed Gulf states were behind the killings.<\/span><\/p>\n Trump supporters have spoken at NCRI events in the past, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, who, before taking his post, told the group\u2019s members they would be ruling Iran before 2019 and their goal should be regime change.<\/span><\/p>\n This week, Trump is expected to heap more pressure on Iran in his speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and at a Security Council meeting focused on Iran and illegal weapons flow on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n Iran has seen its rial plunge, economic turmoil and a wave of protests that has spread to 80 cities since December as US sanctions bite and additional curbs are expected to shrink Iran\u2019s oil exports when they are imposed in November.<\/span><\/p>\n Ali Safavi, a card-carrying member of NCRI, said his group usually only holds a street rally during the UN\u2019s annual meet of world leaders but had raised its profile this year as US pressure is seeing the clerics\u2019 grip on power weaken.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe mullahs are on their last legs,\u201d Safavi told Middle East Eye. Echoing Rajavi, he called for action by the UN and emphasised the secular, democratic credentials of the MEK, also known as the People\u2019s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI).<\/span><\/p>\n Continues … <\/a><\/p>\n UPDATE — Press TV (@PressTV) September 22, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n‘Time for the mullahs ending’?<\/h2>\n
MEK: A controversial group<\/h2>\n
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Live video captures the moment of #Ahvaz<\/a> terrorist shooting https:\/\/t.co\/qKmmEkyclu<\/a>#IranMilitaryParade<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/KmpfvnbOGx<\/a><\/p>\n