Maryam Rajavi at Free Iran Summit 2026: The Force for Change

Maryam Rajavi: Change in Iran Can Be Realized by a Fighting Force on the Ground

The second day of the Free Iran 2026 Summit took place on Sunday, June 21, featuring a distinguished panel of political, military, and diplomatic leaders alongside prominent international figures.
The esteemed participants included:

– General James Jones – Former United States National Security Advisor
– Bob Blackman – Member of the UK Parliament and Chairman of the British Committee for Iran Freedom
– David Jones – Former Secretary of State for Wales, United Kingdom
– General Joseph Keith Kellogg – Former United States Special Envoy to Ukraine and Russia
– Sir Liam Fox – Former Secretary of State for Defence, United Kingdom
– Louis Freeh – Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
– Anneli Jäätteenmäki – Former Prime Minister of Finland
– Geir Haarde – Former Prime Minister of Iceland
– Ingrid Betancourt – Former Senator and Presidential Candidate of Colombia
– Carla Sands – Former United States Ambassador

The session also welcomed highly regarded dignitaries, such as:
– General Tod Wolters – Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe
– Dr. Margot Käßmann – Former Bishop and Former Chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)
– Kathleen Depoorter – Member of the Belgian Parliament
– Íñigo Fernández García – Spanish Senator
– Linda Chavez – Former White House Director of Public Liaison
– Ambassador Robert Joseph – Former US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
– Lincoln Bloomfield – Former US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs
– Struan Stevenson and Paulo Casaca – Former Members of the European Parliament

In her address on the second day of the summit, Maryam Rajavi reflected on the movement’s 45-year history since the pivotal uprising of June 20, 1981, and articulated the vital necessity of a “combatant force on the ground” to drive political change. Emphasizing that they chose the path of resistance when faced with the ultimatum of liberty or tyranny, she characterized this movement as the bearer of the Iranian people’s 120-year aspirations dating back to the Constitutional Revolution.

Rejecting the avenues of foreign war, appeasement, and artificial alternatives revolving around remnants of the deposed monarchy, she noted that the society’s explosive potential and the regime’s internal deadlocks have accelerated the momentum toward change.

The key points of Maryam Rajavi’s speech were as follows:

1. How have the Iranian Resistance’s nuclear revelations over the past three decades brought the regime’s survival strategy to a total deadlock?
2. What is the answer to the Iranian equation in the face of society’s explosive potential and the fierce infighting within the clerical regime?
3. Why does the Iranian Resistance demand an end to the policy of appeasement toward the ruling mullahs’ regime in Iran?
The full text of Maryam Rajavi’s speech follows below:

On the forty-fifth anniversary of the nationwide Resistance of the Iranian people against religious fascism, I pay tribute to the pioneers of that great uprising on June 20, 1981, and to all the heroes and martyrs of the continuous, arduous, and blood-soaked struggle of these long years. To them, I say: salute, salute, salute!
This Resistance began with the uprising of half a million people in Tehran on June 20, 1981—the most significant political turning point after Khomeini seized power.
The choice before us was stark: existence or extinction, freedom or dictatorship, resistance or surrender.
We chose resistance.
Massoud Rajavi‘s message was simple and enduring: “I resist for freedom; therefore, I am.”
This is a Resistance that carries the most legitimate, the deepest, and the most hard-earned aspirations of the Iranian people over the past 120 years. It will continue its march until the democratic revolution of the Iranian people triumphs.
This year also marks the 120th anniversary of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution against absolute monarchy and tyrannical kings.

No to War, No to Appeasement

Honorable friends,
I salute the tens of thousands of Iranians who reached Vauban Square and its vicinity in Paris yesterday to rally but faced an unjustified ban on their demonstration. I particularly salute the younger generation whose voice was heard worldwide. The remnants of the clerical regime sought to silence their voice through behind-the-scenes dealings, but their roar, which is the most legitimate voice of the people of Iran, could be heard in the heart of Paris louder than ever.
Fortunately, the people of France and their honorable representatives loudly declared that in contrast to the policy of appeasement of the regime, they stand with the Iranian Resistance, the National Council of Resistance and the Resistance Units.
Furthermore, Ms. Christine Arrighi, a member of the French National Assembly, said here yesterday, “I am in pain for my France.” With this statement, she was referring to the ban on freedom of expression and assembly in Paris.
She added, “Our point is: no to war, no to appeasement, and no to endless negotiations up until today. Instead, yes to uprising, yes to the freedom of the Iranian people through supporting their independent resistance to overthrow this ruthless regime.”
I also want to refer to the remarks made yesterday by distinguished dignitaries here, which served as a powerful act of support for this alternative and for the Iranian people’s movement to bring down the clerical dictatorship.
The remarks of Mr. Charles Michel, the former President of the Council of Europe, could be summarized in one phrase. He said appeasement does not work, not under Nazism and not in Iran.
He said, “Resistance Units, courageously, risking their lives, carry this hope and commitment for freedom, for a democratic Iran.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Iranian people have the right to choose. That is the fundamental question.”

What is the solution to the crisis?

Honorable guests,
Today, at one of the most critical junctures in Iran’s history, the decisive question is: What is the solution to the crisis? How can—and how must—this regime be brought down?
For years, when the Iranian Resistance warned that a viper does not give birth to a dove—when we said that no one should look for moderation, reform, or a change of behavior inside the dark tunnel of Velayat-e Faqih, or religious fascism, and that appeasement was a dangerous illusion—many governments refused to accept it.
Today, however, the bitter and bloody lessons of experience have made many realities unmistakably clear.
Among them is the fact that theories of the regime’s spontaneous collapse, its overthrow through foreign military intervention, or the artificial manufacture of an alternative centered on the remnants of the Shah’s dictatorship—whether promoted through virtual campaigns or robotic networks—serve only the interests of the ruling clerics.
In contrast, one truth has emerged with unmistakable clarity: the only solution to Iran’s present crisis is regime change. And that change can only be achieved through the uprising of the Iranian people and their organized Resistance.

The Force for Change

The central issue is this: change in Iran requires a force capable of bringing about that change.
It requires a force that can fight under the harshest repression; a force that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the people’s uprising and remove the Revolutionary Guards from the path of the Iranian people.
Look at this book. It contains the names—and some of the photographs—of 20,000 men and women of the PMOI/MEK who gave their lives for freedom. They represent just 20,000 of the Resistance’s 100,000 martyrs.
The second book contains the names and photographs of more than 5,000 PMOI/MEK members who were hanged during the 1988 massacre, in which 30,000 political prisoners were executed.
Yet the story is not over. It continues to this day.
We keep rowing the boat of Resistance through a sea of suffering and blood, pressing forward despite every obstacle. As Massoud Rajavi says, “We are stronger than deaths, executions, and massacres. Whenever we are reaped, we rejuvenate with more sprouts. We rise up, we revolt, and we continue to uproot the foundations and structure of the enemy, the very principle of Velayat-e Faqih (or absolute rule of the supreme leader).

And, of course, the demonization campaigns against the Resistance continue.
In June 2003, at this very time of year, twelve governments were mobilized against us. Terrorist designations were imposed, and a 100,000-page judicial case was fabricated against the Resistance. It took fifteen years in the courts for every single allegation to be proven false.
In the end, we emerged from every one of those battles with our honor intact. But the regime paid no price. Instead, those policies prolonged the life of the ruling clerics by at least two decades.
Actions by figures such as Chalabi paved the way for the disarmament of the Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK) in Iraq and the seizure of its fourteen bases along Iran’s border. Yet we did not yield.
Instead, the Resistance Units ignited the engines of resistance across Iran.
They are made up of courageous and committed young men and women who dedicate everything they have to the freedom of their people and their homeland.
They constitute the most important organized force within the uprisings.

The Answer to Iran’s Equation

Now look at the generation that has joined the ranks of the Resistance Units.
Look at the young rebels who stand tall before the regime’s sham courts and proudly declare that they have risen to overthrow the dictatorship.
Look at Vahid Bani-Amerian and his heroic unit, who inspired Iranian society from behind prison walls and earned the admiration of the world.
They were executed in April of this year.
All they had to do to save their lives was utter a single word against the PMOI. Instead, they told their executioners:
“We do not bargain with you over our ideals, our beliefs, or our lives.”
This is why I say that with such an organized Resistance on the ground, and with an alternative that has been tested for forty-five years through the fiercest domestic, regional, and international trials, the equation of Iran has found its answer.
And this comes at a time when the ruling theocracy is weaker and more desperate than ever before.
Now, Khamenei, who had consolidated thirty-seven years of unchallenged rule, is gone. His son has proved incapable of filling the vacuum. Even nearly half the members of the Assembly of Experts—an institution shaped by his own father—refused to support him.
Politically, the regime has reached a dead end. It sees peace as the hangman’s noose, yet it can find no salvation in the fires of war.
You saw that he dismissed the recent Memorandum of Understanding in just a few hours, saying that he had “a different opinion in principle.“
The regime’s new supreme leader said he had allowed the signing of the MOU only because (Masoud) Pezeshkian and members of the Supreme National Security Council accepted its responsibility and made a commitment to “protect the rights of the people of Iran and the Resistance Front.”
What he meant by “the rights of the people of Iran“ are actually the red lines of religious fascism. Similarly, by ‘Resistance Front,’ he means persisting in the policy of exporting war to the region—policies and red lines that are absolutely essential to the regime’s survival.
At the same time, every economic, social, and political factor that gave rise to the January 2026 uprising has intensified. The explosive potential of Iranian society has grown even greater.
For all these reasons, this Resistance and this democratic alternative deserve international recognition and support.

A Movement That Has Inscribed the Regime’s Downfall on Its Forehead

Just imagine what would have happened had this Resistance not exposed the regime’s clandestine nuclear program.
I am referring to the disclosures that began in 1991, and especially the revelation of the Arak and Natanz nuclear facilities in 2002.
Over the years, through 133 separate disclosures concerning the regime’s nuclear and missile programs, the Iranian Resistance became the single most important force preventing the ruling clerics from acquiring the atomic bomb.
Even today, the regime itself acknowledges that the source of its greatest troubles has been the PMOI—from the very first days after the 1979 revolution, and especially since the turning point of June 20, 1981.
After all, among nearly two billion Muslims, while Khomeini claimed religious leadership over the Islamic world, the PMOI stood for a tolerant and democratic interpretation of Islam—one that upholds the equality of women and men.
Our understanding of Islam has never been defined by divisions between veiled and unveiled women, Muslims and Jews or Christians, Shiites and Sunnis, or Persians and Kurds or Baluchis.
But the greatest achievement of this forty-five-year Resistance is something even more enduring.
It is the creation of a living, dynamic movement that has made the struggle against religious tyranny the defining spirit of successive generations.
Yes, this is the movement that has inscribed the certainty of the regime’s downfall upon its very forehead.

The Provisional Government: A Symbol of the Resistance

The Provisional Government announced by the National Council of Resistance of Iran is the embodiment of this Resistance and of this solution.
It is the path toward a democratic republic that rejects both the dictatorship of the Shah and the tyranny of the Mullahs.
Its principal mission is to transfer power to the people of Iran. Within no more than six months, it must organize free and fair elections for a Constituent Assembly.
Once that Assembly is elected, sovereignty will be transferred to the representatives of the people. The Constituent Assembly will then be entrusted with drafting and adopting the constitution of the new republic.
I have said before that we are not seeking to seize power.
We are prepared to transfer power from the tyrannies of the Shah and the Mullahs to its rightful owners—the people of Iran.
After sixty-one years of struggle, this is the noblest summit and the highest aspiration before us.
We do not seek power for ourselves.
We seek to transfer sovereignty to the people of Iran.
This is my pledge—to all the martyrs, to every member of the Resistance and every fighter for freedom, to Massoud, and to the people of Iran.

The day I laid my head at the feet of Freedom,
I renounced my very life for Freedom’s sake.
That I might one day grasp the hem of her garment,
I run headlong in pursuit of Freedom.

The Remnants of the Shah’s Dictatorship: An Obstacle to Democratic Change

In the course of this determined and sacrifice-filled struggle to overthrow the regime and transfer power to the people, the remnants of the Shah’s dictatorship have acted as an obstructive and destructive force.
One newspaper affiliated with the ruling clerics wrote quite openly that the activities of the monarchists are an “opportunity” and a “blessing” for the Islamic Republic.
It explained why: because they sow division within the opposition and present the international community with a false alternative.
The paper stated:
“By creating divisions among the opposition, they have rendered a service to the Islamic Republic that no other group has been capable of providing.”
It went on to conclude that this current “can help ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic. This is the service the royal family renders to the people of Iran.”
Now, the supporters of SAVAK claim they achieved their goal with the banning of the Iranian Resistance’s rally in Paris. Indeed, this is the shared goal of SAVAK, the regime’s foreign minister, and the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The people of Iran, however, have risen to reject all forms of dictatorship and they will leave no room for the Shah and the Mullahs.
The Shah’s heir himself has made no secret of his intentions. He openly declares that change in Iran should be achieved with the assistance of the Revolutionary Guards and the regime’s security and intelligence apparatus—forces that, in his view, should continue to play a decisive role in the future.
He presents media-driven campaigns and virtual engineering as evidence of popular support. He has even described the Shah’s torture and execution of PMOI members and other freedom fighters as, in his own words, a source of “pride.”
But the reality is this:
In the arena of genuine struggle and repeated popular uprisings, there is no longer any place for power to pass back and forth between the Shah and the mullahs.

The Watchwords of the Resistance and the Provisional Government: Peace and Freedom

Allow me to conclude by summarizing the central points of my remarks.
First: From the standpoint of the Iranian people, neither the so-called election by the Assembly of Experts nor the installation of Khamenei’s son carries the slightest legitimacy or credibility. He is a partner in the crimes committed over the past three decades.
Second: History will not turn back. Iran will not return to the rule of the remnants of the Shah’s dictatorship. As the Iranian people say, that is like pounding water in a mortar—a completely futile exercise.
Third: The National Council of Resistance of Iran and the Provisional Government are fighting to transfer sovereignty to the people of Iran and to establish a democratic republic.
The watchwords of the Resistance and the Provisional Government are: Peace and Freedom.
The Iranian Resistance welcomes every genuine agreement that brings an end to war and relieves the suffering of the Iranian people.
The pursuit of nuclear weapons, the export of war, and interference throughout the region are integral to the religious dictatorship’s strategy for survival, and it will not abandon them willingly.
I have said this many times, and I repeat it today:
The overthrow of the ruling religious dictatorship, and the achievement of freedom and a democratic republic, are the responsibility of ourselves, our people, and the National Liberation Army of Iran.
Peace and freedom will prevail in Iran.