We want neither money nor weapons. All we ask is that we are able to resist, just as you did against fascism, only this time against its religious form, and for this resistance to be recognised. The crisis of overthrow has now engulfed the entire clerical dictatorship of Iran — a reality that is visible to all. It is especially evident to those who witnessed the fate of Bashar al-Assad and the turning point in Syria this past December. No one anticipated it, yet it was real, and it happened.
The war that broke out at dawn on Friday, June 13, 2025, marks the beginning of a critical new chapter — both in Iran’s internal crisis and in the broader dynamics of the region. Yet it is essential to emphasize that the central and ongoing conflict — unfolding over the past 44 years since June 20, 1981 — is the struggle of the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance against the ruling religious fascism.
The only viable solution remains the overthrow of this regime by the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance. Twenty-one years ago, I stood in this very parliament and declared that the solution for Iran lies neither in appeasement nor in war, but in a third option: regime change by the people of Iran and the organized resistance.
I warned that “the policy of appeasement encourages the clerical regime to persist in its policies and, ultimately, imposes war upon Western nations.” I said: “Let us not allow the Munich experience to be repeated — with clerics armed with nuclear bombs.”
And today, we see that appeasement has indeed led to the imposition of war. Once again, I emphasise lasting peace and security in this part of the world requires regime change in Iran, brought about by the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance.
Our people — fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, and the children of our homeland, as well as prisoners and the displaced and destitute — are going through difficult days.
Yet, the courageous and rebellious youth and people across the country are rising up. Surely, the just struggle of the Iranian people, through the uprising and the Resistance Units, will bear fruit. The day of freedom and the victory of the Iranian people’s democratic revolution is near.
From the outset, our Resistance underscored that the religious dictatorship is inherently incapable of reform, that it pursues exporting terrorism, fundamentalism; and nuclear weapons and that it will never abandon uranium enrichment.
We said that negotiation with, and appeasement of this regime would lead nowhere — that it would waste time and offer the regime more opportunities. These were all true and have been proven.
It was our Resistance movement that, for the first time in August 2002, exposed the clerical regime’s secret nuclear facilities.
At the time, the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the National Security Advisor, repeatedly acknowledged the fact that the world had been unaware of the regime’s bomb-making project, and it was the Iranian Resistance that alerted the international community.
Otherwise, the regime would have built its nuclear bombs in secrecy. We said that we neither wanted money nor weapons. All we asked — and still ask — is to resist, just as you Europeans did against fascism, only this time against its religious form, and for this resistance to be recognized. That is all. Yet this fundamental right has, to this day, been denied to our people and our Resistance.
Now, we are marking the PMOI/MEK’s 60th year of struggle and resistance against two dictatorships of the Shah and the mullahs.
In this struggle, we have never had a single day of pause or interruption. Likewise, the prisons, torture chambers, and execution squads of both the Shah’s regime and the clerical regime have operated without interruption — until the day they are finally overthrown.
For this reason, we say: neither the Shah nor the mullahs — the people of Iran will not accept any form of dictatorship and are demanding freedom.
We have repeatedly told Khamenei — and we say it once more: go ahead, negotiate, and make concessions. Follow in the footsteps of Khomeini and drink from the poisonous chalice of abandoning the nuclear bomb and warmongering.
But we know Khamenei will never accept this, because he knows that any concession would be the shortest path to overthrow.
He will not commit suicide out of fear of death. Yet he is willing to plunge the defenseless Iranian people into war, anxiety, and insecurity to preserve his fragile and failing regime. But the people of Iran will no longer leave any opportunity for this regime.
The Iranian problem, in its entirety, goes far beyond the regime’s nuclear program. At its core, the issue of Iran is the fundamental conflict between the Iranian people and their resistance on one side, and the religious dictatorship on the other.
Last year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur declared that the mass executions of political prisoners in the 1980s and in 1988 were acts of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Since Pezeshkian assumed office in August 2024, more than 1,350 prisoners have been executed. The conclusion is clear: the solution to this war and crisis lies in the overthrow of this regime and regime change by the Iranian people and their Resistance.
Nowhere in the world is there so much protest and resistance for regime change as there is in Iran. Over the past year alone, Resistance Units have carried out more than 3,000 operations against the regime’s repression. And yet, Western governments and media deliberately ignore what is unfolding on the ground.
This reflects the continuation of a failed policy spanning three decades. Sacrificing human rights and the Iranian Resistance, while deliberately demonising it, has done nothing to halt the regime’s aggression, its blackmail, or its practice of taking Western citizens hostage.
But neither the torture of prisoners nor the gallows can stop the Iranian people’s movement toward a democratic revolution.
The people of Iran want the overthrow of this regime. We have risen up to overthrow the regime and establish a democratic republic.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran has, for over four decades, adopted comprehensive plans and programs for a free Iran of tomorrow. I first presented a summary of this vision in a 10-point Plan in 2006 at the Council of Europe.
The key pillars of this plan include: the establishment of a republic based on the separation of religion and state; gender equality; autonomy for Iran’s nationalities; the abolition of the death penalty; an independent judiciary; and a non-nuclear Iran that consistently stands as a champion of peace in the Middle East.
According to the platform of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, no later than six months after the overthrow of this regime, a National Constituent and Legislative Assembly will be established through free elections — based on universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage of the Iranian people.
As soon as this Assembly is formed, the mandate of the National Council of Resistance and its transitional government will end. The Constituent Assembly will then be responsible for drafting the new constitution of the future republic.
To implement these plans, the Resistance movement relies on an organized structure: a network of thousands of Resistance Units across Iranian cities, financial independence and self-sufficiency, and a long line of qualified and expert supporters — those who will serve as the builders of a free Iran tomorrow.
Our goal is not to seize power at any cost. Our goal is to ensure freedom, democracy, and the Iranian people’s right to freely choose — at any cost.
The time has come for the European Parliament to call on the European Union and its member states to recognize the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the regime.