Latest / Gunther Fehlinger Podcast / Shiva Shabanian on IRANS’s Uprising: Why REGIME CHANGE Can’t Wait with Günther Fehlinger Jahn

Transcript

Shiva Shabanian on IRANS’s Uprising: Why REGIME CHANGE Can’t Wait with Günther Fehlinger Jahn · Gunther Fehlinger Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Gunter Failing, our podcast.
• 0:01
  Our podcast is developing very well.
• 0:03
  I want to thank especially the Iranians who are listening in
• 0:07
  because now it makes the count. I had more than 2000 new
• 0:10
  followers and mainly Iranians who are following our activity
• 0:14
  for the support of the Iranian people.
• 0:17
  And of course, this is now the world's focus.
• 0:20
  This is what the free world really needs, its regime change
• 0:24
  in Iran, democracy and freedom in Iran.
• 0:27
  And that's why also thanks everybody who is following our
• 0:31
  work here. We have now 135,000 followers on
• 0:35
  leaks at the X account and also 16,000 we have crossed at the
• 0:39
  YouTube channel and our podcast of course develops with our
• 0:44
  guests. And we have very prominent
• 0:47
  leader of the Iranian freedom community here in Austria.
• 0:52
  Shiva, it's very good that you are here and this morning with
• 0:55
  us to explain the situation. It's very dramatic situation at
• 0:59
  the moment for the Iranians who are there are so many killed and
• 1:03
  there are so many victims of the a deterrent of Tehran.
• 1:07
  And now I would like to welcome you first of all, and also
• 1:11
  please introduce yourself, who you are, what you're doing.
• 1:14
  We met on the demonstrations now at the beginning of the year,
• 1:18
  you have organized major demonstrations here in Vienna.
• 1:21
  And I'm very honored that you're here with us this morning.
• 1:24
  Shiva, the floor is yours. Good morning, Austria, let's say
• 1:27
  that and everyone in the world. Thank you for inviting me.
• 1:30
  First of all, it's an honor to be in Patriot in the 1st place.
• 1:35
  And also it is good that people understand wherever you are, in
• 1:39
  any land you live, you belong to that land.
• 1:42
  Even I feel that for Austria, because I'm also Austrian,
• 1:45
  Iranian. When I care about Iran, in my
• 1:48
  heart I care about the outside of the border as well.
• 1:52
  That means for me Austria. So both there in one place at
• 1:55
  this moment. I've been active since 2000,
• 1:59
  almost 14, let's say. And this had been happening in
• 2:04
  Iran. There were several uprisings,
• 2:06
  there have been many demonstration, and there have
• 2:09
  been many people killed. And let's be really honest, this
• 2:13
  has been happening since 1979. I've never wanted to be an
• 2:17
  activist. I've never wanted to involve
• 2:19
  myself in politics at all. But we had some activists that
• 2:23
  they were killed also in Germany.
• 2:25
  His name was Ferrey Dune Farakhsat.
• 2:27
  They were calling him Ferry. You should also search him.
• 2:31
  He started politics as well in Germany and his thesis was on
• 2:36
  Marxism. They killed him in Germany
• 2:39
  because of his activity as an activist political activist.
• 2:42
  They. You mean who?
• 2:44
  The Islamic Republic they. Kill people in the European
• 2:48
  Union, in Germany? Yes, yes, that's an outrage.
• 2:51
  Yes, and nobody talks about it. And his family also stays
• 2:56
  silent. The lives are in danger, people
• 2:59
  are threatened. And sometimes I guess people
• 3:03
  think we are an activist just to show ourselves or to get credits
• 3:09
  out of it. But I tell you something, each
• 3:12
  and every Iranian after 1979, they're somehow politically
• 3:18
  affected when they don't get a visa to travel, when they can't
• 3:23
  go to US because their country is listed as a terror
• 3:27
  organization. And the people are not the
• 3:30
  system, they're not the regime. We're different.
• 3:33
  And you know, in Austria, they always call us Mr. Pasa.
• 3:37
  They know who we are. We are Persians.
• 3:40
  We're Iranians. Our country is Iran and they
• 3:43
  have the memories of the past, the dignity that we have and
• 3:47
  since 1979 almost every Iranian is affected by the regime.
• 3:54
  I'm I myself, I'm a pharmacist and I also work in a pharma
• 3:58
  industry in Austria. I also worked in the big
• 4:02
  hospital of Vienna as well, so I medically dedicated to the
• 4:07
  citizen of Austria as well. And I know when someone is
• 4:10
  killed, dead, shot. What does it mean when there is
• 4:14
  no healthcare around them? When?
• 4:17
  Shiva, you're one of the many Iranians actually in Austria.
• 4:21
  There's a big community and many of them are in healthcare, and
• 4:24
  our healthcare system very much depends on many successful
• 4:27
  Iranians. Tell me about yourself as well.
• 4:29
  Are you from the parents generation, come from Iran, from
• 4:32
  79 or where you burn in Austria or in Iran?
• 4:36
  What's your background? I was born in Iran.
• 4:38
  I was raised in Iran since the teenage time and when I was a
• 4:43
  teenager, I had quarrels, let's say at school with the system as
• 4:48
  well. Then my parents decided and said
• 4:51
  you have to leave the country because if you stay, you know
• 4:54
  what happens to you. I was vocal, I was not staying
• 4:57
  silent and I didn't like the system and I didn't like the way
• 5:01
  they were treating people at school, especially our
• 5:04
  generation as teenagers. Tell us about when was that in
• 5:08
  the 2000 tens or? So let's say 2007, it started in
• 5:13
  2007, the whole story. And 2009 was the last time I
• 5:17
  left Iran. And I didn't come to Austria, I
• 5:20
  went to India to study there. And then from India I came to
• 5:24
  Austria. So very long journey,
• 5:26
  interesting journey. And my mother herself has
• 5:30
  studied politics and my father is an engineer, a civil
• 5:35
  engineer. And we are from educated family,
• 5:38
  of course. And yes, and I'm very happy that
• 5:44
  although my parents were an intellectual, they never
• 5:48
  involved themselves in the political matters at all.
• 5:52
  They never wanted to invade a country or damage a country.
• 5:56
  My father gave a lot of services to the country.
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  And when there was an Iran, Iraq war, any Iranian wanted to help
• 6:06
  Iran. And he was also one of them who
• 6:08
  wanted to help. But you know, they don't want
• 6:12
  you to be a patriot. They don't want you to help the
• 6:14
  country in any way. They want to damage Iran.
• 6:18
  This is sincere and you see it. They don't give the land back to
• 6:23
  the people. They don't give the country back
• 6:25
  to the people. They don't want to have a system
• 6:28
  and structure like in their mentality and ideology.
• 6:33
  Nothing as a system or structure work other than a dictatorship
• 6:39
  structured and I guess you know what I'm talking about.
• 6:43
  Tell us a little bit. Explain us how the school system
• 6:46
  is for women in Iran. What was your personal
• 6:48
  experience? Why did you basically not fit
• 6:51
  into that system? Where was this moment you
• 6:54
  decided you have to leave? See, they make the children,
• 6:59
  let's say, let's start from the school from 7-8, they make you
• 7:04
  sing an anthem, yeah, for the Islamic Republic.
• 7:09
  And in a way you have to chant it to America, that to Israel.
• 7:14
  So. You.
• 7:15
  The children there in the school in the morning, instead of a
• 7:18
  prayer or something, you have to chant death to America, death to
• 7:22
  Israel. That's basically the school
• 7:24
  obligation, yeah. And they, they were always
• 7:28
  having the flag of Israel or, or America on the ground and
• 7:33
  they're making you to walk on top of it, since that's.
• 7:36
  Kind of the school ritual in the morning you have to trample over
• 7:40
  the American and Israeli flag. Yes.
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  And this is very, you know, when you are a child, you're just 7-8
• 7:46
  year old, you don't understand what you're doing.
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  You know, this is the problem, that since you're at a school,
• 7:53
  they're raising you with their own system.
• 7:57
  And when I see that at times also even in Austria, that there
• 8:04
  are people that we have to respect them, I understand.
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  But sometimes the democracy has to understand some ideologies
• 8:12
  cannot be respected and it's not democratic to respect.
• 8:15
  It. It's not democratic to tell
• 8:18
  people, you know, you can't say that to America.
• 8:22
  And we have to train you to educate you.
• 8:25
  How can you train a person? Whose ideology is built like
• 8:30
  that? So they were training you in
• 8:32
  hatred basically, and you somehow had the internal A
• 8:37
  version against that or you didn't?
• 8:39
  Yes, because, you know, my family were always at at home,
• 8:43
  We were always talking about what's happening in the society,
• 8:46
  people getting killed. And my mother was always
• 8:49
  explaining what happened in 1979 the on the streets.
• 8:52
  And even years before that, she was explaining what's happening
• 8:56
  at the universities because, you know, the Shah of Iran sent
• 9:00
  people with a scholarship to Europe, to America so that they
• 9:05
  get education. They came to Europe and they
• 9:09
  taught the Europe is like, you know, much more educated or
• 9:13
  faster than Iran. And they started comparing these
• 9:17
  two matter with each other. And you know, those timings
• 9:21
  people are into, you know, Marxism, left ideology and and
• 9:27
  communism and this whole, you know, some of them are really
• 9:31
  like slogan in reality, they're not implementable.
• 9:34
  You cannot implement them. And the Shah of Iran, his
• 9:38
  father, Reza Shah the great, when he took the land he was
• 9:44
  trying to establish, you know, in Austria, BIAB University,
• 9:48
  Vienna, it is now over 650 years established, right?
• 9:54
  Our first university is now established like less than 100
• 9:58
  years. So that means the fastest that
• 10:01
  the Mama Riza Shah could do is to establish universities
• 10:04
  immediately, you know, send these people abroad to get
• 10:07
  educated, to come back to build the country.
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  And he had several speeches also in this, you know, Senate and
• 10:14
  Parliament and said, what should we do?
• 10:17
  Should we send our children abroad so that they stay there
• 10:21
  and don't come back to the country to build the country?
• 10:23
  We have to send them. So he was trying to educate
• 10:26
  people because let's be really honest, some countries are
• 10:31
  behind some, you know, plannings in the world.
• 10:34
  And Iran suddenly became modern and this fast modernization was
• 10:41
  really, I would say it was not for everyone.
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  We needed some cultural practices.
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  That's why the wife of the Mama Reza Shah, the queen of Iran,
• 10:53
  Shabanu Farah, she also visited our parliament in Austria years
• 10:57
  ago. She started all the cultural
• 11:00
  program for the women at a school, teaching them, you know,
• 11:05
  how to talk to people, train them, wear what needs to be
• 11:10
  behaved at a school. They were telling women, you
• 11:14
  know, how to dress up, how the uniform needs to be.
• 11:17
  And everyone were coming dressed up at a school.
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  You know when you know when you see the photos that you see get
• 11:23
  uploaded on X that they're comparing these two, you know,
• 11:27
  let's say timings, you see there is some drift and shift suddenly
• 11:33
  that you know as a modern country and suddenly you make
• 11:36
  them to wear a scarf. You know, when the rest are
• 11:40
  shot, that time actually said remove the scarf.
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  This removing the scarf for some religious people is like, oh,
• 11:49
  they want to take the scarf from our head.
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  No, it's that the ideology needs to get out of your head.
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  This is the concept behind it. And that's how they make Iran
• 11:59
  become modern. And my family's and my my mom,
• 12:02
  as I told you, was a study in political science.
• 12:05
  So books were definitely at home.
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  So she was reading books and she was explaining to me, you know,
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  we have geography, we have history as a lesson.
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  And sometimes I had to get help. I was like, OK, they asked us
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  to, you know, to have this, you know, assignment.
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  And my mom said before you write the assignment, you need to
• 12:24
  understand what happened that time.
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  So, you know, she was reading the book, of course, taking
• 12:30
  some, you know, tasks for me to read them.
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  And we were talking to each other.
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  So of course, I was impacted. You know, I was in two different
• 12:41
  diaspora going out of school, seeing what's happening there
• 12:44
  and then coming home and then you see they telling you
• 12:48
  history, so you somehow get confused.
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  I want to understand the moment where you were going basically
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  in school, in the authoritarian system, wherever they were
• 12:59
  teaching your hatred to America and Israel.
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  And today we're asking you to behave in a certain way.
• 13:05
  And there must have been some kind of moment of conflict where
• 13:08
  you were rebelling or you were somehow getting conflict with
• 13:12
  the teacher. Where was this moment when you
• 13:15
  want to describe it? We I think it would be very
• 13:18
  meaningful to understand why you actually had to leave then or
• 13:21
  your parents sent you out of. That's a that's a very good
• 13:25
  question because I have to really tell you, you know,
• 13:29
  sometimes in psychology also, you have to get hit in one
• 13:32
  moment to change something, right?
• 13:35
  I believe the moment this conflict was escalated, they ask
• 13:41
  you to choose someone as your religious person to follow.
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  I came home and I asked my parents.
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  They said they're asking us to follow someone.
• 13:56
  You know to follow someone's ideology because you.
• 14:00
  Mean to name some Ayatollah? Who is your favorite Ayatollah?
• 14:03
  Like your holy man, to whose role model?
• 14:07
  You want to guide you to. Guide you spiritual.
• 14:09
  Yes. So for me, this itself was a
• 14:12
  question that, hey, I'm at a school, I'm learning lessons.
• 14:17
  I want to become a, you know, I knew I have to become a doctor
• 14:20
  or a dentist something because, you know, it's in our gene
• 14:22
  somehow. And I was like, I'm preparing
• 14:25
  for that. And they're pushing for this
• 14:28
  matter. This is insane.
• 14:30
  You know, this was insane. And I told my mom, I'm not
• 14:34
  giving name. And my mom said she, but you
• 14:36
  have to give some name. I say I'm not giving any name
• 14:39
  because see, I, I, I see you and my father, you're not forcing me
• 14:44
  for anything or to anything. And they're forcing me to choose
• 14:47
  that. And my mom said, just give a
• 14:49
  name and just get rid of this matter.
• 14:50
  I was like, I'm not living it at that.
• 14:52
  No, I'm not. And I went to school and again,
• 14:57
  this teacher, of course she was wearing hijab because they're
• 15:01
  responsible for teaching the religious lesson.
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  We have it as a compulsory, you know, syllabus.
• 15:07
  And she said, OK, Shiva, who's the person you want to choose?
• 15:11
  I said nobody because you have to choose somebody.
• 15:14
  I was like, listen, I have a family member.
• 15:18
  He was a Christian and he never told me what to do and not to
• 15:22
  do. And he's praying to Christ and
• 15:26
  I, let's say I'm a Muslim. Let's say that because you know
• 15:30
  when you're born, automatically they say you are a Muslim in
• 15:33
  Iran right now. I was like, let's say I'm a
• 15:36
  Muslim. I can be a peaceful Muslim, not
• 15:39
  following anybody and believing in God.
• 15:41
  What's problem with that? So, you know, the quarter was
• 15:45
  going back and forth, back and forth and the conflict started
• 15:48
  there indeed. You said that in the the
• 15:53
  gymnasium in the high school in Iran.
• 15:56
  Yes, you told them that your family is Christian and that you
• 15:59
  don't want to choose your family.
• 16:01
  Member yeah, just a family member.
• 16:03
  Was a Christian, so I was seeing how he's, you know.
• 16:05
  Practiced. It was very courageous.
• 16:06
  I guess it was risky to do. Because, you know, even now.
• 16:10
  That you were blacklisted, basically.
• 16:12
  Somehow the teasing started there and see my parents also
• 16:16
  now pray you know do you know that they believe in God.
• 16:19
  We have no problem. You know I've.
• 16:22
  Seen a lot of. Christians, Jews, Muslim, living
• 16:27
  peacefully. We have some people like that.
• 16:28
  You see, there are also some in region of Emirates.
• 16:33
  They're educated, they have their own, you know, but let's
• 16:36
  say dress code, but they don't push people to do, you know,
• 16:41
  forcefully to somebody. Even I've seen an interview a
• 16:46
  Qatar, a person or it was from Oman, I don't remember, he said.
• 16:50
  It's funny, Muhammad came from here.
• 16:54
  Yeah, If we don't know what the Ayatollah wants from us, they
• 16:57
  don't let us also practice our own religion.
• 17:01
  So you were already very freedom spirited back in the high school
• 17:05
  in Tehran and now you are Austrian Iranian political
• 17:09
  activist. Did you start in 2026 with this
• 17:13
  three or four major demonstrations in front of the
• 17:15
  parliament and that the main place of the Austrian Hero
• 17:20
  Square where I met you? Or did you start already several
• 17:24
  years ago? I started in 2022, 2222.
• 17:30
  I decided to come public, you know, because before that I was
• 17:34
  just active on XI was work older.
• 17:37
  I had a spaces. I was talking, we were writing
• 17:41
  articles, but I never came, you know, frontline.
• 17:46
  But during the Mass Amini because I have a niece myself.
• 17:53
  I've seen so many children getting killed and they were
• 17:57
  beautiful children when you. You mean you're you're
• 18:00
  schoolmates of your class or some of?
• 18:02
  Us, they could. Be my classmate, they could be
• 18:05
  my sister, they could be my cousin, they could be my niece.
• 18:11
  But exactly one person. Her name is Nika Shakarami.
• 18:16
  The way she was killed, technically murdered, they raped
• 18:22
  her. They hit her several times on
• 18:25
  her head, and they threw her body somewhere in the alley.
• 18:30
  And when you look at that picture, you should be inhuman,
• 18:34
  not to be changed. You know, I started crying a lot
• 18:40
  and I said it's time to confront.
• 18:43
  You know, you, you have to act. Explain a little bit this
• 18:48
  immense brutality against women which we see.
• 18:53
  It's for me very unexplainable, because the idea when you have
• 18:56
  police, police is there to protect the people, it's in
• 19:00
  police custody. The idea in Austria is that you
• 19:02
  are safe because they are your friends and help us.
• 19:05
  They are keeping up the law. Why is this immense brutality of
• 19:10
  the police forces, of this tyranny of Iran?
• 19:13
  Why are they so aggressive and brutal violent against women?
• 19:20
  I guess beginning of 1979, if you read the history, they took
• 19:30
  the country with weapon forcefully and they also
• 19:38
  practised how to kill people. There are evident document from
• 19:46
  those who are now the head of the universities teaching
• 19:49
  politics in London in the UK. That time like 19681969, before
• 19:57
  the revolution technically happened, they themselves said
• 20:01
  it on camera that we were getting trained, we were
• 20:05
  practicing how to, you know, take the country down in the
• 20:15
  blood of the system that is born.
• 20:19
  Terrorism is there. They are harsh, I would say, and
• 20:26
  as you know you called it the tyranny is a dictatorship and
• 20:32
  from let's look at it from European angle, they say is a
• 20:36
  system, is a structure. I do understand we want to look
• 20:41
  at it that way, but we also need to understand where does that
• 20:46
  system come from? How is built and is built on
• 20:49
  what? When those timings, we had
• 20:53
  Kaisas in Austria and we had kings.
• 20:56
  Some people had, I don't know, different names, Lords, they
• 20:59
  were going to get the countries, you know, and this was in the
• 21:05
  humanities nature, those timings.
• 21:08
  I'm saying when we were not in a modern democracy was not there
• 21:11
  existed years ago. You know, let's talk about 500
• 21:15
  years ago, OK, This was in the blood of everyone, you know, to
• 21:19
  battle with each other, gladiator and things like that.
• 21:23
  And then slowly they decided to change that by some.
• 21:29
  This hasn't changed. Indeed, they they still think
• 21:33
  that. Forcefully killing people.
• 21:36
  Is a system, is a manner, let's say.
• 21:41
  So they have built a tyranny based on fear, on torture, on
• 21:46
  oppression. That's the standard of such
• 21:49
  tyrannical system. But I want to understand, is
• 21:52
  this specific kind of violence against women?
• 21:55
  Is it a random acts of police officers who are just sexual
• 21:59
  predators? Or is it a state sanctioned kind
• 22:02
  of tool to humiliate independent women?
• 22:06
  Is it a kind of weapon of war and of suppression, which is
• 22:11
  basically politically sanctioned and demanded of the police
• 22:14
  officers? Or is it just random acts of
• 22:17
  violence against women? I don't mind saying combination
• 22:21
  of all of it. It depends how they use it and
• 22:24
  where to use it. This is my top answer.
• 22:28
  But at the moment, I would say every situation that happens to
• 22:33
  some, you know, uprisings, we see the documents coming from
• 22:38
  the police department's structuring saying how things
• 22:43
  needs to be done, when needs to be done.
• 22:46
  Now you have to put, you know, maximum suppression at times.
• 22:50
  We've seen some good people saying no to them.
• 22:55
  They also got killed. They also got eliminated.
• 22:59
  So I mean, there are good people always in the any system that
• 23:02
  they want to change the system. But they were alone in 2009
• 23:07
  during the green movement, let's say green uprising, many elites,
• 23:12
  educated people got out of the country.
• 23:15
  So me existed like at that time, I remember a year before that I
• 23:22
  already left Iran. But this peak of time, there've
• 23:28
  been many people left Iran because that was the last moment
• 23:34
  that they changed their mind because they stole the boat of
• 23:37
  the people. So there were huge numbers,
• 23:41
  millions on the street saying return the vote to the people.
• 23:47
  Now we call it there was a reform.
• 23:50
  People wanted to reform. I don't believe you can reform a
• 23:55
  tyranny. How can you reform a tyranny
• 23:59
  when it's built by blood and suppression, killing, and this?
• 24:06
  Was the 2009 revolution, which already basically the Iranians
• 24:10
  are since 2009 constantly in revolution?
• 24:14
  Against exactly we had different peaks of time after that 2012,
• 24:18
  2015, 16 and then now we reached to 2026.
• 24:22
  It's getting you know, even you look at the peak, it's getting
• 24:24
  faster. You know initially maybe it was
• 24:27
  like 10 year gap but now he's getting C from Massa till now
• 24:32
  it's almost 2 1/2 year. So this last 2 1/2 years you
• 24:35
  became the frontline person of the Iranians in Austria and you
• 24:39
  have taken on the battle also in the political arena, if I can
• 24:43
  say so. And please tell us a little bit
• 24:46
  about the reception of the Iranian women, the Iranian
• 24:50
  freedom fighters in the last two years in Austria.
• 24:52
  How was the media responding to you?
• 24:55
  How were the political elite and the Austrian public responding
• 24:59
  to the plight of the Iranian women since 2022, and how is
• 25:03
  your assessment of the response? Well, we have to open 2 chapters
• 25:08
  here because that's a time that we have to talk about what we
• 25:14
  think as an Austrian and what I expect as an Iranian, you know?
• 25:18
  There are two, let's say there's like 2 theaters, Salon AB, and
• 25:23
  I'm seeing two different things happening at the same time.
• 25:26
  In Theatre A that says Austria and Theatre B is Iran OK when
• 25:31
  people are getting shot, killed, murdered and, you know, raped?
• 25:38
  Indeed, in Theatre A they write about just the bravery, which is
• 25:47
  good. I don't mind that, you know, we
• 25:48
  have to talk about it. But then the feminists come
• 25:53
  along, you know, to play around the scenario.
• 25:59
  We know that the long side with us, you see the number of
• 26:03
  executions, right there are also men getting executed.
• 26:07
  See, they cannot officially execute women there.
• 26:11
  There have been cases they've been doing that to buy people as
• 26:16
  well. Women.
• 26:17
  There is a particular date for that.
• 26:19
  We've seen they've done that, but the number of men getting
• 26:24
  executed is also high, High enough that you can say, OK,
• 26:29
  stop it. But dancing around the scenario
• 26:34
  of feminism and not talking about the reality of really what
• 26:39
  the women are facing and what women want, it's very difficult
• 26:46
  because right now we have that conflict as well in this
• 26:48
  revolution during the woman life freedom, everyone chatted on the
• 26:53
  straight woman life freedom, and afterwards the whole feminists
• 27:01
  and movements and the human rights activists and everyone,
• 27:06
  they intruded. The nature of the revolution.
• 27:11
  Of course the women were there, but the men were also there.
• 27:14
  The kids were also there. The seven-year old kid was, you
• 27:18
  know, the kid was dead. 7. So you know, if you make it all
• 27:23
  about women like today you just said you, you know, we have a
• 27:27
  great person like Autosa as well as a woman.
• 27:30
  We have many other women. We are all with each other
• 27:32
  fighting, you know. But sometimes you know, in a
• 27:36
  race thing, you race, you take off because you have to do
• 27:39
  something. There have been some take offs
• 27:41
  from my hand doing it because you need to be bold, you have to
• 27:46
  be a little bit loud and with my own background at the moment,
• 27:50
  I'm louder because I don't like to play around with the cut of
• 27:55
  democracy because some stuffs cannot be resolved only with the
• 28:01
  word of democracy. You have to go in the nature of
• 28:04
  it. That means when you are dealing
• 28:07
  with the Tehran, either you leave it just like North Korea,
• 28:10
  nobody can do anything about it. But here there is a window that
• 28:14
  you can't help people. There is a window that you
• 28:17
  decide that Iranian people themselves are democratic.
• 28:22
  OK, there are good people, They're not like the system.
• 28:26
  Let's go save them. But if you.
• 28:28
  Have you been, Shiva, have you been satisfied with the response
• 28:32
  of the Austrian media, of the Austrian institutions during the
• 28:35
  last three years towards the the Iranian population?
• 28:39
  Because I remember there were many efforts actually from the
• 28:42
  Austrian government to basically appease the Iranian
• 28:46
  dictatorship. And there were many visits with
• 28:48
  the foreign minister. There was all these negotiations
• 28:53
  in Vienna about this treaty on the nuclear weapons and there
• 28:58
  was a little bit of an effort, I think actually a strong effort
• 29:01
  from Austria to be very close to the Iranian regime.
• 29:05
  This is exactly the dissatisfactory moment for the
• 29:10
  Iranians. You know they have, they have
• 29:12
  tried their level best. We, you just just said it, you
• 29:15
  know, we know it. Our issue is when they were
• 29:19
  coming, the title coming out of the media, the deep inside, the
• 29:24
  content inside was not matching with that TRB that I'm
• 29:28
  explaining to you. They were seeing it from their
• 29:31
  own side, you know, and this phase of window, which is very
• 29:40
  far from each other, brings dissatisfactory to the nation
• 29:46
  even right now. Sunday there was a demonstration
• 29:50
  and there was some press there. I talked to them because last
• 29:54
  week the Ted built just this. Is the main Austrian TV news in
• 30:01
  the evening. Exactly.
• 30:03
  They wrote an article, there was a demo happening also on I guess
• 30:10
  they were Friday of the last week of that.
• 30:13
  They were like the amnesty of Austria there candling and you
• 30:16
  know candles and here there was a demo that people had the flag
• 30:21
  of Iran that you see lion and sun flag and they were banned to
• 30:29
  come there and even light candles.
• 30:32
  And there is a video woman talking to the police officer
• 30:36
  saying why I'm not allowed there.
• 30:37
  He said, they told us not to come there with your flags and
• 30:41
  you know, you have the right to tell who comes and not to come.
• 30:45
  But it's very interesting to see that head of an human rights
• 30:50
  organization is banning the Iranian people to come and do
• 30:55
  that and the inciting bill, right?
• 30:58
  OK. There were two groups of people.
• 31:00
  There were the monarchists, those who want monarchy, and
• 31:04
  here there were the democratic people.
• 31:06
  We both know what that does mean.
• 31:09
  I mean, they're not democratic. They were the democratic one.
• 31:12
  This brings dissatisfactory, this brings separation.
• 31:16
  This brings issues. We don't want any issue.
• 31:19
  We want the story to be told. I talked to press on Sunday.
• 31:25
  I told them if you don't write what's happening now, I tell you
• 31:29
  something. Iran would be free one day and
• 31:33
  we are all alive, hopefully. And we're seeing what you're
• 31:36
  documenting. You know, they're saying Jovic
• 31:39
  Shah. OK, forget about the first word,
• 31:42
  Jovic. Maybe you don't understand or
• 31:44
  anybody understands, but everyone.
• 31:46
  Which I have to explain it means glory to the king.
• 31:49
  Long live the king. Yeah, that's basically the
• 31:52
  slogan of the pro freedom Iranian demonstrators, which are
• 31:57
  then in the Austrian context called monarchists and then
• 32:00
  divided up against the Democrats, which are mostly from
• 32:03
  the left. And so this is the portray and
• 32:07
  it's a miss but strain of the reality of the pro Iranian
• 32:12
  freedom demonstrators which we have at the moment in the
• 32:15
  Austrian media, which is a big problem.
• 32:18
  Is a big problem because let me just for the audience, explain.
• 32:24
  When you say long leave the Shah is different from long leave the
• 32:31
  king. Our Shah was not the king.
• 32:35
  See, King, you should have a Kingdom, a Kingdom of Britain,
• 32:41
  right? We had the monarchy.
• 32:45
  That's true, because we had the monarchy.
• 32:47
  We cannot deny that we had the monarchy, the Shah of Iran.
• 32:53
  Because when you say people Shah, they understand what Shah
• 32:56
  means because he visited almost the world, even US, you know,
• 33:00
  even with Nixon and many other people.
• 33:03
  So we know that the Shah of Iran, he is the symbol of
• 33:08
  modernization. He didn't want the Kingdom, he
• 33:12
  didn't want to rule. He wanted to make the country.
• 33:17
  As you see, the slogan of Trump, make America great again.
• 33:21
  And we can also make Austria great again and we can make Iran
• 33:25
  great again. And you can make any land great
• 33:27
  again if you want to make it better.
• 33:31
  So when you say again means something bad has been happening
• 33:35
  that I want to get it back to the, you know, track.
• 33:39
  Because to be really honest, we might be proud of some leaders
• 33:43
  in the world, but they have also done nasty jobs.
• 33:47
  They're like, during all these uprisings 2009, when people were
• 33:52
  on the streets, they got killed, shot.
• 33:53
  What did Obama say he did? Nothing, as always he has been
• 33:59
  inactive and he is one of the key reasons why we are in such a
• 34:02
  complicated situation because he was basically withdrawing
• 34:06
  America from the rest of the world and let everything be
• 34:10
  managed by Russia and China which is a major problem.
• 34:14
  Exactly, but you're saying basically that the left wing
• 34:17
  Austrian dominated media is preferring basically the anti
• 34:22
  Shah opposition to the to the brochure opposition.
• 34:27
  Basically, because of their own biases against America and
• 34:31
  against monarchy, they are interpreting the situation in
• 34:35
  Iran wrongly. Yeah, very wrongly.
• 34:38
  See, because there have been two big press conferences.
• 34:43
  This is exactly what I told the press on Sunday.
• 34:47
  There have been two big press conferences with Crown Prince
• 34:50
  Reza Pahlavi at this moment, and you can also call him Reza
• 34:53
  Pahlavi you want because he said everyone afraid to call me
• 34:56
  whatever. And some people call him Reza,
• 34:59
  some people call him Shah and Mr. Pahlavi.
• 35:03
  Mr. Pahlavi? Exactly.
• 35:05
  You can call it. Exactly.
• 35:07
  He had two big press conferences.
• 35:10
  They were from France, from Germany, America, everywhere.
• 35:15
  No Austrian was there. Why don't you guys go there?
• 35:18
  Why don't we communicate with him?
• 35:21
  Why don't we see what he's doing?
• 35:24
  Because, you know, he has four major, let's say, plan, which is
• 35:29
  very democratic, unlike what they're saying.
• 35:32
  Let's start with it. Territorial integrity.
• 35:36
  You and me, as an Austrian, do you like our country getting
• 35:40
  invaded or separated or getting divided to pieces?
• 35:44
  No, Everyone likes the territorial integrity to remain
• 35:49
  intact. That means you're a patriot.
• 35:53
  That's good. The second point, he believes
• 35:56
  that people of Iran at the moment, due to all this tyranny
• 36:00
  that we are talking, the religious problem, mullahs
• 36:04
  invading the political system, We need a secular democratic
• 36:10
  country. That's true.
• 36:12
  We need democracy because without democracy.
• 36:15
  Everybody should agree with that one democracy, freedom for Iran.
• 36:19
  And secondly. On the right, even the Austrian
• 36:21
  media should agree with that. And the Third Point referendum.
• 36:27
  What's wrong with the referendum?
• 36:29
  Let me just explain it to you. What happened in 1979?
• 36:32
  In 1979 when the friends sent Khomeini to Iran, they didn't
• 36:37
  say come choose the system of the government.
• 36:41
  They said OK guys that's Khomeini.
• 36:43
  Let's say yes or no, you want him or not.
• 36:46
  Islamic Republic people voted wrongly in in a very wrongly
• 36:51
  manner. We understand what how politics
• 36:53
  works. You cannot choose an ideology or
• 36:56
  system and put it for vote. You cannot for vote for
• 36:58
  everything. You know, we keep voting
• 37:00
  sometime, but honestly, some stuffs cannot be voted to this
• 37:04
  one exactly. They said yes or no to Islamic
• 37:08
  Republic of Iran. The system was already chosen.
• 37:13
  You, you just had two options, yes or no.
• 37:16
  And now this person, as you said, Mr. Pallavi, my Crown
• 37:21
  Prince and everyone's Crown Prince, says, guys, let's have a
• 37:24
  referendum. Last option.
• 37:27
  We had that, for example, in Italy after the Second World
• 37:29
  War. We have, by the way, also
• 37:31
  monarchy in Spain introduced after authoritarian system and
• 37:35
  it's a member of the UN, NATO in Spain, obviously.
• 37:38
  So Shiva, let me ask you, have you been invited already to the
• 37:41
  Austrian state broadcaster to the oaf to represent their
• 37:46
  freedom for Iran case? You are the leading person.
• 37:49
  You have organized three major demonstrations.
• 37:51
  I personally witnessed it, but many others maybe as well.
• 37:54
  Have you been already invited to the?
• 37:59
  Two times since 2022 and afterwards, I myself have
• 38:06
  received invitations. I stopped going.
• 38:10
  And you decided not to go. Yeah, there was no point, You
• 38:12
  know what, Because when I saw my interviews and not just not just
• 38:17
  in Austria, everywhere also getting, you know, cut from
• 38:20
  beginning and then in the middle and then in the end, I, I have a
• 38:24
  video to show you. Indeed.
• 38:26
  How they manipulated your presence.
• 38:29
  I, I, I don't want to call that manipulated, but the, there's a
• 38:32
  preference, let's say there's a preference to just talk about
• 38:36
  the, just to talk about democracy.
• 38:38
  As you see the title, I don't know whether you see the title
• 38:41
  of the newspaper, they just write Iranian freedom fighters,
• 38:46
  Iranian seeking democracy on the streets, Iranian saying mullahs
• 38:51
  or dictators or whatever. You know, the titles are to me
• 38:56
  are sickening and sad. I have.
• 38:59
  Explain. See, because you have to say the
• 39:04
  people of Iran are tired of the system, no matter how you're
• 39:09
  deeply involved with them. And I know that democracy
• 39:11
  obligates our Austrian government to work with them
• 39:14
  because they want to, you know, teach them democracy.
• 39:18
  But it hasn't reached to the limit now that you have to
• 39:22
  accept to ban them to be in the platforms that they are not
• 39:29
  supposed to be. They were getting divided to
• 39:32
  Taos, you saw that it got cancelled.
• 39:34
  We want that. We don't want them to have the
• 39:37
  platform anymore because there's an institution also in US called
• 39:43
  Nayak, you might have heard it or not, that's a national
• 39:48
  institution for practicing, let's say, Iranian American
• 39:52
  democracy in US. And, you know, everyone has the
• 39:55
  right to have their own institution throughout all these
• 39:58
  uprisings. They were the lobbyists of the
• 40:01
  Islamic Republic down there and they were somehow down grading
• 40:07
  what's happening in Iran. We, we, we always say they were
• 40:11
  trying to mispresent what's happening.
• 40:14
  And when they were forcing women to wear a scarf, the with a
• 40:20
  compulsory hijab, let's say they were coming to the media, CNN,
• 40:26
  Fox News, ABC, everywhere. Devastating.
• 40:30
  This is the rule of the country. And everyone were accepting
• 40:33
  that, yeah, this is the rule of the country.
• 40:37
  I mean, yeah, people have problem with that rule of
• 40:39
  country. That's why we want.
• 40:41
  So that's basically the State of Iran lobby in the United States.
• 40:45
  Is there a similar body like this in Austria?
• 40:48
  Oh yeah. Or yes, explain me a little bit,
• 40:50
  how is the Iranian Iranian regime represented in Austria?
• 40:56
  And has Austria already acted against the representatives of
• 41:00
  the Iranian regime in the last years?
• 41:03
  My belief and my understanding from what I'm seeing is lack of
• 41:07
  information from Austrian site, because there have been talks
• 41:14
  that we had explaining, hey, this letter that you have
• 41:17
  received, it's from association, let's say Nyack.
• 41:22
  We call them Nyack because they're from Nyack.
• 41:24
  It's from them. They're the reformist.
• 41:26
  They want to reform the system. And honestly, even though I show
• 41:29
  you the letter as an Austrian, pure Austrian, OK, it's someone
• 41:32
  who's not Iranian, Austrian, you would talk at this letter is
• 41:35
  very beautiful. It's talking about democracy.
• 41:37
  What's wrong with that? You cannot identify them very
• 41:41
  fast. You know, they come in the
• 41:44
  nature of human rights activists.
• 41:46
  They come in nature of Democratic people, but when you
• 41:51
  have to talk to them and negotiate with them about
• 41:53
  something, you understand, oh, they're bonded to the system and
• 41:57
  they're everywhere. They are in, let's say industry
• 42:02
  of from, I don't know, pharma, let's say to oil.
• 42:06
  They're everywhere. They're everywhere.
• 42:09
  A lot of financial clout, obviously the regime
• 42:11
  representative and recently in the media was also that Austria,
• 42:14
  Vienna is the center of the Iranian state regime money
• 42:20
  laundering, and that a lot of money from the Iranians, from
• 42:24
  the state is basically in Vienna.
• 42:26
  Do you have any information about this one?
• 42:28
  I've read that also in the news and also I read another thing
• 42:32
  that they said that the most of the spies of the world, they're
• 42:36
  located in Austria, among us. Because we are the headquarter
• 42:40
  of OPEC, of this organization where Iran is very powerful
• 42:43
  member and they are taking a lot of premiums of the European
• 42:48
  consumers by charging high oil prices.
• 42:51
  And of course, there's a lot of money laundering involved in
• 42:54
  that one, unfortunately. We have United Nation when it
• 42:57
  comes to human rights. And the Atomic Energy.
• 43:00
  Community that as well, I think is very.
• 43:02
  Important for Iran. So there must be a very big
• 43:04
  presence of Iranian diplomats in Vienna.
• 43:07
  Yeah, yeah, a lot. Has the Austrian government
• 43:10
  already sent some of the Iranian diplomats packing after now this
• 43:15
  de facto genocide which the Iranian regime has committed
• 43:18
  against the people in the last two weeks?
• 43:22
  Have they already expelled some of the diplomats?
• 43:25
  No. Do you think it's a good idea
• 43:28
  that they send some of the diplomats packing?
• 43:31
  We had during the Masamini uprising, we had this discussion
• 43:35
  with some of the parliament member.
• 43:40
  We talked about it. They said this needs to be
• 43:42
  decided within the whole European Union and you know, our
• 43:47
  country, Switzerland and Austria.
• 43:49
  We, we, we are neutral regarding some, you know, terms.
• 43:56
  What, what is very important for me that they understand they
• 43:58
  have to do that. This is good news.
• 44:01
  But we also sent some Russian diplomats outside of Austria and
• 44:05
  all European Union countries did that since the start of the war
• 44:08
  of aggression of Russia in 22. But did we send also some
• 44:13
  Iranian diplomats outside? No, no.
• 44:16
  Indeed. So we are the center of money
• 44:18
  laundering for Iran, with the center of spying for Iran,
• 44:21
  center of diplomacy for Iran. We didn't send anybody out.
• 44:25
  They are killing the women. They are killing now the mass
• 44:27
  demonstrations. They are shooting with the
• 44:30
  machine guns into the people. And Austria keeps the diplomats
• 44:33
  here. That's what I'm saying.
• 44:35
  People are tired. Did you?
• 44:37
  Ever meet our former foreign minister Scheinberg, who made
• 44:40
  many photos with Iranian government representatives?
• 44:44
  I forwarded and posted that on my ex account in 2015, 1718.
• 44:50
  He was always very keen to have smiling photos with the former
• 44:54
  foreign minister of Iran. I forgot his name, Javier or
• 44:59
  somewhere, and he always had these photos and I always
• 45:02
  criticized him. What's our business with the
• 45:05
  Iranian Ali Atolas? But seemingly he was very keen
• 45:08
  of that and has maybe changed now he's no longer in charge.
• 45:12
  Now he's beyond the mind. Risinger.
• 45:14
  Have you met her already? I.
• 45:16
  Mean we have different, you know, political parties of
• 45:20
  course there are some Iranians active in Neos.
• 45:23
  They have met with her that's. The Liberal.
• 45:25
  Party, Yes, they have met last week of about 2025 in December.
• 45:31
  They already had a talk regarding this matter.
• 45:33
  Because you know, I, I don't want to intervene within the
• 45:35
  political parties because I'm also a member of some political
• 45:38
  party. We sent our message to her
• 45:42
  because they had a meeting. I said please ask her, ask her
• 45:45
  what's your insights right now? And the response that I have
• 45:50
  received is that the Iranians don't have a leader for this
• 45:56
  revolution. But the the the Mr. Reza Pavlevi
• 46:01
  that's is more or less the spokesman of.
• 46:03
  The you know. This is an opposition for the
• 46:05
  global media. Exactly is everywhere in the
• 46:07
  media scam. Austria has decided there is no
• 46:10
  leader. Yes, so this.
• 46:12
  Information in the foreign minister.
• 46:15
  They don't watch CNN. No, I don't think so.
• 46:18
  And this is, this is something I'm saying they should come on
• 46:20
  the press, they should come on the front, get involved to see
• 46:22
  what's happening. You know, we cannot be in our
• 46:24
  own bubble, you know, doing nothing indeed.
• 46:27
  But at least Mrs. Mandel Risinger doesn't make any photos
• 46:30
  anymore with ayatollahs. Yeah.
• 46:32
  This is a good point. You know this is a detail of.
• 46:34
  Mr. Scheinberg did it many times, many times, and I
• 46:36
  forwarded many on my second, and I was always very much against
• 46:40
  that and I didn't understand what is folks but I doing with
• 46:43
  the ayatollahs. This is also you know it.
• 46:47
  Was a mystery for me. Still is a mystery and will
• 46:50
  remain as a mystery, but something is clear.
• 46:52
  I'm telling you, we the Europeans wants to practice
• 46:55
  democracy. That's what I'm saying.
• 46:57
  We keep, we want to practice democracy in theatre a we don't
• 47:02
  care. Only for us.
• 47:03
  For the Iranians, no democracy. Exactly.
• 47:05
  For the Iranians, it's OK to be under the ayah dollars to be cut
• 47:09
  off the hands and the women must be tortured, and that's fine for
• 47:13
  Austria. And it doesn't matter what's
• 47:15
  happening in theatre. A.
• 47:16
  As long as you send oil. That's one point and and many
• 47:20
  other things I guess. That's very miserable position.
• 47:23
  That's why you know. It's called real politic.
• 47:26
  Maybe it is a real politic, that's why I'm saying.
• 47:28
  And where it leads to, to mass shootings in Tehran, massacre
• 47:33
  and to war and disaster. We should have maybe learned
• 47:38
  from our policy mistakes towards Russia and not have repeated
• 47:42
  them in the case of Iran. But we did.
• 47:45
  And we are repeating the same mistake.
• 47:47
  You know, I'm saying it's getting too late.
• 47:51
  We need to talk to Crown Prince Reza Pallavi.
• 47:54
  It doesn't matter. He's a very democratic person.
• 47:58
  I know that. Michael Risinger has now in the
• 48:02
  National Day of Ukraine, she has had the Vichy Vanka, that's the
• 48:08
  traditional dress of the Ukrainians.
• 48:10
  She was heavily criticised by the friends of Putin in Austria,
• 48:14
  but it was seen as a courageous move and she went twice to
• 48:18
  Ukraine now. And she is now seen as Austria
• 48:21
  has basically changed from anti Ukraine to pro Ukraine with her
• 48:25
  presence in foreign policy. And she has also been for
• 48:29
  example, talking at the demonstration of the Serbian
• 48:34
  students who are protesting against this semi authoritarian
• 48:39
  regime of Mr. Butcher. She has been there as well.
• 48:42
  Has she already spoken at one of your rallies here in Vienna in
• 48:46
  the for women's rights in 22 or has she already now given you an
• 48:52
  audience as Iranian opposition here in the last year, in the
• 48:57
  last months, in the last moments?
• 48:59
  She has commented she has also accepted political sponsorship.
• 49:05
  During 2022, the representative that the nail was Mr. Helmut
• 49:11
  Prandershteta was under demos from News.
• 49:15
  Since that timing till now from SP will be had from Greens.
• 49:20
  We have. I haven't seen her during these
• 49:24
  rallies. Of course, her position has
• 49:26
  changed since that time, but it would be great that the Austrian
• 49:33
  government realizes that there is a demand they have to
• 49:39
  practice democracy and respect what people want.
• 49:43
  Because see, as an Austrian Iranian, even I don't know what
• 49:47
  happened in the future. Even I'm allowed to vote or not.
• 49:50
  Honestly, I don't know what would.
• 49:51
  What happens during the referendum based on the law or
• 49:55
  something? I don't know whether I would go
• 49:57
  back to Iran immediately. You know, we don't know that.
• 50:00
  So that's why I'm trying to be really straightforward to our
• 50:04
  Austrian government, OK, Since I don't have a government to
• 50:07
  support me right now that these people, ayatollahs, are not our
• 50:10
  government. So Austria is now the government
• 50:13
  that I'm living in that country. Sometimes you can save people
• 50:19
  and practice democracy in another way just to hear them.
• 50:23
  Because it's not up to us to vote.
• 50:25
  It's not up to us to choose the type of system that people of
• 50:29
  Iran prefer. You have to see what suits them,
• 50:34
  what is much more, you know, accepted there.
• 50:38
  Therefore, it's now time that every government see what's
• 50:44
  happening on the streets of their own country as we are
• 50:46
  seeing. Do you?
• 50:47
  Are you? Do you see such reactions from
• 50:49
  the Austrian government now? We are hoping, hoping, we are
• 50:53
  hoping. Because on Sunday at your
• 50:55
  demonstration, I was personally there as well, and I saw that
• 50:58
  from the time Austrian political leadership.
• 51:01
  Yeah, it means from the parliamentarians.
• 51:03
  There was only one parliamentarian.
• 51:05
  It was Andreas Mini from the Austrian People's Party, from
• 51:09
  the Conservative Party, He was from the EPP.
• 51:11
  He was giving a speech, but there was nobody from Nails,
• 51:15
  there was nobody from Social Democrats, there was nobody from
• 51:18
  the Greens. So I was wondering, why is only
• 51:21
  one member of the Austrian People's Party speaking very
• 51:25
  clear for the Iranians and for democracy and for freedom?
• 51:30
  He was giving a powerful speech at this Hilton Bloods and there
• 51:34
  was only one representative. So in the case of Ukrainian
• 51:37
  demonstrations, because I also go to all the Ukrainian
• 51:40
  demonstrations, it's always the four democratic parties, like
• 51:44
  not the F word because they are beyond, but the four democratic
• 51:48
  parties, European parties, the Greens, the Liberals, the Social
• 51:51
  Democrats, the Christian Democrats.
• 51:53
  If I pay, they're all there and they speak together.
• 51:56
  So why is this only the if I pay, who is really for?
• 52:00
  And this one member, Andreas Mini, for the freedom of the
• 52:03
  Iranians. Last week, I guess you remember
• 52:08
  moving in front of Parliament and Helmut Bunders that they
• 52:11
  came from these. So from the liberals as yes.
• 52:13
  So where are the Social Democrats?
• 52:15
  That's the question. That's what I'm also demanding.
• 52:18
  The answer me too. And from Greens that they had
• 52:22
  the speech during the last two last week.
• 52:25
  It was not welcome. I tell you something, the left
• 52:30
  part of the political party, whatever things suits Austria,
• 52:34
  they shouldn't try to implement that.
• 52:37
  For Iranians at the moment, they understand what democracy is,
• 52:42
  but their demand is regime change.
• 52:44
  That means this sentimentalism of human rights.
• 52:49
  O people, women died. We are sad, we are very sad at
• 52:55
  this moment. This scenario is not working for
• 52:57
  the people well, it's. Not enough to be for women's
• 53:02
  rights and to be said about the victims, but you have to also
• 53:07
  have a alternative and acting alternative and the case.
• 53:11
  You have to push boundaries. You have to push boundaries
• 53:14
  call. For regime change, actually
• 53:16
  Andreas Mini did that from the Austrian People's Party.
• 53:19
  Did the other parties, they are not ready for that.
• 53:22
  We have to make them get ready. That's what we're trying to do
• 53:26
  together with Andreas and some others, and hoping really this
• 53:30
  week we have a session to talk about it with other political
• 53:34
  parties, especially at a Social Democratic Party, because if
• 53:37
  they're standing, because they are the symbol of democracy.
• 53:39
  This is what happened in Austria.
• 53:40
  When you refer to the history, if they want democracy for our
• 53:44
  land, Iran, they want it for Austria as well.
• 53:48
  So we have to act democratic. That means we have to hear them.
• 53:52
  We don't need sincerely to accept it.
• 53:54
  Maybe it's not accepted by us as an Austrian, but this is for
• 53:58
  them. We have to respect that.
• 54:00
  You know, it's regime change for them.
• 54:02
  They don't want the dictators. At least we all agree that we
• 54:05
  don't want a dictatorship. Yeah, absolutely.
• 54:08
  Until, until and unless they don't believe that the system is
• 54:10
  a dictator. Even no, nobody wants a
• 54:12
  dictatorship. Even I wouldn't suppose nobody
• 54:14
  from the Greens, Liberals. Or exactly that's why I say we
• 54:17
  are on the same I was point. In a workshop now a book
• 54:19
  presentation of 1 gentleman from Austrian Iranian like you, he
• 54:24
  was with a parliamentarian delegation in Iran.
• 54:28
  It must have been 7-8 years ago. And then he was basically the
• 54:32
  Mr. Fixit to help them to make meetings and he was organizing,
• 54:36
  travelling with them because he is one of the personalities of
• 54:39
  Austrian Iranian businessman. He was travelling with them and
• 54:42
  just was a very big success. Austrian parliamentarian
• 54:45
  delegation was there and then half a year later he went to
• 54:48
  Iran and then he was jailed. He was stayed for seven long
• 54:53
  years by the Iranian terror regime until they were basically
• 54:57
  taking him as a hostage. And maybe you know the case and
• 55:02
  the book is now out. I hope we will come to this
• 55:04
  podcast as well in the future. Come barely this gentleman and
• 55:08
  seven years in a prison for what?
• 55:10
  For being a friend of Austria and being friendly with the and
• 55:14
  then taking hostage by the Iranian regime, that's really
• 55:17
  appalling. That's such a kind of a terror
• 55:19
  regime, that is. Yeah.
• 55:20
  And tell me there was parliamentarians from all party
• 55:24
  but the FBI, the friends of Putin were not there.
• 55:28
  But I thought that the same parliamentarians like Peter
• 55:32
  Bayam, Meredith Oski and the others, they will also then come
• 55:36
  to the demonstration and call for freedom.
• 55:40
  We will call them and we will tell them that's the last moment
• 55:44
  they have to join us and hopefully they will agree to
• 55:50
  that. Because yesterday I had a talk
• 55:53
  with one of the branches of Speru.
• 55:57
  We had a talk. I said send my message and tell
• 56:01
  them that we will have this week a meeting.
• 56:04
  We will try to officially invite them present.
• 56:09
  What is the plan of Crown Prince Reza Palavi for the transition
• 56:14
  period? Because you know, the
• 56:16
  association of Nufi that is working directly with the Crown
• 56:19
  Prince Reza Palavi has the booklet in English and in Farsi
• 56:25
  as well. This booklet is printed by
• 56:28
  myself would be handed over to all political parties except the
• 56:32
  one that you said working with Putin, FBO.
• 56:35
  And they have to read. They have to read.
• 56:39
  What's the plan? Maybe they need more, you know,
• 56:42
  time to digest that. However, they have received this
• 56:46
  via e-mail. European Parliament received
• 56:49
  that by e-mail. Because we as an activist have
• 56:52
  the first obligatory task, making awareness.
• 56:56
  That's why we have done as our job, you know, sending emails,
• 57:00
  sending the brochures, you know, preparing them, telling them
• 57:04
  what's happening, sending awareness.
• 57:06
  But there are some people in the, you know, Iranian
• 57:10
  themselves that they don't agree with the regime change and they
• 57:14
  believe in reform. You know, we have such category
• 57:19
  of people. To them I have to say, what do
• 57:24
  you want to reform after this massacre?
• 57:28
  Let me understand, because our audience wants also to
• 57:31
  understand a little bit the different groups within the
• 57:34
  Iranian opposition. There's different groups, yeah.
• 57:36
  You're representing basically the ones who are with Reza
• 57:40
  Baklavi, and they are the big group, the majority of the
• 57:45
  Iranians here in Austria, they are supporting the Shah, the
• 57:50
  return of the Shah and democracy.
• 57:52
  And that's all big demonstration.
• 57:54
  But there's also a minority of mech, it's called.
• 57:58
  What's the history of that movement?
• 58:01
  See the Mujahideen, they were on terrorists in Europe.
• 58:05
  If you remember, they removed them.
• 58:07
  They decided not to put them on terrorists anymore.
• 58:10
  The reason was these people were communists.
• 58:17
  And during the Iran Iraq war, they killed the Iranian.
• 58:23
  They killed us like they were having some ideology.
• 58:27
  They were with ayatollahs in 1979.
• 58:30
  They were with them. And since they couldn't get the
• 58:32
  power, they were not in the power.
• 58:35
  So they left the country. They went to Iraq, they went to
• 58:37
  Saddam. They they were located there and
• 58:40
  they killed our people. They are certainly not a
• 58:44
  representative of the Iranian people.
• 58:46
  That's why a. Communist group, with all the
• 58:50
  tragedy of their destiny, maybe, and of their fate, yeah,
• 58:53
  definitely. They cannot be seen as the
• 58:55
  legitimate representation of the Iranian people.
• 58:58
  Not at all. And they're the one who are
• 59:01
  chanting in Farsi. They say no to Shah, no to
• 59:06
  Sheikh. So our question is, OK, we agree
• 59:13
  with the no to Sheikh, of course, but why no to Shah?
• 59:17
  Why did you kill the people? Why did you kill us?
• 59:21
  Why did you kill the Iranian citizen?
• 59:23
  And how do you believe that people will trust you?
• 59:27
  You know, even because they are like a cult, they try to mimic
• 59:34
  the lion and sun flag. You know, our lion and sun flag
• 59:38
  has one line on the bottom of the lion foot.
• 59:42
  They have two lines. That's the official flag of the
• 59:45
  state of Iran until 79, when Ayatollah Khamenei changed it.
• 59:49
  Exactly. And this make people try to
• 59:53
  mimic the flag. That's why we had difficulty to
• 59:56
  tell the world that hey guys, this is not the real flag, this
• 1:00:00
  is the flag. So it took us years of courage
• 1:00:04
  to educate the world till the time we reach this moment that
• 1:00:08
  we are talking freely about things.
• 1:00:11
  Because when we wanted to write article or publish something,
• 1:00:15
  there was like, Oh no, you know this part, you don't need this
• 1:00:18
  part. Let's talk about this part, not
• 1:00:20
  that part. Today we are seeing what's
• 1:00:23
  happening. You as an Austrian, me as an
• 1:00:26
  Austrian Iranian, you know that these people are terrorists.
• 1:00:30
  You know, these people killed the Iranian.
• 1:00:32
  You said they're the minority. You as an Austrian, understand
• 1:00:35
  that. And I hope some of the Americans
• 1:00:40
  understand that as well, like John Bolton, who's dealing with
• 1:00:43
  them, inviting them there. He's presenting in their
• 1:00:47
  meeting. This does not give them
• 1:00:48
  legitimacy. Even the government of Italy
• 1:00:51
  talks to her a lot. And I, I I'm asking them, OK, we
• 1:00:55
  removed them technically, democratically from terrorists,
• 1:00:59
  but does that deny the fact that they were terrorists and killed
• 1:01:02
  people? Can you trust such people?
• 1:01:06
  Is there some kind of affinity of the Austrian left with that
• 1:01:10
  group? So they have the some.
• 1:01:11
  The reason why the Austrian left wing parties are not supporting
• 1:01:15
  the Free Iranian movement is because they have some affinity
• 1:01:19
  with that group. We can assume we don't know.
• 1:01:23
  We have to see after presenting the plan, after seeing how the
• 1:01:29
  future rerun would be, after telling them what is our
• 1:01:33
  destiny, you have to see whether they would take the steps.
• 1:01:38
  The Iran is a very diverse country as well.
• 1:01:41
  And the third group, which is important here, is also the
• 1:01:44
  regional representative of the minorities, the Kurds in Iran
• 1:01:48
  and the Arabs in Iran and the Baluchs in Iran, also the SERIZA
• 1:01:53
  in Iran, the Turkmenza, and they are also active in the Austrian
• 1:01:57
  community here and they're representatives.
• 1:01:59
  And what's their position now on regime change?
• 1:02:02
  OK. This is a very sensitive topic.
• 1:02:06
  First point that we reviewed with each other was a
• 1:02:09
  territorial integrity. You remember that and be a very
• 1:02:13
  particular about that and any Iranian that you talk about a
• 1:02:17
  little bit of part of that border, they go crazy about
• 1:02:21
  that. This is a very top sensitive
• 1:02:24
  matter to the Iranian people. This is need to be understood
• 1:02:30
  that we have state like in the border that we have some
• 1:02:34
  commonalities with Turkey and Iraq and they don't even speak
• 1:02:40
  the same language. You might call them Kurds, but
• 1:02:44
  the Kurd inside the Iran borders, they don't speak the
• 1:02:47
  language that they're speaking. They understand each other.
• 1:02:51
  They don't speak that. OK.
• 1:02:53
  This also when we go the north of the map, go to the part of
• 1:02:58
  the Azerbaijan that they speaking.
• 1:03:00
  Also, you know there's a state called Tabaris, we call them
• 1:03:04
  Tabrizi, that they originally come from Tabriz is inside the
• 1:03:07
  map of order of the Iran that you see in the border.
• 1:03:10
  That's the city, second city in Iran, which overwhelming
• 1:03:13
  majority people from the Assyrian minority of Iran.
• 1:03:17
  Exactly. And these people call themselves
• 1:03:23
  Iranian and they're majority. They say we say we give.
• 1:03:29
  There is a statement, we say we give our life the Kurdistan,
• 1:03:33
  Azerbaijan, Baluchistan, and then we go to Tehran.
• 1:03:39
  You know why? Because these are the borders
• 1:03:41
  needs to be secured. Why do you think people are not,
• 1:03:46
  you know, that welcoming people to attack Iran or they were
• 1:03:53
  supporting the groups that they are, you know, somehow keeping
• 1:03:57
  this border intact. And every 47 years interview
• 1:04:02
  that the Crown Prince had, he said this map on my heart that
• 1:04:07
  you see is the whole Iran and the territorial integrity needs
• 1:04:12
  to be kept intact. And I tell you something about
• 1:04:15
  the Kurds, they had already a referendum years ago.
• 1:04:19
  If you read about it in Iraq itself, they themselves didn't
• 1:04:24
  agree with each other how they want to regionally, you know,
• 1:04:28
  locate themselves and never, ever the border inside the
• 1:04:34
  courts of Iran or inside, never involve themselves in that
• 1:04:38
  so-called referendum voting system because they call
• 1:04:41
  themselves Iranian. And these minorities inside
• 1:04:44
  Iran, are they also in open revolution and for regime change
• 1:04:48
  now in this 2026 situation? In 2000, since I if I if I was
• 1:04:55
  instead of them to answer that, they would say we've been in
• 1:04:58
  revolution since years. That's what they say.
• 1:05:01
  But in every uprising, you see they've been involved.
• 1:05:05
  From Baluchistan, you see people are involved.
• 1:05:08
  From Kurdistan, they're involved.
• 1:05:11
  And I tell you, this statement were repeated many times during
• 1:05:14
  the last uprising. From Kurdistan to Baluchistan, I
• 1:05:19
  give my life to Iran. From Kurdistan to Tehran, I give
• 1:05:25
  my life to Iran. You know, these statements are
• 1:05:30
  not joke for, you know, the people come get the bullet shot
• 1:05:35
  and they say I give my life to the people of Iran, to the land.
• 1:05:39
  So. They're also in open revolution
• 1:05:41
  now against the ayatollahs. They want to get rid of the
• 1:05:43
  ayatollahs. What's the position on the of
• 1:05:46
  the Shah of Reza Pahlavi now on the minority issue, because
• 1:05:51
  there is the option to give them an offer of regional autonomy,
• 1:05:55
  federalism? Or what is exactly the relation
• 1:05:59
  now between Reza Bakhlavi and five major minority groups in
• 1:06:03
  Iran? If you remember since 2022, the
• 1:06:08
  head of the Kamala Mr. Motadi was in, you know they were all
• 1:06:13
  sitting at one table talking as a group with each other.
• 1:06:19
  And the disagreement is exactly that territorial integrity needs
• 1:06:24
  to be remain intact. I tell you something going to I
• 1:06:28
  also seen in your tweets and some posts that people critic
• 1:06:31
  you for that. Austria or Germany culturally,
• 1:06:38
  let's say, or system of the government.
• 1:06:43
  It was very democratic. Maybe let's say I don't want to
• 1:06:46
  relate it to democracy, but people were ready to accept
• 1:06:50
  that. I come from Steiner, Mark.
• 1:06:51
  The other one said, OK, I'm in this Bundesland, like this
• 1:06:54
  state, the other state, and even in US, Iran as a country,
• 1:07:02
  because we have history, you know, has never had this system,
• 1:07:07
  never practiced it. Even though we want to practice
• 1:07:10
  it, you cannot start with that because that leads to
• 1:07:13
  separation, that leads to, you know, everyone's want to take
• 1:07:17
  part of that country. I've been in India, I've been
• 1:07:20
  living in II has also a different states.
• 1:07:24
  I've been seeing this quarrel between states.
• 1:07:27
  I was in one state which was I was in city of Madras and next
• 1:07:32
  to us was the state of Karnataka was Bangalore.
• 1:07:36
  And when they were, they had fights.
• 1:07:38
  You know me and you have a fight.
• 1:07:39
  I was cutting water on you. It was like I'm not giving you
• 1:07:42
  water anymore. The other one was I'm not giving
• 1:07:45
  you electricity anymore and it was a disaster and is a
• 1:07:48
  disaster. Yet this system also not working
• 1:07:50
  for them in a way and in a way is working and there have been
• 1:07:53
  years some states wanted to get separated also from India.
• 1:07:57
  And India also understand this shouldn't happen, although they
• 1:08:00
  have the system. So that's what I mean.
• 1:08:03
  India is also reaching culture, history and we have a lot of
• 1:08:07
  bondings with each other. As an Iranian, some systems do
• 1:08:12
  not match the history and culture of that society, even
• 1:08:17
  though maybe at the democratic world is getting practiced.
• 1:08:22
  But in the United States of America, we have Texas, Arizona
• 1:08:26
  and all this they have, they are the constituents, part of the,
• 1:08:30
  but they have a lot of autonomy. The federal states in the United
• 1:08:33
  States and in Austria, as you, as Austria and Iranian know very
• 1:08:37
  well, we have the role for Alberg, Steinermark, Austria,
• 1:08:41
  very different actually in their setup in the organization, still
• 1:08:46
  part, of course of Austria and proud to be part of the European
• 1:08:50
  Union. Don't you think that if the Shah
• 1:08:52
  would give an offer to the regions, because the Afghans and
• 1:08:56
  the polluters done and people of the Kurds, and they would
• 1:09:01
  respond very positively to a federal Iran offer where they
• 1:09:06
  have constituents but they have also rights, their languages
• 1:09:10
  will be respected. Like we do it in the European
• 1:09:13
  Union. We have Catalans, we have the
• 1:09:17
  minorities of the Swedes in Finland, we have German speakers
• 1:09:21
  in Belgium. So we have a lot of this in
• 1:09:23
  European history and we have found like a charter of regional
• 1:09:28
  languages and regional rights. And if the Shah would, or the
• 1:09:32
  Crown Prince, Mr. Reza Baklavi, would give an offer to the
• 1:09:36
  Baluch and to the Kurds, to the Afghans, that they will be part
• 1:09:40
  of that new Iran and their rights and culture will be
• 1:09:45
  respected, that they would rise together with him and topple the
• 1:09:50
  regime. In your own statement you just
• 1:09:54
  mentioned we have seen it historically in Europe.
• 1:09:58
  You refer to the history, right? And you have to refer to the
• 1:10:02
  Iran's history as well when you want to implement the system.
• 1:10:06
  The reason that the mullahs, just like a cancer or tumor
• 1:10:11
  didn't survive because to my opinion, they're over.
• 1:10:15
  That's why I say didn't. And I guess they can't anymore
• 1:10:19
  also survive because the system historically didn't match the
• 1:10:26
  people of Iran. If US has the system and Europe
• 1:10:31
  has the system, I just told you they've been working on it.
• 1:10:36
  They had the constitution law for it, right?
• 1:10:39
  They wrote it, people read it, they vote to it.
• 1:10:42
  They say, oh, let's do it. Then the political party came
• 1:10:45
  and they started the life. We don't have that chance yet.
• 1:10:50
  First we have to take the regime back.
• 1:10:53
  Once we got the regime back, we're in transition period.
• 1:10:56
  We have to write the constitution, law.
• 1:11:00
  Definitely inside Iran. The Kurds, Baluch, Azeris and
• 1:11:05
  everyone that they're inside Iran, they will have the
• 1:11:08
  representative even. I don't like to call people
• 1:11:11
  indeed myself minority because it's a little bit down grading.
• 1:11:15
  But because people say Christian minority, you know, Jews
• 1:11:19
  minority, I call them Christians, Jews, even Muslims,
• 1:11:24
  these people that they are there, they will definitely have
• 1:11:28
  a political representative to write the constitutional law
• 1:11:32
  because we said we talked about secularism.
• 1:11:34
  No religious person would have their, you know, influence on
• 1:11:41
  the politics. So if the people want to be
• 1:11:44
  politically active, they have to have their own political party,
• 1:11:48
  to have their own representative so that they can talk about what
• 1:11:51
  they need in that state or in that city about it.
• 1:11:54
  But, you know, we haven't passed that period.
• 1:11:57
  We are still in the regime change period.
• 1:11:59
  Why don't they join Crown Prince Reza Palavi to topple the
• 1:12:04
  regime? Why the Crown Prince Reza Palavi
• 1:12:06
  that presented his plan with the structure.
• 1:12:11
  Join them. They should join him.
• 1:12:14
  See, they are calling him because they trust him.
• 1:12:18
  I'm telling you, it's not just about the past or let's say
• 1:12:23
  nostalgia. It's about the system.
• 1:12:26
  Pallavi is a system because Rizasha make that system, his
• 1:12:32
  son, Mama Rizasha make that system and now this is his son.
• 1:12:37
  He's making the system. And their daughters at the
• 1:12:41
  moment, they're trained for that since years.
• 1:12:46
  That means there is a system happening, it's democratic and
• 1:12:50
  someone has a plan. Not that if I ask you, hey,
• 1:12:53
  there is a regime and do you have a plan?
• 1:12:55
  You say I don't have a plan, but join me.
• 1:12:58
  Maybe we can have a, you know, have a plan.
• 1:13:01
  This person has a plan already. We cannot risk it to go to
• 1:13:06
  people who have not prepared themselves past 47 years and
• 1:13:11
  they're, you know, didn't even prepare a booklet of a plan just
• 1:13:15
  for God's sake, just one paper. And you ask him with the system
• 1:13:21
  team, people join them. This is like politically little
• 1:13:26
  bit insane, you know what I'm saying?
• 1:13:28
  You should go with the people who have a system.
• 1:13:31
  Why do we have a political party?
• 1:13:32
  We have folks. But I yeah, it's coming from the
• 1:13:36
  heart of the people. People accepted them.
• 1:13:38
  That's why they're a political party, right?
• 1:13:41
  So now we the people are the majority and we are calling and
• 1:13:45
  chanting for return of democracy.
• 1:13:50
  We are asking for democratic way of system of government.
• 1:13:55
  I don't know what happens in the next 100 or 50 years, but I tell
• 1:13:59
  you something that at this particular moment that there is
• 1:14:03
  a regime change, if you bring up the topic that I want to become
• 1:14:08
  independent, I do believe that this would cause a chaos and the
• 1:14:14
  separation. That's what we are emphasizing
• 1:14:18
  on territorial integrity. And one more point, there was a
• 1:14:21
  session two years ago in Austria and there were some people
• 1:14:26
  invited as well. The institution that they are in
• 1:14:30
  their member of three to five groups of people in one and they
• 1:14:33
  say we are XY or Z institution. I asked an Austrian person who
• 1:14:40
  was conducting this session. I said, what's your idea about
• 1:14:44
  Hero getting separated from for Alberg was like what I was, I'm
• 1:14:48
  just asking you generally, you know, as an Austrian, what's
• 1:14:51
  your opinion said? But we are a country.
• 1:14:54
  I was like, this is also my feeling about Iran.
• 1:14:56
  But there in your session they're talking about separating
• 1:15:00
  part of Iran and you are allowing that.
• 1:15:03
  Do you like me in Iran? Open a session.
• 1:15:07
  You know, you're in Austria. Iran is free, everything is
• 1:15:09
  fine. We invite some Austrians from T
• 1:15:12
  roll from style mark for all back.
• 1:15:15
  We let them conduct a session separating to roll from for all
• 1:15:19
  back. Would it be welcomed by
• 1:15:21
  Austrians? No way.
• 1:15:23
  Nobody would like that. And I hope you understand now,
• 1:15:26
  you know, I guess right now you realize what's happening because
• 1:15:30
  you are talking about a stable system that you already have and
• 1:15:34
  established a true history of Europe and Iran has to make that
• 1:15:39
  history happen. We recall Islamic Republic
• 1:15:44
  apprentice in a history because we were never supposed to have a
• 1:15:49
  regime change of choice of people, no.
• 1:15:55
  It's definitely a terrible accident, the 1979 revolution,
• 1:15:58
  and it should have never happened, but it was a
• 1:16:01
  geostrategic actors who concluded and then it was
• 1:16:04
  possible to have this terrible revolution of 79.
• 1:16:08
  Now in 2026, the hope is that this mistake of 79 will be
• 1:16:13
  reversed and there will be democracy and human rights
• 1:16:17
  coming back to Iran. And then all the questions of
• 1:16:20
  future settlement and the future internal stability will be on
• 1:16:25
  the agenda very much. That's why it's important to
• 1:16:28
  prepare for this debate. But first of all, to come to
• 1:16:31
  that moment, you need to to have international support.
• 1:16:35
  Let me ask you, what's your expectations when it comes to
• 1:16:39
  international support? Has the European Union already
• 1:16:42
  lived up to it? Have the the big issue is, of
• 1:16:45
  course, the to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as
• 1:16:49
  a terror regime and has President Trump, what's your
• 1:16:53
  hope on him? And do you hope that he will
• 1:16:56
  militarily support the Iranians in their struggle for freedom?
• 1:17:02
  It is very important to understand that what we expect,
• 1:17:10
  we claim that we are democratic people and we have a system and
• 1:17:15
  we have a political party and that's obviously there.
• 1:17:19
  I guess the minimum thing as an international community we could
• 1:17:21
  do is to listen and hear, not write our own narratives.
• 1:17:29
  In the last press conference and many other press conferences,
• 1:17:32
  the Crown Princess of Alabi had he said I'm not here to write
• 1:17:35
  the history because you know this up to historian to write
• 1:17:39
  the history. I'm here to make the history and
• 1:17:43
  I would also send the same message to our government and
• 1:17:46
  any other government in Europe. If we as a country want to make
• 1:17:51
  history to undo what has been done in 1979, it's time to pay
• 1:17:57
  back the Iranian. It's time to stand with them.
• 1:18:01
  Not that what we think is good. Already some people thought that
• 1:18:07
  these people are good and they were of no good.
• 1:18:10
  And I'd say something you see many people hashtag saying your
• 1:18:15
  hands are staying with blood of our people.
• 1:18:18
  This is dead serious because where are the Gaza, Lebanon,
• 1:18:23
  Palestinian freedom fighters writing letters and letters and
• 1:18:28
  letters of complaints to the government's?
• 1:18:31
  You have to save them. Where are they?
• 1:18:35
  Why the government support them? And why don't the government
• 1:18:38
  support the Iranian people? I was to be safe for why don't
• 1:18:43
  they support the people? So I guess minimum thing we
• 1:18:47
  could do for them is to listen to them.
• 1:18:49
  This is exactly what Trump has done.
• 1:18:52
  Listen to the people of Iran. For more solidarity from the
• 1:18:55
  European public with the Iranian people.
• 1:18:58
  And I asked them to listen what people of Iran are saying.
• 1:19:03
  People are saying on the street, regime change in Iran,
• 1:19:08
  terrorists out of Iran. Just you heard that in the
• 1:19:11
  chantings. We are saying territorial
• 1:19:14
  integrity for Iran. And they chant freedom for Iran.
• 1:19:18
  They say secularism for Iran. They say freedom for Iran.
• 1:19:23
  But let's now talk what the EU can do.
• 1:19:26
  Basically the EU as a European Union, we can further sanction
• 1:19:30
  and confiscate and punish the Iranian regime.
• 1:19:34
  This is one thing. Are you in favour of that?
• 1:19:38
  If they do that I would be very happy we haven't also seen the
• 1:19:42
  punishment. I tell you something, Canada and
• 1:19:44
  US were leading countries who put IRGC on a terrorist.
• 1:19:50
  We are ears struggling to put the IRGC on terror list.
• 1:19:55
  It has not happened in Austria NDU.
• 1:19:57
  No, not yet it. Should happen.
• 1:19:59
  You want that? If this happens, it's good, but
• 1:20:01
  it's not the last step. Of course, everyone wants to
• 1:20:04
  IRGC as an entity, as a terrorist organization, to be on
• 1:20:08
  the list because you know, IRGC itself is not one body.
• 1:20:12
  You know you have this. You have seen this octopus
• 1:20:14
  poster a lot on X. They are entities of IRGC.
• 1:20:19
  They. Have also commercial activities
• 1:20:21
  seemingly in Austria? Are they already confiscated and
• 1:20:24
  stopped? The answer is no.
• 1:20:28
  That should happen as well. That should happen as well.
• 1:20:31
  That's what I think. The diplomats should be sent
• 1:20:33
  home. The diplomats should be sent
• 1:20:35
  home, and I guess this week we start with expelling diplomats
• 1:20:39
  because it's time for it. Very.
• 1:20:41
  Good. When it comes to American
• 1:20:44
  military intervention which is on the agenda, it was already
• 1:20:48
  speculated there will be strikes at the beginning of January when
• 1:20:52
  this kind of Tiananmen style massacre happened and to the
• 1:20:56
  Iranian terror regime has killed 12/18/20 thousand, maybe more.
• 1:21:01
  We will find out history, we'll know in the future.
• 1:21:03
  But so many people are killed by Khomeini on his orders.
• 1:21:08
  And then the idea was that American president will strike
• 1:21:12
  and the Iranian tools of power, but he has not.
• 1:21:16
  Do you want such a military strike?
• 1:21:18
  This is a very tricky question, but the answer is very clear.
• 1:21:23
  Clear. We have seen evidently the
• 1:21:26
  attacks that happened in a few months ago for 12 days.
• 1:21:30
  You remember we called it a 12 day battle.
• 1:21:34
  There were some messages coming from inside Iran saying Israel
• 1:21:38
  hit them and many months before that Israel keep saying the
• 1:21:43
  government is different from the people.
• 1:21:46
  They were sending several message that people, you guys
• 1:21:49
  will not be harmed, you guys will not be targeted.
• 1:21:51
  Our target are the mullahs. People were scared, of course.
• 1:21:57
  During the 12th Day War of. Course they were scared, but
• 1:22:02
  although they were scared, they wrote on many walls that the
• 1:22:06
  photos came out. Israel hit them.
• 1:22:10
  What do you mean them? It means they're separating
• 1:22:14
  themselves from them. So nobody in Iran hesitate to
• 1:22:18
  say kill them, hit them, you know, and when the B2 on the
• 1:22:23
  Fort or came, you know, the B2 on top of the Fort or came.
• 1:22:27
  I guess the Islamic Republic was also not predicting that the
• 1:22:31
  Americans would be on top of their skies and having the
• 1:22:34
  control of the country, but that was.
• 1:22:36
  A big surprise this military victory of Israel and America
• 1:22:39
  was. You know, for people as well,
• 1:22:43
  and, you know, if they wanted to harm people, they would have.
• 1:22:47
  But this is not their intention at all.
• 1:22:50
  Their intention is to really take down the mullahs.
• 1:22:54
  And, you know, I guess there are a lot of critics against Trump
• 1:22:58
  and in European, you know, diaspora, you know that.
• 1:23:02
  But let's look at it that way. Trump is practicing democracy
• 1:23:08
  much more than anybody else. Do you know why?
• 1:23:11
  He had the chance to do many things.
• 1:23:13
  He warned them. He warned them.
• 1:23:15
  They didn't take him serious. He hit Qasem Soleimani, head of
• 1:23:18
  the IRGC. During these 12 days, you have
• 1:23:22
  seen there were several shootings and he showed them,
• 1:23:26
  listen, I can kill you guys, but I don't want, you know, hand
• 1:23:31
  over the government. Give it to the people.
• 1:23:35
  I guess Trump also is tired because you, you saw he said it
• 1:23:38
  2 days ago. They are maniacs because you
• 1:23:41
  know, he also reached to the level and said OK, we cannot
• 1:23:44
  deal with them anymore. This is exactly what's happening
• 1:23:47
  in North Korea next. You expect military
• 1:23:51
  intervention? At this particular moment for
• 1:23:54
  targeting the government and the region to set the people of Iran
• 1:23:59
  free. Yes, as Trump also made his
• 1:24:03
  peace committee, you know, when, when we talk about human rights
• 1:24:06
  and peace, I'm, I'm, I'm really fascinated to see what Trump
• 1:24:11
  will do because he made his peace committee.
• 1:24:14
  That means he wants it to be peaceful.
• 1:24:17
  He doesn't want to harm anybody. He wants to keep the protocol of
• 1:24:20
  human rights. That's that's what we are.
• 1:24:23
  Bibi Netanyahu has been basically advocating for a
• 1:24:27
  regime change of Iran since I think 79.
• 1:24:30
  Guess. I guess so, but as a leading
• 1:24:33
  politician in the last 30 years, now it's the time to do it.
• 1:24:37
  Why is he waiting? There was a report I read last
• 1:24:42
  night. I guess maybe I also share part
• 1:24:47
  of it. There have been concerns
• 1:24:51
  regarding the number of the militant and how and and how
• 1:24:59
  much help and aid is needed. They have been procrastinating
• 1:25:03
  that. That's why they have delayed it,
• 1:25:07
  which if I refer to this report, I guess it makes sense.
• 1:25:10
  Do you know why? Because they're not trying to
• 1:25:13
  invade a country. They don't want the territorial
• 1:25:17
  integrity, you know, to be disturbed.
• 1:25:19
  It's a very sensitive operation. I guess we will see in the
• 1:25:24
  history. This is my expectation.
• 1:25:26
  When the Americans intervene, potentially the Israelis will
• 1:25:29
  support them. What will be the European Union
• 1:25:32
  countries do? Will they support American
• 1:25:35
  liberation of Iran or will they do similar like in Iran, Iraq in
• 1:25:39
  2003? They will stand aside, at least
• 1:25:42
  the big countries, half of them. Will Europe be divided on that
• 1:25:45
  one? And where will the European
• 1:25:47
  public stand with the regime change and the Iranians?
• 1:25:51
  Or will they stand with the Ayatollahs and their intrinsic
• 1:25:55
  anti Americanism and protest against American intervention?
• 1:26:00
  I tell you something, this is up to NATO honestly to decide that.
• 1:26:04
  But on the second part that you say the people, even right now,
• 1:26:10
  the people have decided that they don't want regime change.
• 1:26:13
  They're Europeans. Because if you see in the
• 1:26:18
  demonstrations, the population of the Iranians that come on the
• 1:26:22
  streets, they have two flags. And hopefully and thankfully in
• 1:26:28
  Austria, we see now the Austrian flags alongside with us.
• 1:26:31
  They're showing, showing the sign.
• 1:26:33
  Earlier years we were just seeing our own flag, lion and
• 1:26:37
  sun flag. Then Israeli was added.
• 1:26:40
  Now you see the American flag. Now we see the Austrian flag.
• 1:26:44
  That is the solidarity. Do you see the European and NATO
• 1:26:48
  flag at the demonstrations of the free range?
• 1:26:50
  So far any. No, so far we haven't.
• 1:26:53
  If I come with my NATO flag, I can raise the NATO flag at.
• 1:26:58
  Your. That means the support.
• 1:26:59
  That means the support you know. I will bring it the next time.
• 1:27:02
  Yes. Because I'm very much for
• 1:27:04
  military intervention and I'm fully in favor of regime change
• 1:27:10
  and of course in solidarity with the Iranians.
• 1:27:12
  All Europeans should demonstrate in favour of American military
• 1:27:17
  intervention to liberate the Iranians.
• 1:27:20
  But I'm doubtful, as we have seen in the case of Iraq, that
• 1:27:24
  the people will support that. That is exactly why I'm saying
• 1:27:28
  this time is certainly different because Trump and his
• 1:27:34
  administration, unlike Obama, Biden and everyone else learnt a
• 1:27:38
  lesson, especially from George Bush and what they have done
• 1:27:41
  that time. This is exactly people are
• 1:27:45
  scared saying all Iran would be separated and even I tell you
• 1:27:49
  something, deep down everyone are concerned about that.
• 1:27:53
  Nobody can lie about that. We are all concerned.
• 1:27:55
  So when you talk about intervene, this is exactly why
• 1:27:59
  I'm really particular about the wordings.
• 1:28:02
  I call it an operation because sometimes you don't need to go
• 1:28:06
  with the old fashioned method, you know, to set some people
• 1:28:10
  free. Even when you come with your
• 1:28:13
  whole system around the country and you're surrounded, you have
• 1:28:17
  to give up and hand over. The question is when the
• 1:28:20
  Americans will intervene. Will the Iranians rise and storm
• 1:28:24
  the state institutions? This is a question.
• 1:28:28
  That's a big question. Here, that's a big.
• 1:28:30
  Question, I think in the White House situation room they are
• 1:28:33
  also asking themselves they are the maybe this will see our
• 1:28:36
  podcast that have the answer. But the question is if you
• 1:28:39
  intervene and you don't have the army ready because at the moment
• 1:28:43
  there is no American army in the Gulf to do a Iraq #2 operation.
• 1:28:49
  So the idea is you do military operation and then the Iranians
• 1:28:54
  themselves has to do the regime change.
• 1:28:57
  Will that happen? Is that technically possible
• 1:29:00
  this? Is exactly I'm saying that we
• 1:29:03
  need to get actually educated on that part past years that
• 1:29:09
  because we are most involved in that situation, we know what's
• 1:29:12
  happening. Ground British Zapalavi has been
• 1:29:16
  in touch with the system, people who are not willing to work with
• 1:29:21
  them anymore since 1979. And he has insights and he knows
• 1:29:29
  what's happening. Past one year, part of his
• 1:29:33
  program was to detach the militant, the real militant, the
• 1:29:39
  patriots, those who really love Iran, territorial integrity and
• 1:29:43
  everything in Iran to join him. And there have been over.
• 1:29:48
  This statistic is out. There have been over thousands
• 1:29:54
  of militant who has detached themselves from IRGC and joined
• 1:29:58
  him and sent sent letter to him. So there's a break in the
• 1:30:02
  regime. Yes, yes, that's very good.
• 1:30:05
  That's that's very good. No, that, that's the thing.
• 1:30:07
  People don't talk about that. In his press conference again,
• 1:30:13
  he said that, he said we are in touch, we know what.
• 1:30:17
  Sarita Zakaria and the CNN analyst.
• 1:30:20
  He has said, not just this weekend, that there is no signs
• 1:30:24
  of the Iranian regime crumbling, but seemingly they are.
• 1:30:29
  You know, this is the narrative I'm telling you.
• 1:30:32
  We should be careful because this has been happening past 47
• 1:30:36
  years. Some of our journalists, some of
• 1:30:40
  our activists are making just propaganda, producing propaganda
• 1:30:45
  for the regime. I'm telling you, when it comes
• 1:30:48
  to a battle, it's very difficult because you get disturbed and
• 1:30:52
  you get a little bit confused what's happening.
• 1:30:55
  You know, for at least someone who's not an Iranian, who hears
• 1:30:58
  it as an audience, You know, I'm an American sitting on a couch
• 1:31:01
  and CNN is just, you know, showing a report.
• 1:31:04
  I passed through it. I said, oh, they're not ready
• 1:31:06
  for regime change, but the real game is happening inside the
• 1:31:11
  real diaspora. That's why there was a statement
• 1:31:15
  from Crown Prince there's Apalabi said.
• 1:31:17
  Do not pay attention to those who are making you confused
• 1:31:21
  Passover and focus on the aim, our end game that is a regime
• 1:31:27
  change. And let these people who are
• 1:31:30
  disturbing all of you to do what they are doing and you focus on
• 1:31:35
  the game. And I believe he is a very good
• 1:31:39
  chess player because he had an interview years ago when he was
• 1:31:44
  young. He asked the interviewer, when
• 1:31:48
  is the when you're playing chess?
• 1:31:51
  What is the last person who's playing in the chess?
• 1:31:56
  And the interviewer said, well, yeah, you know, the king said
• 1:32:00
  yes, the king. So you know.
• 1:32:03
  This is the king will be the best player on the field.
• 1:32:08
  Absolutely. Shiva, let me ask you, many
• 1:32:10
  European policy makers, they are really like the generation who
• 1:32:14
  is now in power. They have experienced the
• 1:32:17
  completely collapse of Syria into the civil war and then
• 1:32:21
  millions of refugees coming to Europe.
• 1:32:24
  And that's the horror, horror scenario for most European
• 1:32:27
  politicians and other Syria. So there is, of course, Syria
• 1:32:31
  was a country we didn't intervene in 2013 with.
• 1:32:34
  Famously Obama had the opportunity to intervene.
• 1:32:37
  He chose not to. He let Russia intervene.
• 1:32:40
  And so it happened, a complete disaster, as we have seen in the
• 1:32:44
  last 15 years and millions of Syrians now living in the
• 1:32:47
  European Union is do you see that if we don't intervene at
• 1:32:52
  the moment and Iran could collapse into such a second
• 1:32:56
  Syria? That is exactly we are telling
• 1:33:01
  opposite will happen what I'm. Saying course you have the Shah
• 1:33:06
  as a alternative in governance. This is exact reason, but I add
• 1:33:10
  one more point to it when I say we have to read the history of
• 1:33:16
  Iranian is very different from Syrians, Iraqis, Austrians or
• 1:33:22
  wherever. Some places on the geography,
• 1:33:27
  they had ancestors and they had background at Empire OK, in the
• 1:33:34
  nature and blood of those people.
• 1:33:36
  They care more about their country than living it, more or
• 1:33:41
  less. They forced people to leave.
• 1:33:45
  And even Khamenei in his statement on Fridays after the
• 1:33:50
  prayer had the very bold statement said if you don't like
• 1:33:57
  the country, you can leave. People were not leaving.
• 1:34:01
  I told you, I talked about my own family who came to build
• 1:34:05
  Iran because they got educated to build Iran.
• 1:34:09
  They came, they didn't want them.
• 1:34:11
  They wanted their own people. They said, what do you mean you
• 1:34:14
  want to, you know, construct the country?
• 1:34:17
  What do you mean you won't rebuild the country?
• 1:34:20
  Don't, don't see that. The modernization of the Shah
• 1:34:22
  was similar as what's happening right now.
• 1:34:25
  Right now some stuffs are getting built just to be built
• 1:34:28
  to make money, but not for the people.
• 1:34:32
  So why I explain that we are not like Syrians, we are not like
• 1:34:38
  Iraqis. Not that I mean in this
• 1:34:40
  comparison is not in a bad way. I'm saying culturally we're
• 1:34:44
  different, right? And as you said, these countries
• 1:34:49
  got invaded. And as you said again, you have
• 1:34:52
  mentioned Obama, you said Russia, they invaded the country
• 1:34:56
  and this time they won't intervene.
• 1:34:59
  It's different. Invasion is different.
• 1:35:01
  When you invade somewhere, you're directly telling people
• 1:35:05
  to run away. This is the reason we are saying
• 1:35:08
  no, we want to actually, this is, you know, it's reversed.
• 1:35:12
  We want to go back inside instead of coming outside.
• 1:35:16
  We're saying it is very horrible that our elites are outside
• 1:35:20
  Iran. We are almost roughly 8 million
• 1:35:23
  outside Iran. It's equal to Austria.
• 1:35:27
  We can be a country. 8 million Iranian diaspora.
• 1:35:30
  Yes, Europe and America. Yes, around the world.
• 1:35:33
  Shiva, let me ask you about the nuclear weapon, because a lot of
• 1:35:37
  the efforts in the last 20 years have been going from the
• 1:35:40
  European side, not having nuclear weapons with the
• 1:35:43
  ayatollahs. And that's, I think, most
• 1:35:45
  important. Don't you see the danger when
• 1:35:47
  President Trump doesn't decide to intervene now and the
• 1:35:52
  ayatollahs are now able to suppress the rebellion and
• 1:35:57
  basically stay in power? And then Khamenei, who will be
• 1:36:01
  the first thing he will now call into Russia or Pakistan or China
• 1:36:06
  or North Korea, is to get the nuclear weapon.
• 1:36:09
  And within some months, maybe he will have a nuclear weapon and
• 1:36:12
  then the ayatollahs will have nuclear weapons and regime
• 1:36:15
  change is no longer possible. This is exactly, you have to act
• 1:36:19
  now. That is what we are saying, act
• 1:36:22
  now. It's getting too late.
• 1:36:24
  It shouldn't get late. This is exactly that.
• 1:36:28
  IAEA was checking them. The agency was going there and
• 1:36:33
  having some, you know, audit there to make sure they're not
• 1:36:36
  perfilating over, you know, the expected percentage, which was
• 1:36:40
  60% that they're using it for a medical use or whatever.
• 1:36:44
  We never believed that indeed, because there have been some,
• 1:36:47
  you know, statistics that this is not getting, you know, you
• 1:36:51
  know, in a way, right way. And they're not obligated to
• 1:36:55
  what they have to do. Every scenario that you right
• 1:36:59
  now explained is possible if we don't act now.
• 1:37:04
  That's why I'm saying, lighting a candle, standing by the women,
• 1:37:11
  playing with the card of feminists saying woman, life,
• 1:37:14
  freedom, honestly, it's over because we are all in danger.
• 1:37:20
  We have to accept the fact that a country cannot work anymore.
• 1:37:26
  And when the whole world tie, you know this bonding with each
• 1:37:32
  other and decide to cut it. This makes it much more easier,
• 1:37:36
  even for Trump. Iran in the last 20 years or
• 1:37:40
  maybe even longer was the exporter of terror all around
• 1:37:44
  the world. Yeah, they have been supporting
• 1:37:47
  the Hezbollah, the Hamas. They have probably been behind
• 1:37:51
  the 7th of October. They have been under terrible
• 1:37:54
  policies in Syria, in Lebanon and in the with the hoodies.
• 1:38:01
  They have supported them. And worst of all, in for the
• 1:38:04
  European perspective, they have been a key supporter of Russia
• 1:38:08
  and providing technologies and weapons and the Shahid Thrones
• 1:38:12
  to the Russians, which are killing since four years our
• 1:38:16
  Ukrainian brothers in a very brutal manner.
• 1:38:19
  Consistently Iran is our enemy. So don't you think it would be
• 1:38:23
  on our European strategic interest to finally get rid of
• 1:38:28
  this enemy regime which has hurting us in all possible
• 1:38:32
  fronts? This is exactly what I'm saying.
• 1:38:35
  Since people say Iran regime, I would definitely say Islamic
• 1:38:39
  Republic. And I keep mentioning that you
• 1:38:41
  have to say Islamic Republic because Iran itself and the way
• 1:38:46
  people are thinking is very different from them because the
• 1:38:50
  Islamic Republic is killing their own people.
• 1:38:52
  I don't think they would have mercy to anyone else.
• 1:38:56
  And in a way during the Obama administration when the Hillary
• 1:39:00
  Clinton also was at the administration.
• 1:39:03
  In her book she has written what they have done in Iraq and
• 1:39:06
  everywhere. I guess we have sufficient data
• 1:39:09
  of mistakes that we have made as a human being, not as a
• 1:39:13
  government. So when you you bring it to the
• 1:39:16
  government scale, they know what's happening.
• 1:39:19
  They have much data than me, of course, you know, because my
• 1:39:23
  data as an activist is the data that I have to read, analyze.
• 1:39:27
  And somehow insiders tell us what's happening.
• 1:39:31
  But the government's definitely have precise data what's
• 1:39:35
  happening at this moment. This is the moment we are
• 1:39:39
  wondering what do they want to do, how they want to continue
• 1:39:44
  with these people, because our countries are also getting in
• 1:39:47
  danger. Austria, Germany.
• 1:39:49
  How many Olicemen were stabbed in Germany?
• 1:39:53
  Many. You mean stepped by Islamist
• 1:39:58
  terrorist? Yes, who are basically also yes,
• 1:40:02
  at least indirectly or directly funded and ideologically
• 1:40:05
  supported by the Islamist terrorist regime of Iran.
• 1:40:08
  Exactly. You were shocked beginning of
• 1:40:11
  this podcast when I told you one of our activists was killed on
• 1:40:15
  the German soil. Yes.
• 1:40:17
  This is, of course, foreign governments.
• 1:40:19
  Should this is? Kill their citizens on our soil.
• 1:40:23
  And this is not. Doing as well.
• 1:40:24
  Yeah, this is not one, one case during the Massa Amini till now
• 1:40:29
  in Belgium and now there is a precise report that Belgium also
• 1:40:35
  published it. There's a price right now for
• 1:40:38
  killing the Iranian. There's a price on the head of
• 1:40:42
  your Iranian regime opponent. Yes, at the moment and we all
• 1:40:47
  know our lives are in danger. That's why I guess sometimes.
• 1:40:50
  You expect your life is in danger as well here.
• 1:40:52
  Indeed it is indeed it is because yesterday that I just,
• 1:40:57
  you know, had a speech on Sunday.
• 1:41:01
  I I was a little life threats on X and I know intentionally they
• 1:41:08
  said she's giving a speech like a Hitler compared me with the
• 1:41:13
  Hitler Nazi because Hitler yeah, they called.
• 1:41:16
  Me. How come this is totally out of
• 1:41:19
  context and crazy? This is how they, you know, make
• 1:41:22
  a scenario. These were the Iranians.
• 1:41:24
  Yes, they were. I would say I, I don't call them
• 1:41:27
  the Iranians. These are the the leftist
• 1:41:29
  Marxist communists of that timing.
• 1:41:32
  And these are the ones they actually hate Shah and the
• 1:41:38
  supporters of him in a way, no matter how much we try to
• 1:41:44
  encourage them to say you are Iranian, act as one, be be like
• 1:41:48
  us, be an Iranian. But the because.
• 1:41:51
  That the Iran government institutions in Vienna are
• 1:41:55
  supervising you and spying on you.
• 1:41:58
  Of course, 100% definitely, because when you go on stage and
• 1:42:05
  give a speech and you're on media and you talk and you are
• 1:42:09
  responsible for many political our activists and organization
• 1:42:14
  that we are tightly working with each other and you are close.
• 1:42:18
  You know when you when we all got invited 2 times to Munich in
• 1:42:25
  February and once in July which all the.
• 1:42:29
  Munich. This was the big diaspora.
• 1:42:31
  Meeting exactly Uranians, yes, and those who have.
• 1:42:36
  You have been there, yes. February, it was coalition of
• 1:42:39
  the political groups. So we have been there as one of
• 1:42:42
  the coalited groups. That's how we are practicing
• 1:42:46
  democracy. Beforehand we dealt with each
• 1:42:50
  other, everyone and said, OK, we will work tightly some certain
• 1:42:54
  groups to support this regime change.
• 1:42:57
  Of course, your name is on the list.
• 1:42:59
  They see your face, you know, on the camera and everything.
• 1:43:03
  And of course, my parents are inside Iran.
• 1:43:05
  They have received calls threaten them and they're scared
• 1:43:10
  for my life and they know that I don't have any relation with my
• 1:43:13
  family since years because I don't want their life get in
• 1:43:16
  danger. So for me, it's very difficult
• 1:43:20
  not to talk to my parents, but I'm doing.
• 1:43:24
  That they could be targeted by the regime exactly because of
• 1:43:28
  your political activism in Austria and in Europe.
• 1:43:30
  Exactly. So this is the reason I guess we
• 1:43:33
  are risking our lives. Sometimes people say, oh, you
• 1:43:36
  guys are, This was the narrative of Islamic Republic saying you
• 1:43:40
  guys are sitting outside and telling people to make a regime
• 1:43:45
  change. You guys have no idea what's
• 1:43:47
  happening inside Iran. Your life is not in danger.
• 1:43:50
  This is complete disinformation. Our lives are in danger based on
• 1:43:56
  the scenarios we have seen and normally when we activist
• 1:44:01
  together go, we live together so we don't go alone.
• 1:44:06
  We are attached to each other, we get update from each other
• 1:44:09
  and we're trying to somehow protect ourselves in a way and
• 1:44:13
  our family as well as family members, so that's important.
• 1:44:17
  The Austrian institutions are also helping you, protecting
• 1:44:21
  you, securing you and making sure that the Islamist
• 1:44:25
  government representative, which are in Vienna on invitation and
• 1:44:29
  as our guest as diplomats, that they behave according to the law
• 1:44:33
  and not touch any Iranian activists.
• 1:44:36
  We can hope for that. I hope Piate is watching this
• 1:44:40
  podcast and also our government will make sure that you are
• 1:44:43
  safe. That's what I hope for because
• 1:44:46
  when we chant and say we give our life to Iran and for the
• 1:44:50
  people, this is not a joke because you know, from 7 year
• 1:44:57
  old to 70 years old, people are getting killed.
• 1:45:02
  These are not numbers. These are people of Iran,
• 1:45:05
  honestly, and you know it better than everyone because you read
• 1:45:09
  it on X. They're asking the families that
• 1:45:12
  they want to receive the party. Either you pay for the bullets
• 1:45:16
  and bodies or you write their name as a defender of the
• 1:45:21
  ayatollahs, as a basiji, like a part of the IRGC.
• 1:45:27
  What type of method of democracy we're practicing?
• 1:45:32
  1st, the state is killing the citizens in brutal manner,
• 1:45:37
  unarmed civilians killed by the police, which is meant to
• 1:45:40
  protect them. And then if the families want to
• 1:45:43
  bury them, they don't get their bodies if they're not paying and
• 1:45:47
  signing off. That this was not involved in
• 1:45:49
  the protest. This is the brutality on the
• 1:45:53
  extreme measure which the Iranian regime is using against
• 1:45:57
  the people. That's exactly.
• 1:46:00
  It's also very critical for us as an Austrian in a moment
• 1:46:07
  because our countries are also in danger, this danger.
• 1:46:13
  I mean, everyone wonder why the Israelis and Americans are just
• 1:46:16
  supporting this regime change or this revolution.
• 1:46:22
  And you know, Trump truth it and said if people of Iran wants
• 1:46:26
  regime change, then let's call it a regime change because they
• 1:46:30
  know the level of the brutality and they know, you know, this is
• 1:46:35
  not about Iran just it's about a system which has its own ties
• 1:46:43
  everywhere to go down because they're sending this Islamist
• 1:46:49
  everywhere. They're brainwashing our people.
• 1:46:52
  And I guess you saw there is now a law would be implemented in
• 1:46:56
  Austria that with the headscarf, I told you, this is not just
• 1:47:00
  about a headscarf. We have to be careful what type
• 1:47:03
  of ideology are getting implemented and intervened in
• 1:47:07
  our cultural system. Because afterwards respecting it
• 1:47:13
  itself to practice democracy was a chance given to the devil to
• 1:47:19
  do what they wanted to do. That's why this matter does not
• 1:47:24
  concern only the Iranian is concerning the world.
• 1:47:30
  America knows that better than everyone else.
• 1:47:32
  And he's right. You know that better than
• 1:47:33
  everyone else, and I guess the Europeans should know that as
• 1:47:35
  well. The Europeans, we believe in
• 1:47:38
  human rights and in democracy, freedom.
• 1:47:41
  This is the constitutional rights we have and this is the
• 1:47:44
  framework of our society, the backbone, and we believe very
• 1:47:49
  strongly in that one, there's no doubt.
• 1:47:50
  But do you think that the European politicians believe as
• 1:47:54
  well in freedom and human rights for the Iranians?
• 1:47:59
  I hope so. They better should.
• 1:48:02
  I guess so. Should the Austrians and the
• 1:48:04
  Europeans call for regime change in Iran?
• 1:48:09
  They should. They should because they are the
• 1:48:14
  majority as well close to our region, let's say.
• 1:48:18
  You know, US is very far, but you know we are in the middle as
• 1:48:21
  a Europe. And in a way you have seen that
• 1:48:25
  yesterday they applauded in a European Parliament.
• 1:48:29
  It's it's a very good acknowledging, applauding for
• 1:48:32
  those who are giving their lives.
• 1:48:34
  But we need something beyond that.
• 1:48:36
  Have. They already invited the Mr.
• 1:48:39
  Paklavi to the European Parliament.
• 1:48:42
  The letter has got signature. OK.
• 1:48:45
  But you know, we have seven 720 members, you know, MPs.
• 1:48:51
  What was very interesting, the statement came out, the Mrs.
• 1:48:55
  Sebastian also just from Finland, released it on his ex.
• 1:49:00
  They said they are not inviting him because they believe he's
• 1:49:05
  intervening because he is the son of the Shah.
• 1:49:08
  And this is like we are choosing a side.
• 1:49:12
  But Europe is on the side of human rights, democracy and the
• 1:49:16
  people of Iran. That's our side.
• 1:49:18
  This is exactly what. I'm wondering theocratic tyranny
• 1:49:22
  and Iran, let's not forget, is our enemy on all fronts from
• 1:49:27
  Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Russia, Ukraine.
• 1:49:30
  Iran is always on the wrong side and is clearly enemy state in
• 1:49:34
  its current form, so it must be in our strategic interest to
• 1:49:38
  have regime change in Iran. This is exactly why I'm saying
• 1:49:43
  it's getting too late. The sooner the better because we
• 1:49:49
  cannot. As an Iranian, I would say you
• 1:49:55
  cannot decide as a European this type of the system people want
• 1:50:01
  and the European should understand we have to practice
• 1:50:05
  the democracy in a real way this time, not just for ourselves.
• 1:50:10
  We cannot sit in freedom and say others might have freedom or
• 1:50:15
  they don't have freedom. We shouldn't care.
• 1:50:17
  We should care because we're all in one planet.
• 1:50:20
  This planet belongs to all of us and we are living peacefully
• 1:50:23
  with each other. And I'm sure the more pressure
• 1:50:27
  President Trump is putting, European Union inevitably would
• 1:50:32
  go behind that. Maybe they want, as you said,
• 1:50:36
  they are scared of the previous experiences with Syria, Iraq or
• 1:50:41
  everywhere. I would say this time is very
• 1:50:44
  different and definitely, definitely those MPs or those
• 1:50:50
  parliament members who are standing with us.
• 1:50:53
  I guess we should give them badge of honour because I don't
• 1:50:56
  think they're doing it out of, you know, diplomacy or politics.
• 1:51:00
  I guess there are patriots as well.
• 1:51:02
  Absolutely, dear patriots. And there's already clarity.
• 1:51:06
  The idea is, do you think also that the Austrian government
• 1:51:10
  should invite Reza Pahlavi to come to Vienna to make a speech
• 1:51:14
  in the Austrian parliament? 100 percent, 100% and we've been
• 1:51:20
  trying to do that. Once it was happening, there was
• 1:51:25
  some change of plan during this process and now we are pushing
• 1:51:30
  for it and I hope very soon we will have him.
• 1:51:36
  And it's very critical to have him here because the last time
• 1:51:40
  his mother was there in the parliament and I guess it's now
• 1:51:44
  the time that the son would come to the parliament and people see
• 1:51:47
  him, who he is, it would. Be a powerful sign that Austria
• 1:51:51
  is changing from the friend of the Ayatollahs, which we were
• 1:51:54
  for too long appeasing this terrible regime.
• 1:51:58
  Now we are with this new pro European government, we are part
• 1:52:02
  of the pro democracy, pro human rights group inside the European
• 1:52:07
  Union and we are on the side of the Iranian people.
• 1:52:11
  Absolutely. And I guess Germany many times
• 1:52:18
  had the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on the soil, let's say
• 1:52:21
  in the Union, right? He was several times in Munich,
• 1:52:25
  Hamburg and in other places. Why not Austria?
• 1:52:29
  Just like any other state, you know.
• 1:52:30
  Why not Austria? Mr. Reza Pahlavi will come to.
• 1:52:34
  Davos, this is what we are hoping for.
• 1:52:36
  He has to, you know, I guess instead of, you know, one of the
• 1:52:42
  way of practicing democracy is instead of inviting them, they
• 1:52:47
  have to invite him, you know, because.
• 1:52:49
  Because. Because you're showing the
• 1:52:52
  leader. That they show they have
• 1:52:54
  actually invited the foreign minister.
• 1:52:57
  He's not coming, I think, but this was the total wrong move
• 1:53:00
  and into the Munich Security Conference.
• 1:53:03
  That's exactly I wanted to tell you.
• 1:53:05
  Last year, they took the invitation back.
• 1:53:10
  Back. Yes.
• 1:53:11
  And there were a lot of complaints from our sides
• 1:53:14
  telling them you already invited him and you took the complaint,
• 1:53:17
  you took the invitation back. What is that?
• 1:53:20
  We were complaining. We were saying what are you guys
• 1:53:23
  up to? You know, at times they make
• 1:53:25
  tough decisions and then they step back.
• 1:53:28
  These step backs are part of the lobbying of the Islamic Republic
• 1:53:33
  influencing them. They certainly use a lot of
• 1:53:35
  money and fear. They are threatening and they
• 1:53:39
  are buying the European politicians into this kind of
• 1:53:42
  miserable exertion. This is unfortunately what the
• 1:53:45
  Islamic Republic of Iran has done now for 40 years, and it's
• 1:53:49
  appalling. Yeah, he was there a last last
• 1:53:52
  year. I hope that they would have
• 1:53:55
  invited him this year. I'm hoping for and last year
• 1:53:59
  also we were all in Geneva and for the Geneva summit with the
• 1:54:04
  Mr. Illinois as well. And he had a speech there, a
• 1:54:08
  very moving. It was very good because there
• 1:54:11
  were many human rights activists didn't know he was even active.
• 1:54:15
  They didn't know where he was. And he always had an interview.
• 1:54:19
  He said it also in the press conference.
• 1:54:21
  I've been always there. I've been active.
• 1:54:24
  Just imagine this sentence bringing one message Censorship.
• 1:54:29
  He has been under continuous censorship and now the truth is
• 1:54:34
  out. We have to accept it.
• 1:54:37
  He has been active, he's been supporting the people.
• 1:54:39
  Even during the Iraqi runtime, he sent a letter to ayatollahs
• 1:54:46
  and said I will come fight for our country.
• 1:54:50
  And what Khomeini told him said tell this boy to go get an
• 1:54:55
  education and live his life and never come back to this country.
• 1:55:00
  This was the message of Khomeini to him.
• 1:55:02
  So now. Hopefully he's coming back and
• 1:55:05
  bringing democracy and freedom to his people.
• 1:55:08
  This is my 2 hour long podcast with Shiva, the leading Austrian
• 1:55:13
  Iranian activist, fighter for democracy, fighter for the
• 1:55:17
  return of the Shah, fighter for freedom.
• 1:55:19
  I'm very honored that you hear this podcast at the beginning of
• 1:55:22
  2026 and there will this topic of freedom for Iran will keep us
• 1:55:28
  very, very busy in 2026, the year of freedom, the year of
• 1:55:32
  revolution. And if it's possible to have
• 1:55:35
  regime change, the world would be a much better place.
• 1:55:38
  Not just the Iranians will be much better off, but the whole
• 1:55:41
  world will be liberated from one of the most terrible regimes
• 1:55:45
  which we currently face in the world.
• 1:55:47
  This is the Islamic Republic's terror regime which will must
• 1:55:51
  fall and hopefully let's pray will fall this year with the
• 1:55:56
  help of American intervention. Shiva, thanks a lot for your
• 1:56:01
  discussions here, for presenting a very personal and a very
• 1:56:04
  moving account of your life as well.
• 1:56:06
  Thank you very much for all you do for democracy and freedom in
• 1:56:10
  Austria and in Iran. Thanks a lot.
• 1:56:13
  Some closing statement from your side.
• 1:56:15
  I would say a Long live Iran, Javitra and hoping that Austria
• 1:56:22
  also join us all the European Union for democracy and we show
• 1:56:29
  the world we care and we stay within the principles we have
• 1:56:33
  promised the world to keep them in our constitution, law.
• 1:56:36
  And I hope soon all the Austrians would be able to visit
• 1:56:41
  Iran without having their lives in danger.
• 1:56:43
  Thank you so much for inviting me.
• 1:56:45
  You're welcome. And this was Shiva's appeal for
• 1:56:48
  the Austrian and European politicians to choose the right
• 1:56:52
  side of history, the good side of history, the Iranian people
• 1:56:56
  and freedom. Please.
• 1:56:58
  That's what I also fully endorse.
• 1:57:00
  Let's choose freedom and let's stand with the Iranian people
• 1:57:04
  and let's have the Shah of Iran return Javi Cha.
• 1:57:08
  Javi Cha. Thanks a lot.