Iranian Exiles Protest Tehran and Its Nuclear Agenda

More than 2,000 Iranian exiles from across Europe rallied in Berlin on Thursday to protest against Tehran’s conservative Islamic government and criticize its nuclear ambitions as a dangerous pursuit that could lead to U.S. military intervention.

The demonstration quickly spun into a saga of legal maneuverings and conspiracy theories. Before the rally was to begin, Berlin authorities canceled it, saying it had been partly organized by an Iranian group linked to terrorism. A court overturned the ban, and protesters, many of whom had reportedly been detained for hours at airports and train stations, streamed through the rainy streets.

“The regime in Iran is terrified. The ruling clerics know these are their last days, and they tried to stop this democratic demonstration,” said Shokrani Taheri, handing out fliers amid police officers at the Brandenburg Gate, where the march began. “Tehran has made deals with the governments of Europe. There’s business and oil, and the Europeans don’t want to lose them.”

The protest marked the 26th anniversary of the revolution that swept the Islamic government to power. It took place as the U.S. and Western Europe remain divided over how to ensure that Iran does not produce nuclear weapons.

Worried that their voices may be drowned out by international developments, Iranians in the diaspora are lobbying for the overthrow of the Tehran government through sanctions and support of internal opposition groups.

Some demonstrators complained that European negotiations with Iran had done little to improve the country’s human rights record or derail its nuclear program. They said that although they opposed a U.S. military strike, they were encouraged by the tough language directed at Tehran by President Bush during his State of the Union address last week and by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week, although Rice has said that an attack on Iran is “not on the agenda” at this time.

“The European appeasement approach has been futile and counterproductive. It gives Iran only carrots,” said Mitra Ghafranifar, who said she left Iran and settled in Germany 18 years ago, after her brothers were executed for sympathizing with groups seeking to topple the regime. “But at this time, the last thing Iranians need is an invasion by a foreign power. We don’t want the mullahs to have justifications for cracking down on the people.”

Kheiratie Ahad stood amid the crackle of loudspeakers as the paint on placards ran in the drizzle. Like thousands of Iranians from across Europe, he spent his morning in confusion, being told the rally was on, then off, then on. Organizers had predicted that 40,000 people would march. German authorities said more than 2,000 attended.

Ahad said Tehran was skilled at manipulating events from afar.

“We are against Iran’s nuclear bomb project,” said Ahad, who moved from Iran to Germany in 1991. “We are against European appeasement. We are against U.S. military intervention. The change must come from within Iran itself. This is what we are here to support.”

Germany’s Interior Ministry said the rally, organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, would help support another organization, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran. The U.S. State Department and the European Union consider the People’s Mujahedin, also known as the Mujahedin Khalq, a terrorist organization. The group, the largest Iranian opposition movement, was involved in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and some of its former members have accused it of seizing followers’ assets and intimidating through torture.

Western Europe, led by Germany, France and Britain, is attempting to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment, and they don’t want their perceived endorsement of a rally by exiles to undermine negotiations. (Enriched uranium can be used to develop nuclear weapons, though Iran says its program is for civilian purposes only.) Last week, the French government banned a rally in Paris. The exiles then moved it to Berlin.

“It’s shameful how the European governments bow to the Iranians,” said Ali Safavi, president of a Middle East policy research group in the United States who is closely associated with the People’s Mujahedin. “This is why appeasement doesn’t work. It’s because of Europe’s business and economic interests with Iran.... But at the end of the day in Berlin, freedom of speech was upheld.”

Safavi, of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said turnout was limited by restrictions imposed before the ban was lifted. Police blocked buses from unloading thousands of protesters, he said, adding that authorities kept “dozens of chartered planes filled with Iranian exiles” grounded in Oslo, Paris, Copenhagen and other cities.