Transcript: Q&A with President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran Maryam Rajavi

 1. How do these uprisings differ from what we saw in 2019 and 2022?

The most important difference between the current uprising and previous waves is the dramatic increase in organization, its focus on dismantling the centers of repression, and its expansion across both Iran’s largest cities and its smallest towns.

Unlike the 2022 uprising, which was sparked by the regime’s killing of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini and initially revolved around the issue of compulsory hijab, and unlike the November 2019 uprising, which was triggered by the shock of gasoline price hikes, today’s uprising is not tied to a single incident or a specific, short-term demand. This movement is the product of a long accumulation of anger, political awareness, and collective will for regime change. It is therefore not a transient explosion, but a conscious movement with an explicitly overthrow-oriented character.

In November 2019, the backbone of the uprising was formed mainly by the poor and marginalized, while students and parts of the middle class were far less present. In 2022, despite the breadth of the protests, the focus was more on a cultural and symbolic demand, and large sections of the working and productive classes did not actively participate. By contrast, the 2026 uprising is truly nationwide and social in character, encompassing workers and bazaar merchants, students and teachers, women and youth, ethnic groups and nationalities, across all 31 provinces and at least 207 cities. The participation of the bazaar on this scale is unprecedented since the anti-monarchical revolution.

Above all, in this uprising the Resistance Units and organized youth have played a far stronger guiding and connecting role. These networks have been able to link local protests into a powerful nationwide movement and, in many areas, seize the initiative from the regime’s repressive apparatus.

The slogans, conduct, and form of struggle show that the Iranian people’s will to completely end the rule of the Supreme Leader has reached an unprecedented level. Society has made its decision. At the same time, compared to 2019 and 2022, the regime is more fragile, more isolated, and less capable of controlling events—from economic collapse and infrastructural paralysis to international isolation and the erosion of its repressive forces.

In short, the current uprising is not a repetition of the past but a more advanced and mature phase of the same revolutionary process that began in 2017 and has now reached a point from which the regime cannot retreat.

2. What is required to overthrow this regime?

The developments of recent months have clearly demonstrated a fundamental truth: although the regime ruling Iran has been seriously weakened and has suffered heavy blows, it will not collapse automatically under the weight of its own failures. This dictatorship will not be overthrown by foreign pressure or by decisions made in world capitals. As I have repeatedly stressed, change in Iran can only be achieved by the Iranian people themselves, through an organized, nationwide resistance present on the ground—one capable of confronting one of the most brutal repression machines of our time.

And that resistance exists: the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) and its Resistance Units. This is not a symbolic or media-based opposition, but a movement forged through six decades of uninterrupted struggle against two dictatorships, Shah and Sheikh alike, in fire, blood, and sacrifice. More than 100,000 of its members and supporters have been executed or killed under torture, including 30,000 political prisoners hanged in the 1988 massacre solely for remaining loyal to the MEK. This price is the proof of the resistance’s historical legitimacy and the depth of its roots in Iranian society.

In the recent uprising as well, had the Resistance Units not entered the field to organize, guide, and defend the people, the regime could have crushed the movement far more quickly and at much lower cost. Many of those organized youth are now among the thousands of martyrs of this uprising. This reality shows that what has shaken the regime is not scattered protests, but the fusion of a popular uprising with an organized and self-sacrificing force capable of turning revolt into regime change. 

3. If and when this happens, how long will it take to restore order, and how will the process unfold?

With a deeply rooted, organized, and nationwide resistance inside the country and a recognized democratic alternative, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the transfer of sovereignty from dictatorship to the people can take place in an orderly, peaceful, democratic, and law-based manner. What makes this transition possible is not merely the fall of the regime, but the existence of a ready political and executive framework for “the day after,” and that is precisely what the NCRI has prepared for years.

The Council has adopted clear, public, and binding plans for the transitional period and the establishment of popular sovereignty. Under these plans, immediately after the regime’s overthrow a provisional government will be formed with a limited and defined mission: within a maximum of six months, it must hold free, fair, and universal elections for a Constituent Assembly. Once convened, all political power is transferred to the people’s elected representatives, who will both select the final transitional government and draft and submit to referendum the constitution of the new Republic of Iran. 

The fundamental principles of future Iran, including complete gender equality in all its facets, separation of religion and state, recognition of the rights of nationalities including autonomy for Iranian Kurdistan, independence of the judiciary, freedom of parties and ratifications. I presented this political and legal vision more than two decades ago at the Council of Europe in the form of the Ten-point Plan for a Free Iran—a plan that today is more realistic and applicable than ever.

This program is not merely theoretical. It rests on the resistance’s broad social base and a vast network of thousands of experts, academics, and professionals inside and outside Iran. Specialized working groups on the economy, law, energy, education, health, the environment, security, institutional reconstruction, and transitional justice are continuously preparing for implementation so that post-dictatorship Iran can enter a new era without a power vacuum or instability. As I have always said: “We are not seeking power nor a share of power. We fight and we sacrifice so that the Iranian people can attain their freedom. We want to return sovereignty to its rightful owners: the people of Iran.”

This vision is not only supported by Iranians. Internationally it enjoys extraordinary backing: more than 4,000 parliamentarians and 125 former heads of state and government worldwide support the NCRI’s democratic alternative. This level of domestic and international legitimacy ensures that Iran’s transition to a democratic republic will not be a leap into the dark, but a conscious step toward stability, freedom, and the rule of law.

4. Given Iran’s dynamic and freedom-loving culture of the 1970s, will Iranians naturally return to that space after the regime falls, or have decades of repression made that difficult?

Iran possesses a rich, millennia-old culture that both monarchical and religious dictatorships have tried to deform and destroy. That is why the Iranian people reject both systems. The overthrow of this regime will therefore herald a cultural, social, and political renaissance—most notably a devastating blow to Islamic fundamentalism, for which this regime has been the global epicenter. Women will play a central role in this transformation and are its primary driving force. 

Iranian society over these 45 years has not merely been suppressed; through resistance it has deeply internalized political awareness, a sensitivity to freedom, and a rejection of every form of despotism. The young generation in the streets today has neither nostalgia for monarchy nor illusions about reforming this regime. They are connected to the world; they know human rights, gender equality, secularism, and human dignity—and they demand them.

Post-regime Iran will therefore not be a return to the 1970s, but a more mature, more conscious, and more resilient society against the reproduction of tyranny. Healing deep social wounds, mass emigration, mistrust, and institutional destruction will take time and require wise policies and a period of national justice and reconstruction. But the engine of change, the freedom-seeking will of the people, especially women and youth, is stronger today than at any previous historical moment. Active and equal participation of women in political and economic leadership will be both the guarantee and the dynamo of progress.

Future Iran will not be a “return.” It will be a historic leap toward a democratic, secular, pluralist, non-nuclear republic living in peace with the world.

5. You emphasize the role of youth and women. How have they accelerated and empowered the movement, and what is your message to them?

The role of women and youth in this uprising is not merely to “be present” in the streets; they are its engine and backbone. Iranian women, who have endured more than four decades of systematic humiliation, discrimination, and repression, are now on the front lines—not only as protesters but as organizers, inspirers, and leaders. Their courage, especially in breaking the regime’s imposed ideological symbols, has shattered the wall of fear and given society the confidence to say “no.” The leadership role of women within the MEK over the past three decades has had a decisive impact on women’s presence in the struggle; today 52 percent of the NCRI’s members are women.

The youth, who have known nothing but crisis, poverty, censorship, and state violence, have entered the scene with unprecedented courage and creativity. Through networking, mobility, and willingness to pay the price, they have transformed scattered protests into a continuous nationwide uprising. They are not attached to a despotic past, nor do they tie their future to a regime that cannot be reformed. They believe change is both possible and necessary, and that belief has given the movement its speed and depth. Many of these young people are now organized within the Resistance Units.

The message to Iran’s women and youth is clear: they are not alone, and their voice is the heart of this uprising. The regime tries to intimidate them through violence, killings, and crimes against humanity, but the fact that millions stand in the streets shows that fear has changed sides. Their perseverance, solidarity, and organization, the distilled legacy of 120 years of struggle by the Iranian people against four dictatorships, will not only wear down repression but will open the path to a free, democratic, and equal Iran. The future belongs to them, and history will record these days in the name of their courage.