Message to the Conference at the UK Parliament, “Third Option: Change by Iran’s People and Resistance”

Maryam Rajavi: The Real War is Between the People of Iran and the Ruling Religious Fascism

Honourable Members of Parliament,
The twelve-day war, with all its dimensions, has brought to light an undeniable truth: the solution to the crisis in Iran lies neither in appeasement of the regime, and the continuation of this regime, nor in foreign military intervention.
The real solution is the Third Option—championed for years by the Iranian Resistance—namely, regime change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
The decisive battle that will shape the future of Iran and the region is the struggle of the Iranian people against the ruling religious fascism.

Khamenei Aims to Block the Path of Uprisings

Since two years ago, when Khamenei escalated his regional warmongering, his primary objective has been to block the path of uprisings inside Iran.
Immediately following the recent war, the regime responded to this looming threat with a new wave of repression. Among its swift actions was the passage of a repressive new law in the regime’s parliament aimed at accelerating executions.
The primary goal of this measure is to tighten the grip on society and crack down on protesting youth—especially the Resistance Units.
On July 12, the Iranian Judiciary, which is the regime’s machinery of executions, sentenced three political prisoners to death twice, on charges of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
These three individuals—Farshad Etemadifar, Masoud Jamei, and Alireza Merdasi (Hamidavi)—have been subjected to torture for the past two years.
Another two men were sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison on the same charge.
At the same time, the regime’s Supreme Court upheld, for the fourth time, the death sentences of two more political prisoners accused of membership in the PMOI.
With these rulings, Khamenei has demonstrated two key truths.
First, that his greatest fear is the Iranian society—seething with anger and poised for uprising.
Second, by issuing death sentences solely on the charge of “membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization,” he has once again revealed both the primary threat to his regime and its democratic alternative.
I would also like to commend the Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security for their important report, which exposed yet another dimension of the regime’s criminal conduct—this time through its involvement in terrorist activities.
The regime has never been as vulnerable and powerless as it is today in the face of the Iranian people’s unwavering determination to achieve freedom and democracy.
At this pivotal moment, certain media platforms and political circles are attempting—through shallow and misleading propaganda—to rehabilitate the remnants of the former Shah’s dictatorship. No one benefits more from this effort than the current regime. In fact, many of these campaigns are orchestrated or amplified by the regime itself.
Such actions—whatever their source—that serve to prolong the life of the ruling religious fascism, must be firmly rejected and ended.

The Desires of the Iranian people and Resistance

A policy that, for over four decades, has only fueled insecurity, instability, warmongering, and terrorism must end.
Instead, the world should stand behind the very values and principles outlined in the joint statement by the majority of members of both houses of the UK Parliament: support for the Iranian Resistance and its platform for a free and democratic Iran with a non-nuclear republic founded on the separation of religion and state, gender equality, the abolition of the death penalty, and national autonomy for all ethnic groups, that leads the way in peace and freedom.
We respectfully urge the esteemed members of both houses of the UK Parliament to take the initiative in proposing a resolution that:
— Recognizes the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the regime and legitimizes the fight of the resistance units against the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC);
— Triggers the “snapback” mechanism under Resolution 2231 to reinstall United Nations Security Council sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear projects, and designates the ruling regime in Iran as a clear and imminent threat to international peace and security under Chapter VII of the UN Charter;
— Conditions all diplomatic and economic relations with the regime on the immediate cessation of executions in Iran.