U.S. President Donald Trump's attorney and former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, called for Iranian regime change on Wednesday ahead of a U.S.-backed Middle East summit in Warsaw.
Giuliani told reporters: "Iran should be isolated until Iran changes," adding that a "stable and decent Iran" was a solution for peace in the Middle East.
He was speaking ahead of a rally to show support for the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a bloc of opposition groups in exile that seeks to end Shi'ite Muslim clerical rule in Iran.
Protesters banged drums, chanted, waved flags and placards outside the summit venue at the National Stadium. They were protesting the current regime and its human rights' violations.
The conference, which starts on Thursday, will have a focus on Iran's role in the region, alongside Middle East stability and security.
The NCRI members joined the 1979 Islamic revolution but later broke from the ruling clerics. Based in Iraq in the early 1980s, their fighters clashed with U.S. forces during the 2003 Iraq war, but have since renounced violence.
NCRI, also known by its Farsi name Mujahideen-e-Khalq, was once listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union but that is no longer the case.
Tehran has long called for a crackdown on the NCRI in Paris, Riyadh, and Washington. The group is regularly criticised in state media.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters