00:00But now stay with us as coming up we'll be joined by Mitra Heja-Zipur, the Iranian-French chess
00:05grandmaster is the winner of the Iranian Women's Championship but actually got expelled back in
00:112020 for not wearing a hijab. She's also since written a book called The Chess Player. Mitra,
00:16welcome to Euronews. Great to have you on Europe today. I think it's the first time we had one of
00:20the greatest chess players in the world on our set so lovely to have you with us.
00:24Good morning, thanks for having me.
00:25And of course earlier we had Kaya Callas here, the Foreign Affairs Chief of the European Union.
00:30We were speaking to her about the situation in Iran. It's obviously very close to you. Can you
00:34just bring us up to speed, remind our viewers now what the situation on the ground is like since
00:38the brutal crackdown a few weeks ago and how are your friends and family doing?
00:43Yeah, actually the new vague of protests in Iran started from 28 December and there were millions
00:50of Iranians who took these treats and they were chanting the death to the dictator and they were
00:55calling the return of Reza Pahlavi. Actually, he is the main alternative after the collapse of the
01:01regime and he's a legitimate leader for the transition phase and he wants to establish a
01:10democratic system in Iran after the collapse of the regime. And based on the videos and the testimonies
01:17comes out of Iran, it shows that it was a bloody massacre and it was a brutal repression. They killed
01:24almost more than 30,000 of Iranians. They used the military weapons and we saw that they used the
01:35snipers on the rooftops. They aimed the head of people. There are thousands of corpses on the streets.
01:40The people are looking for their victims. They are charged money for the bullets. They killed their loved ones.
01:50And meanwhile, President Trump had promised people that the help was on the way and encouraged people to take to the streets,
01:56but then was missing in action. How are people feeling now about President Trump's various calls?
02:01Yes. Actually, as you mentioned, Trump said that the help is on the way and based on the videos and testimonies,
02:07the people of Iran, they asked for this help and they hope to have this help in this intervention, this military intervention.
02:15Actually, if the international community stays in action, then the regime will continue this massacre and there are
02:23thousands of political prisoners that they are sentenced to death penalties. And any kind of negotiation with this regime
02:33is condemned to a dead end situation and any kind of deal with this regime, it shows it could be interpreted as a sign of
02:43weakness of Trump. So I think the people of Iran asked for this help and we are still waiting.
02:51And what kind of help do you want? Do you want a military intervention? Do people support this kind of military intervention that Trump is proposing?
02:58Yes. The majority of the Iranian people, they support the military intervention. As we saw, it was a bloody massacre.
03:06So without military intervention, they will continue to massacre the people. And we hope that it comes from the United States.
03:17So that's the Americans. But what about the Europeans? Of course, we're in Brussels. You're in Brussels today speaking to us here.
03:23Do you feel that the EU has done sufficient for the Iranian people?
03:28I think we didn't have enough support from the international community. At least I live in France. I didn't see enough support from European countries.
03:41But we saw that actually next week there will be huge demonstrations in Munich, Los Angeles and Toronto. So we will see the Iranian community out of Iran to support, to show the solidarity with the people of Iran.
04:01So what would your message be to Europeans, to our viewers watching today and also to Kayakalas, the EU foreign affairs chief and to EU heads of state and government?
04:08We need more support for the military. We need to fire, to expel the Iranian diplomats because they are the criminals and also to recognize Reza Pahlavi as a main figure of opposition because he's legitimate and the people of Iran, they chanted his name in four corners of Iran.
04:37So we need more support.
04:40Okay, Mitra, thank you so much for coming in to us today and speaking to us here on Europe Today. Mitra Hejazi pour their famous Iranian French chess player.
04:48Thank you Farm Europas.
04:49We're well known for the European French chess player
04:51at sea of orange electron Washington.
04:52We're well known for another expert inubric pelo famous arts andophone country,
04:54in fact under way.
04:58We're still watching outside, including I haven't seen these maps and twilight.
04:59Such a beautiful app with the whole cube of the world.
05:00I enjoyed helping.
05:01But Visual�� Planeten, but within days of 1813 clubs,
05:06the Italian and French chess player as well done appearing to one nuovo cube.
05:08You should have been turned into the Latin of the World Cup,
05:11andでき and everything anduba and I'm also finished off your and the power of an Indian French chess player,
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