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Written by John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) – The world must return to a policy of “high pressure” against Iran to turn it into a more democratic country, incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg (NYSE: ) told an event of the Iranian opposition in Paris. on Saturday.
Trump has vowed to return to a policy he carried out in his past that sought to destroy Iran’s economy to force the country to negotiate an agreement on its nuclear program, missile program and environmental activities.
“These pressures are not only military forces, but they must be economic and political,” Lieutenant-General Kellogg, who intends to act as Trump’s special representative for Ukraine and Russia, told the audience in Paris- group of the Iranian National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
He said there is an opportunity to “change Iran for the better” but this opportunity will not last forever.
“We must exploit the weakness we see now. The hope is there, so the action must be there.”
He has spoken at NCRI events, most recently in November, but his presence in Paris, albeit in person, suggests that the group has the ear of the new US administration.
Kellogg postponed a trip to European cities earlier this month until after Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
It was unclear whether he would use his recent trip to Paris to meet with French officials to discuss Ukraine. The French president, the foreign ministry, Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond for comment.
Incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken at NCRI events in the past. The group has repeatedly called for the fall of the current Iranian authorities, although it is not known how much support they have inside Iran.
Speaking at the beginning of the event in Auvers-sur-Oise, the headquarters of the group on the outskirts of Paris, the President-elect of NCRI Maryam Rajavi said that the balance of power in the region has changed against the leadership of Iran and the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad. and the “crushing blow” suffered by its most important ally Hezbollah is its war with Israel.
“It is time for Western governments to abandon their past policies and stand with the Iranian people this time,” he said.
The NCRI, the political arm of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), has held regular meetings in France, often attended by former US, European and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic.
