European Parliament Conference on Iran’s Democratic Resistance
Maryam Rajavi: Recognize the Iranian People’s Struggle to Overthrow Religious Fascism
Dear friends, esteemed Members of Parliament,
On Human Rights Day, we pay tribute to those who resist for freedom and democracy,
those who sacrifice their lives and livelihoods for human rights, and who give these principles their true meaning.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights—born from the pain and suffering of millions who perished in the first half of the last century—reminds us in its preamble of the very people who, “as a last resort, are compelled to rebellion against tyranny and oppression.”
Today, I have come to the home of Europe’s democracy to call on the elected representatives of Europe’s nations, and on all peoples and governments around the world, to recognize the Iranian people’s right to struggle for the overthrow of religious tyranny.
The Acceleration of the Present Stage
Dear friends,
Since June 18, when I last spoke here in this Parliament about the situation in Iran, six months have passed. The developments of this brief period clearly show that both Iranian society and the ruling regime are moving, with unprecedented speed, toward a new reality.
Khamenei has, in effect, lost the so-called “Axis of Resistance” he manufactured—his strategy of warmongering, exporting extremism, and sponsoring terrorism, which he had turned into the regime’s shield for survival.
The fall of Assad’s dictatorship in Syria, the crippling decline of Hezbollah in Lebanon,
and the neutralization of the regime’s other proxies have left Tehran’s rulers increasingly exposed, without any external support, against the Iranian people’s drive to overthrow them.
The regime’s social base has collapsed, as evidenced by the results of its most recent sham election. A former clerical president recently admitted that 90 percent of the population opposes the regime’s parliamentary laws.
Factions within the establishment, seeing Khamenei weakened, are openly challenging him over the failure of his strategy. In the regime’s parliament, some have explicitly called for their own president, Hassan Rouhani, to be sentenced to death multiple times.
Meanwhile, the country’s economy is in a precarious and uncontrollable state. Structural shortages of water, electricity, and gas have erupted into chronic disorder. Annual inflation has returned to well above 40 percent. The collapse of the national currency seems unstoppable. Budget deficits have brought the regime to its knees. And severe poverty affecting tens of millions of Iranians, alongside hunger among at least seven million people, and nearly 60,000 deaths each year due to air pollution, have pushed public discontent to the brink of explosion.
Nevertheless, the regime is utterly devoid of solutions. It has no capacity—none—for political or economic reform, and it cannot for even a single day, or a single hour divert its full focus from repressing society, pursuing nuclear weapons, and fueling war and terrorism.
The ruling clerics themselves no longer hide the fact that they face an existential deadlock.
Meanwhile, the Resistance network is expanding across various provinces.
The Resistance has advanced on several fronts, and the new generation, both inside the country and among the diaspora, is joining the movement in growing numbers.
Yes, today the most dangerous crisis confronting the clerical regime is the advance of the Iranian people and Resistance toward an organized uprising.
Vindication of the Resistance’s Vision
Dear friends,
Honorable MEPs,
The developments of the past six months have not only made the regime’s downfall clearer and beyond doubt; they have also exposed and discredited all pseudo-solutions and false paths.
The era of manufactured “alternatives” has come to an end.
Some had placed their hopes in the intervention of governments and world powers. That, too, proved to be a virtual and imaginary remedy, burned away and disgraced.
Others tried to mislead the public, urging them to wait for change from within this criminal regime. This illusion has likewise collapsed.
And there were those who, driven by their own commercial or diplomatic interests, prescribed appeasement toward the religious tyranny. They, too, have been defeated.
We repeatedly warned that appeasement only paves the way for the regime’s warmongering, and events have tragically proven this to be true.
In contrast, what has now been proven, and whose validity and deep roots have become unmistakably clear, is the outlook of the Iranian people’s Resistance: the Third Option, the overthrow of the regime by the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance.
This is a Resistance grounded in a dedicated and self-sacrificing fighting force, guided always by the principles of independence and freedom.
It is encouraging that today, across the broad front of the Iranian people, political figures and groups, despite differing beliefs or diverse national backgrounds, are increasingly converging on three fundamental principles:
First: The overthrow of the velayat-e faqih regime, achievable through the struggle and will of the Iranian people, not through the intervention of any foreign power or government.
Second: A firm and unequivocal rejection of both the Shah and the mullahs.
Third: The separation of religion and state.
These are the very principles that the National Council of Resistance of Iran has emphasized as the foundation of a united front.
Let the remnants of the previous regime continue to dwell in their dreams of reviving dictatorship and dependence, but Iranian society and history will neither return to the past nor remain stagnant in the present.
The Iranian people do not want a monarchical dictatorship, nor a clerical one. They seek a future grounded in the vote of the people; a future based on freedom, democracy, and equality; on the separation of religion and state; on gender equality; on the autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan; on the abolition of the death penalty; and on a nuclear-free Iran.
Irreversibility of the Situation
Dear friends,
Allow me to highlight a few important conclusions here:
First: The clerical regime will not relinquish its repression of society, its nuclear weapons program, or its warmongering and terrorism until the day it is overthrown. Yet it is impossible for the regime to return to its previous state or balance and escape the uprising and its eventual downfall.
Second: Today, Khamenei and his collaborators are attempting, through repeated maneuvers labeled as “negotiations,” to buy time and find ways to postpone the uprising and the regime’s overthrow.
Nevertheless, we again address Khamenei directly: go ahead and back down from your nuclear and missile program. This is the shortest path to your downfall, and it serves the interests of the Iranian people.
As Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the Resistance, has stated: “The path ahead for Khamenei has already been mapped by the Shah and Bashar Assad. If he refuses, an even worse fate awaits him.”
Third: Western policy toward Iran, which for decades has been rooted in appeasement, has failed. All attempts to preserve the clerical dictatorship, block democratic change in Iran, and leave the regime free to meddle and wage war in the region have collapsed. Any effort to revive this policy is futile.
Europe Cannot Remain Silent or Passive
Distinguished guests,
In today’s urgent circumstances, the clerical regime has intensified its demonization campaign and psychological warfare against this movement.
Agents of the notorious Ministry of Intelligence, through deliberate disinformation, directed even at European lawmakers, are attempting to distort the image of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the main force of the Resistance inside the country.
They accuse the PMOI of “brainwashing” its own members or “imprisoning” them.
They spread lies about the residents of Ashraf‑3.
They writhe in anger because these men and women have become an inspiration to the youth and to the women of Iran who are leading the struggle.
The clerical regime is trying to export its intimidation and oppression to Europe.
For such scenarios and accusations, the regime has, for the past two years, been holding sham trials in Tehran targeting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and more than 100 of its members and officials.
The cleric judge, who presides over this puppet court, is now demanding that European governments extradite members of the Resistance, even though many have been granted asylum in Europe for decades.
Through these demands and similar campaigns, the regime seeks to undermine the international credibility of the Iranian people’s Resistance. Internal documents from the regime’s Foreign Ministry reveal that officials across several ministries, the judiciary, and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are actively implementing a plan aimed at discrediting this Resistance.
Now that recognition of the Iranian people’s struggle for the regime’s overthrow is gaining broader support each day, the clerics feel a growing need for these conspiratorial theatrics.
Another purpose behind these accusations is to justify the execution of members of the Resistance. At present, 18 political prisoners face death sentences solely for alleged membership in the PMOI.
We call on the European Union and its member states to end their silence on this matter.
We urge them not to delay any longer in designating Khamenei’s destructive instrument, the Revolutionary Guards, as a terrorist organization.
The European Parliament has repeatedly called for this designation in its resolutions. National parliaments, including those of Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium, have also voted in favor of this necessity. Countries such as Canada, the United States, and Australia have already placed this malign force on their terrorist lists.
The European Union must not hesitate any further in doing the same.
We also expect the European Parliament to take the initiative in referring the case of human rights violations in Iran to the United Nations Security Council.
So far this year, Khamenei’s criminal regime has executed over 1,950 people, which is twice the number of those executed last year, and is the highest number in the past 37 year.
The pressing question of the Iranian people in this acute and dangerous situation is: how long will the world remain silent and inactive?
Recently, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, in its resolution, presented extensive information on the regime’s vast crimes, including the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran.
That this massacre has been officially recognized for the first time in 37 years marks a significant milestone in the ongoing movement for justice for its victims.
This recognition is largely the result of the efforts of the UN Special Rapporteur, Professor Javaid Rehman, and other activists in the justice-seeking movement; but it is not enough.
In his July 2024 report, Professor Rehman declared the executions of the 1980s and the 1988 massacre as acts of genocide and crimes against humanity, calling for the prosecution of those responsible by UN member states under the framework of universal jurisdiction.
The time has come for all these demands to be implemented.
The Only Path Ahead
Dear friends, esteemed Members of the European Parliament,
Allow me to conclude today’s remarks with this summary:
The situation in Iran has reached an exceptional moment.
The clerical regime no longer faces multiple options or divergent paths. It confronts only one trajectory: either downfall through international belligerence and domestic repression, or downfall through retreat.
Conversely, the Iranian people also face no range of choices. There is only one path—and one path alone: an organized uprising leading to the overthrow of religious tyranny in Iran.
Yes, only one destination lies before us: victory.
Only one path stretches ahead: a democratic revolution, the transfer of power to the Iranian people through democratic means, and, ultimately, the establishment of a democratic republic in Iran.
