Reporter's Notebook: Call for a free Iran echoes at the United Nations

But outside the hall, a thousand protesters chanted that he should be arrested for being a terrorist.

"They are terrorists. They must go!" the crowd repeatedly shouted, waving green, white and red flags of the resistance.

"It is useless to negotiate with them because they are terrorists, murderers, possibly in some ways insane religious maniacs. This would be like trying to reach an agreement with Hitler."

"It is time now to free Iran from the mullahs," Retired Lt. General Keith Kellogg, who has served in both Trump administrations, told the gathering, "You have a road map to a secular, non-nuclear Republic of Iran, one that rejoins the free world as a friend."

Former U.S. Ambassador Marc Ginsberg urged Congress to pass the Maximum Support Act, legislation that would crack down on Iran's resources, confiscate assets of the government and support internet freedom so the Iranian people could organize and have a voice.

"The people of Iran have rejected every form of dictatorship, whether religious or monarchical," Maryam Rajavi said in a video message to the rally. She is president-elect of the group that sponsored the protest, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

The rally was held over a two-day period, and the message to the United Nations diplomats remained consistent.

"The regime only responds to firmness and decisiveness. And that's why sanctions and putting pressure on Iran has been the only solution in terms of external pressure," Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI Washington, D.C., office told Fox News.                                                

"The regime is incapable of reform and change. If they were able, they would have done it a long time ago. The real solution for Iran is change by the people of Iran. They can have any talks, any concessions, none of that is going to change the behavior of the regime.