The future of Iran with Maryam Rajavi

Struan Stevenson | Mar 29, 2026 The gathering storm over the Strait of Hormuz carries with it unmistakable historical resonance. When the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) begins to threaten tariffs, or more bluntly, coercive tolls, on oil tankers navigating one of the world’s most vital maritime arteries, it evokes troubling parallels with the 1956 Suez Crisis. Then, as now, a strategic chokepoint became the focal point of geopolitical brinkmanship, miscalculation, and the dangerous illusion of control. Yet history rarely repeats itself neatly. Today’s Iran is not Nasser’s Egypt. It is a regime battered from within and without, its leadership decapitated, its command structures degraded, and its ideological authority increasingly hollow. And still, like a wounded animal, it lashes out.   The IRGC’s threats over Hormuz are less a demonstration of strength than a signal of desperation . For decades, the regime has relied on asymmetric leverage, mines, fast attack craft and pr...

BBC World Service interview with Shahin Ghobadi, member of the National Council of Resistance presiding in that video is the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi. She was born in Tehran, now lives in exile. Her oldest sister Narges was killed by the Shah's secret police, the SAVAK, in 1975. Her other sister Masoumeh was arrested by the regime in 1982 and hanged. So what part do the NCRI play, if any, and how much support do they have? Shahin Gobadi is the leading spokesperson for the MEK. He is in Paris, where the G7 is meeting today. Shahin, it's very good to have you with us. Good to see you again. Thanks for having me, Christian. I don't want to explore the merits of the war. I want to understand the NCRI and the MEK and the role that it plays. How many supporters do you think you have globally? And are you being discussed in the corridors of power as a potential alternative? Well, as you know, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran has been fighting against the S...

The confrontation between the Iranian people and the regime in the past year has laid bare the has laid bare the outcome of the claimants’ stances and slogans. Those striving to restore the Shah’s dictatorship have shown that their vision for tomorrow is one of repression of society and oppressed nationalities alike. The Shah raised the banner of the “White Revolution” and the “Great Civilization.” Khomeini proclaimed an “Islamic Revolution,” and Rafsanjani spoke of a “Great Islamic Civilization.” Yet under both systems, execution squads and massacres were ever-present, proportionate to the resistance they faced. If Iranian society had been as stagnant and silent as to accept the son of Khamenei or the son of the Shah, there would have been no revolution, no uprising, no Resistance Units, and no Liberation Army. For years, the very word “revolution” was taboo, forbidden, and feared, until social upheaval forced even the Shah’s heir to abandon his father’s “White Revolution” and cling ...

Morteza (Mory) Gharib and Kazem Kazerounian The Middle East Forum’s January 2026 report, “After the Protests: Who Can Lead Iran?”, does not analyze Iran’s principal opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK); it attempts to erase it. That is not scholarship but political denial. No serious observer can wish away a movement that has been embedded in Iran’s political and social life for more than six decades; one that has survived two dictatorships and has paid for its resistance through mass executions and exile. Whether the MEF approves or not, the MEK remains an enduring fact of Iranian politics: discussed in the streets and in private homes, debated within the regime’s own seminaries and institutions, and raised even in Tehran’s political exchanges with foreign interlocutors. The sheer volume of regime propaganda devoted to it, dozens of feature films and long-running television series, hundreds of books, and thousands of articles, speaks less to the MEK’s marginality than to its percei...

Maryam Rajavi , president of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, blasted the move to install Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader, calling it an attempt to turn the country’s clerical system into a hereditary monarchy. “Tonight, the absolute clerical rule (Velayat-e Faqih) has effectively turned itself into a hereditary monarchy by placing Mojtaba Khamenei on the throne,” Rajavi wrote. “But it cannot save the shipwrecked vessel of religious fascism.” Rajavi argued that the leadership change will not restore legitimacy to Iran’s ruling system, comparing it to the monarchy overthrown in 1979 and accusing the regime of once again denying the Iranian people their sovereignty. “For more than three decades, Mojtaba Khamenei, alongside his father, has been among the principal architects of repression, the export of fundamentalism and terrorism, and the plundering of the Iranian people’s wealth,” she said. “In practice, he has long functioned as his father’s de fac...

Now, Khamenei’s remnants have proposed a temporary leadership council to appoint a new supreme leader. At the same time, they continue using threats and pressure to remove any possibility of a popular uprising by people who have reached the limits of their endurance. Under these conditions, the regime’s agents intimidate the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and issue threats of missile attacks on them at Ashraf-3 in Albania. However, it is impossible for them to escape being overthrown. Because the January uprising in Iran was not extinguished despite the regime’s bloody crackdown and will return with a far stronger force against this regime. In recent days, the Resistance Units have increased their activities and attacked centers used to suppress the people . These activities carry an important message: there is an active force on the ground in Iran. It is organized and capable of organizing. It is willing to make sacrifices, and in combination with the uprising, it can achie...

Only an alternative rooted in broad social support, political capacity, and a resilient organizational structure can withstand the regime. Crucially, it must be able and prepared to bear the costs of struggle while presenting a religious, intellectual, and cultural antithesis. The PMOI/MEK , as a member organization of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has been engaged in struggle against two dictatorships for more than six decades. This organized movement, which also organizes popular uprisings, and which believes in an authentic, tolerant, and democratic understanding of Islam, presents an intellectual and cultural antithesis to the doctrine of absolute clerical rule. The late Dr. Manouchehr Hezarkhani , an Iranian thinker and member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran , used to say: “The secret of the PMOI’s progress lies in their having swept the dust from the face of religion.” He also said: “The Mojahedin pulled Iranian society’s mindset out of the Middle Age...

Lord David Alton: All Iranians who believe in democracy must stand together, seek a just and peaceful resolution of the conflict - and together forge a nation led by Iranians committed to living peacefully alongside its neighbours in the region. The 10 point plan based on democracy, human rights and the rule of law remains the best blueprint for national unity and an end to horrific dictatorship and oppression. Former Canadian FM John Baird: Here is a brilliant road map for the future of the Iranian people! Written by a remarkable and brave leader Madam Rajavi ! Jim Shannon: This Ten Point Plan needs to be taken forward now that the window for opportunity is there. I stand firmly and resolutely with the people of Iran in their fight to free their country from the regime of Islamic fundamentalists.  https://www.maryam-rajavi.com/en/viewpoints/plan-for-future-of-iran/

  Mike Pompeo: Iran's democratic opposition is ready to step up and lead. Former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich: The National Council of Resistance of Iran , an anti-Iranian regime group, announced on Saturday a "provisional government to transfer sovereignty" to the Iranian people and establish a Democratic Republic after the United States and Israel launched strikes against the regime. Rudy Giuliani: What Reza Pahlavi is attempting to do—by declaring himself Iran's "transitional leader"—is dangerous and will only destabilize the situation further. Pahlavi has next to no support inside the country, as he is literally the son of the man who was overthrown by the Iranian people after years of brutality, theft and oppressive rule. The Iranian people will not resort back to a tyrannical monarchy after freeing themselves of a tyrannical Islamic regime. This would be a formula for disaster.