Time Running Out For Iran

Nuclear scientist and NCRI (Nation Counsel of Resistance of Iran) member Shahin Gobadi joins us to discuss the current environment in Iran as its government inches closer to having a nuclear weapon, despite its rulers denying it.

"The clock is ticking," says Gobadi, an Iranian exile, who lays out a clear strategy on how to empower its citizens to go about to achieve much needed regime change, and what the West can do to help to defang the Revolutionary Guard and the Mullahs who rule with an iron fist, without it involving warfare or "boots on the ground."

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
All right, important stuff that we're going to be talking about
here. I've got a guest on all the way
from France. His name is Shaheen Gabadi.
He is AUS educated nuclear engineer and is a member of the
National Council of Resistance of Iran and Iran's parliament in
exile. You're in exile.
So I take it to me that you spent a lot of time in Iran, and

(00:27):
we're going to talk about today.It's interesting because the
president is over in the Middle East talking with Saudi Arabia.
We know that Saudi Arabia and Iran are enemies.
I want to get your input on this.
But today we also want to focus in on what you have to bring to
the table, which is Iran is in fact working on developing a
nuclear weapon and as a a scientist in this realm.

(00:48):
We welcome you to the program, Sir, and we're very happy to
have you on America TODAY. Good morning to you and all your
listeners and thanks for having me.
It's it's a real pleasure, too. So give me a perspective.
What you see happening today in Saudi Arabia with Trump?
And they're lavishing him with gifts.
They love this man. What signal?
What do you think the ayatollahsare saying to themselves

(01:10):
watching this occur? What do you think they're
reacting? Well, I think they realize that
the clock is ticking against them in all directions.
So far as the mullahs in Iran are concerned, basically all the
chickens are coming home to roost at the same time.
First of all, the main main concern is a very, very

(01:32):
disgruntled population at home, very restive young people who
would like nothing short of the regime's overthrow and have
manifested that in four major nationwide uprisings in the last
seven years alone. Throughout the country.
People from, you know, middle class, lower class men and women

(01:55):
who by taking great risks have been in the streets battling the
regime and its oppressive forces, particularly the
Revolutionary Guard score the IRGC.
And despite the regime's head crackdown, they have not
relented. And the number one concern of
the regime is all the indications that another
uprising, which most definitely would be more pervasive,

(02:15):
stronger, calling for the regimes over the one
establishment of the Democratic Republic, lose on the horizon
very, very strongly. So this is the key concern of
the regime and the growing role of the resistance, namely the
resistance units which are affiliated to the People's
Mujahideen Organization of Iran,the main Iranian resistance
movement, which has lost 120 thousand of its activists in the

(02:39):
last four years, but despite this very brutal crackdown, is
growing. So that's the mullahs #1
concern. Obviously, originally the
situation, particularly since 2024 has been very dramatic.
Their proxy, which were the extension of the power in the
region have been devastated. His will allow who sees and what

(03:02):
have you. And the pinnacle was the
overthrow of the Assad regime inSyria, which was the regime's
range been in the region for last four decades.
And now you have these changes in the region as well.
So as I said, the clock is very quickly kicking against the
regime and the rain and obviously they're very, very

(03:23):
concerned and all the developments indicate that they
are reaching their final phase. And do you know how far because
of your background in in nuclearscience, do you know how close
they are? What do you say months, weeks?
How how close are they to enriching the uranium to the
point where they can use it and weaponize it?
Well, they have been working on this project for the last more

(03:46):
than three decades unrelentingly.
National Council of Resistance of Iran, by the way, was the the
organization, the entity that exposed the existence of such a
program for the last three decades, particularly since
August 20, 2002, when we revealed the existence of secret

(04:07):
sites to reach uranium and production of plutonium.
And that's when the world was alarmed.
And that was possible through human intelligence that was
provided to the national consular resistance of run by
the network of the people's muchI think inside the country, many
of them inside the regimes, various entities.
And in the, in the course of thelast 20 plus years, you have

(04:30):
made 110 different revelations about secret sites, secret
projects, a key scientist, key locations that have been
involved in this vast nuclear weapons program.
And from what we know and 1st wehave what we have ascertained
and the latest 1 was just last Thursday, May the 8th.
We know that they're not only working on enriching uranium,

(04:53):
but they're also working for weaponization of the, you know,
nuclear material and also for delivery system, namely
manufacturing warhead. So they're working on all three
needed areas. And to that effect they are
very, very close. How close they are a matter of,

(05:14):
I don't know, months or in a year or so.
It's in what is guess, but also it depends on what kind of
pressure is brought to bear on them by the international
community. Unfortunately, our warnings over
the years basically landed on deaf ears, I would say due to
appeasement policy of various administrations being, you know,

(05:37):
Biden administration, Obama administration, Clinton
administration, and the same waysoftly, softly approach of the
Europeans. And today we are where we are.
So I think it's a time for a tough, robust policy on the
Iranian regime. Now, the narrative that the
regime and its advocates basically advocated over the
years was that the options are very binary.

(05:59):
You either go bomb Iran, you'll go to war with Iran, or you have
to appease the mullahs. And as Madam Mariam Rajavi, the
woman who leads the Iran resistance with the
president-elect of the National Consular Resistance of Iran, has
articulated time and again, there's a third option to bring
about a change by the Iranian people.
And now we see this is very muchwithin reach.

(06:20):
So what do we propose to the US?Nobody is seeking boots on the
grounds. Nobody is advocating for the
war. Nobody is seeking financial
support. We are not seeking weapons.
All you're asking a good solid policy which identifies itself
with the evening people and their aspiration and the
organized resistance. Well, I've always been an

(06:41):
advocate that true change has tocome from within, whether it's
in Gaza or whether it's in Iran.And you say that that they've
never been closer. The people in having the ability
to overthrow the government and get those mullahs out, what what
needs to happen to facilitate that?
Money, funding, intelligence? What needs to to break the

(07:03):
camel's back? Basically, what has been missing
so far as the international community, and here in
particular the US has been concerned, is the role for the
Iranian people and the organizations.
This has been the missing element, which, as I said, is a
consequence of the regimes pushing the narrative and a

(07:24):
very, very dire consequence of this appeasement policy.
Now what does a good policy constitute?
First of all, stifling the mullahs financial lifeline,
preventing them from selling oiland gas, which every cent and
every dime of it is used for. Repressing the Union people, for
financing proxy groups, for advancing nuclear and missile

(07:46):
program #2 to activate the UN Security Council resolutions
which were suspended because of the nuclear agreement during the
Obama years in 2015 #3 holding the regime's leaders accountable
for all the crimes and genocide,particularly against the union
people and the resistance. And #4 is explicitly recognizing

(08:09):
the right of the union people and the organized resistance to
bring about a regime change by themselves for a secular
Democratic Republic, and also the right to stand up against
the solutionary guards, which are, as I said, the main entity
responsible for executions and torture inside and outside of
Iran. Nobody's asking for money.

(08:30):
I have to reiterate. Nobody's asking for weapons.
Nobody's seeking or advocating boots on the ground.
There's not needed. There's a very vast network of
the resistance units who are battling the IRGC today, very
brave young men and women, very big network.
Also, there's a viable alternative called the National

(08:50):
Council of Resistance of Iran, which includes all the
democratic political entities which are against the former
dictatorship, the Shah and against the current theocracy.
It has a clear program for the provisional government.
It's led by a woman, Madam MariaBradjavi.
And incidentally, it's 10 point plan of Madam Rajavi has

(09:11):
tremendous support among the US House of Representatives.
Actually a bipartisan majority, a very large number of US
senators, supporters in a bipartisan way, a large number
of US dignitaries, supporters ina bipartisan way.
The same with the the majority members of the House of Commons
in the UK and the French Parliament.
We're going to have to stop it there because we're up against a
hard break. But I, I feel that I have a much

(09:33):
greater understanding of the situation and I do want to have
you back on again. And we can talk more about that.
I'm always been curious about the culture and the people of
Iran. So we'll have you back on again
once again. Shaheen Gabadi is AUS educated
nuclear engineer, also a member of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, joining us on America TODAY.