On April 4, 2025, the National Conference for Resistance of Iran (NCRI) U.S. office in Washington, D.C., hosted a vibrant Nowruz celebration, marking the Persian New Year with a gathering of distinguished guests, Iranian-Americans, and bipartisan American dignitaries. The event underscored the NCRI’s ongoing efforts to promote freedom, democracy, and human rights in Iran, as highlighted in a speech by a representative of the NCRI U.S. office. The celebration reflected hope and solidarity, with warm wishes for joy, hope, and prosperity extended to the people of Iran and advocates of democracy in the U.S., emphasizing the shared vision for a free and democratic Iran.
Dr. Firuz Daneshgari’s Remarks
Thank you for my sister, Sona, for her remarks. As she said I’m Firuz Dhanushkari, I am a professor and third chairman of Urology Surgery at Case Western and a CEO founder of the Bowtie Medical.
It’s a pleasure to have you.
I came from Ohio today to really participate in this joyous day.
As you know, Nowruz is a day where we Iranians have celebrated over 5,000 years. Regardless of which dictator, whether it was Shah or Mullah, as they came and tried to cancel it out, we’ve stood by those traditions.
Kind of put a little context into this, because we have a great night tonight. We have some music, delicious food, I’ve made them all myself. And I don’t lie, usually. And hearing from some of our friends, American friends who really stood by us over the past 45 years of struggle.
I, in late ’70s– and I’m revealing my age here now– I entered the medical school in Tehran University, along with about 120 other brilliant, ambitious– I was the wrong one into them– but students who, three years later, in ’79, we celebrated the fall of the previous dictator, Shah, on the streets of Tehran, not realizing that we are going to face another, even harsher, dictator who not only repeated and recruited the secret service of the previous Shah regime, but also didn’t recognize, stripped us away from every single right we had.
It was during that time that I joined the resistance that many youths joined with the MEK. A few years later, I was arrested, severely tortured, and I’ve been in prison. I’m sure you’ve heard about this. After I escaped, because my dad and my brothers were all trained here in the U.S., we came to the U.S.
But over the past 45 years, I’ve remained a part of this family of resistance. It is absolutely a joy for me, regardless of whether we wear bow ties or professors or so forth, we all wear one cloth. And that cloth is the cloth of resistance, the cloth of resistance and hope for a future of Iran, for a future of free Iran.
Unfortunately, out of those 120 students who were my classmates, less than half of them are alive today. Over half of them were killed, tortured by this barbaric regime.
And those of us who escaped, a lot of us are here in the US and Europe, but many of them are actually in Ashraf.
I think Ambassador Bloomfield witnessed some of our joining together back in 2016.
Went further after about 14, 15 years, I met some of my classmates not realizing who was alive and who was not.
And we all wear this basically cloth of resistance and hope. And under the leadership of our leadership, Masoud and Maryam Rajavi, that has provided the structure of the NCRI, where we are celebrating today, the Nowruz for us is really the wind of change.
Not only you see that as soon as I came here today looking at the blossoms and the beautiful streets of Washington, it reminded me of my childhood in Tehran, how the spring brings hope, the joy for the new Iran. And I realize tonight I’m going to share this joy with a number of our good friends for a hope for the future of Iran. Not the hope, but the certainty that the wind of change not only is in the streets of Washington, they are in Tabriz, in Shiraz, in Isfahan, Tehran.
Over the past year, the units of resistance in Iran under the leadership of the MEK, they have performed over 30,000 operations in Iran.
And that is where the hope is, where the real change is going to come. So it is with that spirit of hope that I am honored to be your emcee tonight. We have some young generations here with a smiling face. And part of tonight is I’m going to ask some of our youth, students, interns who are working with us, Elizabeth, Aditi, Elias, and so forth, come on the scene and share with us some of your thoughts and some of your programs that you need to share with us.
Thank you.