Iranian dissident leader outlines vision for regime change, says it's 'inevitable'
2025-06-25 15:08:58
As president Donald TrumpHistorical ceasefire, uncertainty about Iran’s future, and pushing for the regime to change the main Iranian opposition groups that are verbally fighting to persuade the Iranians that they are more able to take over than Mullah.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Maryam Rajafi, President of the National Resistance Council (NCRI), answered questions about the group’s positions and policies that hope to lead the Iranian people to rise against the regime.
Rajavi leads the controversial group, which belongs to Mujahdin-E Khalq (Mek). Once it was included as a terrorist organization in the United States, the group was removed from the list in 2012 and it is credited with exposing the nuclear weapons program in the Islamic Republic of Iran first.
Excerpts from Fox News Digital interview with Maryam Rajavi.
Is changing the system a possibility in Iran? Evaluate the steps following us
Maryam RajafiCertainly. Changing the regime in Iran is not just a possibility but a historical necessity – it is inevitable and within reach. An explosive community, discontent and organized resistance are ready to pay the highest price for their homeland that exists today. On the contrary, the Supreme Leader’s regime has lost all legitimacy due to deep structural corruption, harsh repression, and widespread economic efficiency.
It clearly reflects that the waves of popular uprisings – from 2009 to 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 – with strong slogans such as “death for a dictator and death to my cloud” and “death to injustice, whether Shah or the leader”, clearly reflects the fixed Iranian determination to end this system.
Maryam RajafiWe offer the Iranian people a democratic and comprehensive alternative: a republic based on the separation of religion and the state, the full gender equality, the respect of the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and the abolition of the death penalty. The ten -year plan that I submitted to the Council of Europe is rooted in the global principles of human rights and provides a comprehensive and practical road map for free and fair Iran. Unlike the system, which is governed by fear and oppression, we believe in the power of people and their free choice.
At the heart of our resistance, the Mujahideen-creator (PMO/Mek), with its 60-year-old dictatorship, stands with a tolerant and democratic Islam that embraces coexistence between the followers of different religions. It represents a cultural alternative – in fact, opposite – for the backward and reactionary culture of the clergy. From the beginning, our slogan facing the clergy was clear: “No to mandatory animals, not for mandatory religion, and not for mandatory rule.”
One of the most distinctive features of this resistance against the religious tyranny of women is its fixed commitment to gender equality. For more than three decades, women have practiced domination and made leadership roles within the Mek, the main component of NCRI – a phenomenon phenomenon that represents a deep and unprecedented shift.
Maryam Rajafi: In light of the circumstances of absolute tyranny, when is the popularity of our resistance really tested through free elections or trusted voting? Under these circumstances, the only measure is the legitimacy of the resistance itself.
Such accusations are part of a deliberate and comprehensive demonic campaign by the regime against its main opposition. Annually, the system spends hundreds of millions of films producing the dollar, TV series, hundreds of books, thousands of articles, recruitment of mercenaries who demonstrate as opponents, confirm documents, and carry out electronic operations, in addition to employing foreign journalists and the media – all to extract Iranian resistance and doubt this. Their goal is to persuade their international counterparts that there is no legitimate alternative and that engaging in this system is their only choice.
If our resistance really lacks popular support, then why does the regime fear its influence and impact on Iran? Why, over the past 46 years, has a permanent slogan in all the official system ceremonies – even in Parliament – “Death to Mek?” Why more than 100,000 makes Supporters and members have been implemented? Why did the regime constantly target the gatherings and representatives of the resistance abroad in its terrorist plots and operations?
Look at the international gatherings of NCRI, and sometimes attract crowds of 100,000 people. These are representatives of the Iranian people, especially from the urban middle class. Look at the MEK martyrs list, which includes various social classes, and MEK’s financial independence, fully funded by Iranian contributions at home and abroad.
We are fighting on behalf of tens of millions of Iranians for freedom and a better future, and following up the ideals for which George Washington fought – human rights in the quantity: life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, under a government that derives its authority from the consent of the convicts.
Maryam RajafiOur message to the president and all world leaders are clear: changing the system is at hand, it can be achieved by the Iranian people and their organized resistance. We have constantly emphasized that we do not need money or weapons. What we seek from the international community is a firm policy against the regime and recognition of the right of the Iranian people to self-determination-free of any form of dictatorship, whether religious or monarchy-in recognition of Resistance units struggle against IRGC To overthrow the system. This approach not only benefits the Iranian people, but also guarantees permanent peace and stability in the Middle East and the world.
Twenty -one years ago, in the European Parliament, she warned that any war or appeasement will be the Iranian crisis. It called for the third realistic option: the change of the system by people and their organized resistance. She then warned that satisfying would encourage the regime and impose a war on the West in the end. Today, this warning has become very bitter, a reality.
Maryam RajafiInside Iran, all those who committed to overthrow this system stand.
Politically, since its foundation in 1981, NCRI has shown that it was the broadest and longest political alliance in Iranian history, and its willingness to cooperate with all political groups and currents committed to democracy, human and secular rights and a Republican form of government. This council includes various organizations and representatives of different races, including Kurds, Baloch, Arabs, Turkmen and political figures with various views. In 2002, NCRI proposed the national solidarity plan, and urged all political currents and groups to unify three principles: the overthrow of the regime, the Democratic Republic, and the secular.
NCRI fully supports the rights of persecuted minorities under each of [Mohammad Reza] Pahlavi and Dictatorships, our plan for independence in Iranian Kurdistan, which was adopted 42 years ago, is a model for other ethnic groups.
but, [the]The monarchy has no place in Iran, and any alliance with the royal benefits only the regime, which seeks to link its opponents to the previous dictatorship. The remains of the Shah have no influence and no significant organizational presence inside or outside Iran.
Maryam Rajafi: Only through a democratic process – free elections.
According to the NCRI plan, the interim government that was established after the fall of the regime is obligated to organize the elections for component and legislative assembly within six months – elections empty through direct and secret polling. Once this is completed, this governance association, in charge of formulating a new constitution and the Department of National Affairs, will take over. The interim government will conclude the construction of the association, which will then appoint a new temporary government that reflects the people’s vote.
The Iranian people do not look at the past or in the current current situation, but forward – to a free and democratic future, as legitimacy is only derived from the polling box.
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