Free Iran 2025: Maryam Rajavi’s Message in Washington D.C.

Maryam Rajavi: Regime Change in Iran, the Fundamental Question of Our Time

The Hon. Secretary Pompeo,
My fellow compatriots, supporters of the Iranian Resistance, and distinguished guests,
I extend my greetings to you all who have devoted long hours to advancing the work of this important gathering. Convening this assembly to examine the current grave and sensitive circumstances is both timely and indispensable.
I also send my warmest salutations to our sisters and brothers in Ashraf who are participating from afar.
Today marks the sixth anniversary of the great uprising of November. We pay tribute to the martyrs and the heroes of that uprising, and in their memory, we stand and applaud.

Esteemed compatriots,
The convening of this assembly presents a rare and valuable opportunity to reflect on the most pressing question of our time: How can meaningful change be realized in Iran? This is a transformation whose consequences will extend far beyond reshaping the course of Iranian history and determining the fate of our people; it will have profound ripple effects throughout the region and the globe.
This question rests on a fundamental premise: that overthrowing the Velayat-e Faqih regime is both necessary and timely.
We all see that the rule of the mullahs has reached the final phase of its winter. A regime that has long prioritized nothing but repression, plunder, and warmongering to maintain its power has now become trapped by the very strategy that once sustained it. Its social base has eroded, and it stands weakened, exhausted, and incapable from every angle.
In Iranian society today, the vast majority of women and young people are either unemployed or earn far too little to sustain a dignified life, and they form the engine of any future uprising.
The residents of shantytowns and impoverished outskirts, amounting to between one quarter and one third of the country’s population, have become a powder keg poised to erupt.
Iran’s labor force, now among the cheapest in the world, is increasingly impatient to overturn the predatory order imposed upon it. And a population crushed by soaring inflation, water shortages, and widespread power outages stands ready to bring this regime down.
The tragic self-immolation of a young man from Ahvaz, Ahmad Baledi, a victim of profound injustice, offered a stark illustration of the explosive state of Iranian society, so much so that the regime hastily retreated and expelled its mayor. Yes, wherever one looks, the deep and pervasive conflict between Iranian society and its rulers is unmistakable.
People pushed to the brink, workers, teachers, nurses, retirees, and the thousands of protests they mount each year have become a surging river, driving inexorably toward the overthrow of the clerical regime.
Look at the sea of blood that now separates the Iranian people from the ruling regime, marked, among other crimes, by the execution of more than one hundred thousand members of the Iranian Resistance.
From within these very conditions, the rebellious cities of contemporary Iran have emerged.
And it is from these same conditions that the organized force of the Resistance has risen in the form of the Resistance Units, now actively challenging the regime’s grip on power.

The regime’s inability to enact any reforms

In the face of these grave threats:
• The regime is incapable of undertaking any political or social reforms.
• The country’s continuous economic decline is in uncontrollable.
• And despite the enormous costs of warmongering in the region and the continuation of its nuclear program, Khamenei is unable to change course.
The inevitable conclusion is that regime change is necessary. But the critical question remains: how, and by what means, will this change be achieved?
Is it conceivable to reform this regime?
Should one wait for it to become more rational?
Is it even possible to contain it?
Is the answer war or foreign intervention, or is an entirely different path and strategy required?
It may be useful for this distinguished audience to recall a historical fact: the MEK were the first to undertake extensive efforts to reform this regime during the first two and a half years of its rule. And what was the regime’s response?
Its answer was the killing of at least 54 MEK members in the streets, shot or stabbed to death.
And this was before the nationwide massacre of MEK members that began in 1981.
Years later, a current composed of officials responsible for torture and executions in the 1980s resurfaced, this time masked as “reformists” or advocates of moderation. The individual whom Khamenei selected as president today is a product of that very current.
During his brief presidency, more than 2,300 people have been executed.

The Policy of Appeasement, A Barrier to Democratic Change

Let us now turn to another historic lesson: the policy of appeasement pursued by Western governments, a policy with a long, bitter, and cautionary record.
For four decades, its advocates claimed they could moderate or contain the regime.
Yet in practice, they granted Khamenei the time and space to move dangerously close to a nuclear weapon.
This policy paved the way for the expansion of fundamentalism, and most disastrously, it blocked the path to democratic change.
Among the most damaging consequences was the unjust blacklisting of the MEK as “terrorists,” the bombing of MEK bases along the Iran-Iraq border, and the disarming of the National Liberation Army, all carried out at the direct request of the clerical regime. As The Washington Post noted at the time, these actions shifted the geopolitical balance of the region in favor of the mullahs.

The question, then, is this: What is the practical solution, and does a force for change, an alternative capable of carrying it out, exist?

The Third Option

Twenty-one years ago, in the European Parliament, I stated that the solution for Iran lies neither in appeasement nor in war. Rather, it is the Third Option: the overthrow of the regime by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance.
I also made clear that appeasement only encourages the regime in its policies and, in the end, forces war upon Western countries.
This prediction has now been proven in every detail.
The war that erupted a few months ago demonstrated unequivocally that the policy of appeasement has failed, and it has shown that war will not bring about the regime’s overthrow.
Today, long-standing policies that presented themselves as solutions, which in fact obstructed the real solution, have collapsed.
But the passage of history is finally opening eyes and ears to an approach that has been systematically concealed and censored: the authentic, popular, independent, and liberating solution; the very path that has endured with strength and dignity through waves of executions, massacres, and demonization campaigns.
This solution reflects the long-standing aspiration of the Iranian people: to reject all forms of dictatorship, whether monarchical or theocratic. Based on repeated experiences in recent years, the defining feature of the serial theatrics staged by the remnants of the Shah’s dictatorship has been to strengthen the mullahs in their fight against any democratic alternative.

But despite the intrigues, the will of the Iranian people is a democratic revolution and the establishment of a democratic republic, and they will achieve it.

The November Uprising

Today marks the anniversary of the great November uprising of 2019, which shook the very foundations of the religious dictatorship.
At the time, Hassan Rouhani, then the regime’s president, declared that the protesters were “organized, planned, and armed.”
Indeed, they were organized, but from now on, they will confront you far more organized and far better prepared.
During the days of the November uprising, Ali Khamenei was so terrified that he sought to confront this immense storm by massacring at least 1,500 protesters.
Yet the most striking phenomenon that emerged from the heart of that uprising was the rise of hundreds of thousands of bold, courageous young fighters who took up the struggle to overthrow the religious tyranny. This was a glimpse of the Iranian people’s great Army of Freedom.
Those rebellious youth succeeded in liberating parts of restive cities such as Shiraz, Bandar Mahshahr, and Shahriar, and they targeted some 1,900 of the regime’s centers.
The presence of such a fighting force at the heart of Iranian society is the defining feature of Iran’s ongoing uprisings, and it provides the essential answer to the fundamental question: How is regime change possible?
This is the fighting force the regime fears more than any power in the world. Khamenei has responded with the gallows, issuing execution sentences one after another for prisoners who support the MEK.
Just this past July, the regime executed two MEK members, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani. At this moment 17 others face execution on the charge of belonging to the MEK—from Zahra Tabari, an engineer, to Javad Vafa’i Sani, a boxing champion.
Their courage, their sacrifice, and the fighting spirit of MEK members condemned to death reflect the unshakable resolve of a rising generation that has entered the field to overthrow religious fascism.
Indeed, the answer does not lie in spectacles, media theatrics, or propaganda noise.
The answer lies in the self-sacrificing individuals, like the PMOI members at Ashraf-3, who have dedicated everything they have to the cause of the revolution. Women and men who, through their honesty, purity, and unwavering loyalty to their pledge, serve as inspirations to young people yearning for freedom. Their 60 years of experience in politics, organization, and struggle is an invaluable asset in paving the way to liberty.
The answer also lies in the Resistance Units, who embody the Iranian people’s resolve for change.
Yes, it is such individuals, resolute human beings unafraid to give their lives, who determine the destiny of a revolution.
They are those who, as Massoud (Rajavi) has said, traverse the remaining steps to uprising swiftly, even if with their hands, nails, and their very teeth.

Our Program for Tomorrow’s Iran

Dear friends and compatriots,
Our program for the Iran of tomorrow is not merely words on paper; it is the direct expression of years of struggle and sacrifice. For this reason, it guarantees that our people will have a future without torture, without executions, without the clerical regime’s religious decrees, and without religious, gender-based, or ethnic discrimination.
War with neighboring countries will give way to peace and coexistence.
And in place of the regime’s destructive nuclear project, we will pursue a program for democratic economic and social development in Iran.
We seek a country governed by a democratic republic and free elections, a state founded on the separation of religion and state, equal participation of women in political leadership, and autonomy for Iran’s nationalities.
As I have said many times: we are not fighting to seize power. Our goal is to return sovereignty to the people of Iran.
In accordance with the ratifications of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, after the overthrow of the regime, a provisional government will take office for no more than six months to organize elections for a Constituent Assembly, which will draft the constitution of the new republic.
To realize this goal, I extend a hand to all my compatriots, and I call upon all governments to recognize the struggle of the Iranian people and the fight of the rebellious youth against the Revolutionary Guards.

Victory be yours.