Maryam Rajavi: Iran’s Rebellious Youth Win Global Admiration

Fellow compatriots, architects of the uprising and rebellious youth; students; merchants; educators; and retirees,
The relentless surge of your righteous anger, rising and gathering momentum by the hour, has now swept across most provinces of the country. It has reached the marketplaces of numerous cities and the nation’s largest universities.
A thousand salutes to you, the forces of the democratic revolution and the great Army of Freedom of the people of Iran, from Azna, Lordegan, and Kuhdasht to Fasa, Fooladshahr, Tehran, Hamedan, Mashhad, Dorud, Isfahan, Arak, Shiraz, and all other cities that have risen in defiance and resolutely chosen change and revolution.
The continuation of your protests has struck fear into a weakened enemy. Therefore, intensify that fear until the day of their overthrow, while sending thousands of salutations to the martyrs of the December 2025–January 2026 uprising, whose blood now courses through the veins of the rebellious youth, surging with unquenchable force. I have no doubt that you will transform the commemoration of these martyrs into yet another powerful uprising against the enemy.
Scenes of your courage, valor, and steadfast resistance captivate the conscience of the world, from that brave young woman who hurls tear gas back at the regime’s forces, to that heroic mother who, standing alone, raises the cry of “Death to Khamenei,” and to you, the rebellious youth, who outdo one another in courage and determination, forcing the Revolutionary Guards and Basij forces into retreat and flight.
Therefore, from here, I say to the clerics, the Revolutionary Guards, the Basij forces, and their intelligence agents: whatever measures you take, you will not be able to silence a people who have resolved to overthrow the clerical regime.
You may kill, you may wound, you may arrest and imprison but you will not escape the relentless wrath of this nation.
And let this stand as an explicit warning to all those who order and carry out these crimes and killings: the courts of a free Iran are awaiting you.

For two year, Khamenei dragged his regime into the quagmire of war to prevent the Iranian people from rising up, yet he failed. In the past calendar year alone, he ordered the execution of more than 2,200 people to terrorize society, yet again he failed. He sought to extinguish the flames of the uprising by shutting down Iran’s cities, but once more he suffered a decisive defeat: more cities joined the uprising, and far greater numbers of merchants turned to strikes and protest.
Salutations to the honorable merchants who have clearly understood that with every additional day this corrupt regime remains in power, the livelihoods of the people and the nation’s productive capacity are driven deeper into misery.

The Demand of the Iranian People: A Democratic Republic

Forty-seven years ago, at this very time, the Shah’s SAVAK, the Imperial Guard, and his heavily armed forces were unable to preserve his regime in the face of the people’s uprising. Today, too, the Revolutionary Guards and the sinister forces of Khamenei will not be able to keep his rule standing any longer.
Even if their Basij militias and intelligence agents resort to bullets and tear gas, and even if they chant slogans in support of the Pahlavi dictatorship, their efforts will fail. As Massoud (Rajavi), the Leader of the Resistance, rightly stated: “If we resist and are prepared to pay the price,” the enemy’s desperate and futile measures “will be rendered ineffective.”
Last year, Khamenei’s ally, Bashar al-Assad, fell. Now it is Khamenei’s turn. The people of Iran seek the overthrow of this regime and the establishment of a democratic republic; a democratic republic with a thriving economy, in which all enjoy equal opportunities and the fullest exercise of free choice, and in which these rights will be realized in practice.
Salutations to the people of the cities that are joining the uprising, and salutations to the rebellious youth who are organizing this nationwide movement.
The solidarity of all segments of society, the surging and tempestuous presence of the people in the streets, together with the resistance units sustaining an organized and continuous uprising, will ultimately bring down Khamenei and make the great transformation a reality.
Salutations to you all.

Fellow compatriots, architects of the #IranProtests and rebellious youth; students and merchant,
The relentless surge of your righteous anger is rising and gathering momentum by the hour.
A thousand salutes to you, the forces of the democratic revolution and the great Army of… pic.twitter.com/184Wkdqtjy

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 2, 2026