Washington, DC, March 8, 2025 – In a powerful display of unity and determination, thousands of Iranian Americans, supporters of the principal Iranian opposition movement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), gathered, waving flags as they marched from the Capitol to the White House, advocating for a free Iran. This significant rally, coinciding with International Women’s Day, heightened their appeal for the international community and the U.S. to adopt a comprehensive firm policy against the regime and recognition of the right of the Iranian people to overthrow the regime.
Their voices rallied behind the Ten-point Plan presented by NCRI’s President-elect Maryam Rajavi, which envisions a transition to a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear republic, signifying a unified commitment to transformative change and the empowerment of women.
Clad in the colors of their national heritage and infused with hope, participants also urged support for the Iranian populace’s efforts to dismantle the regime in Tehran and called for recognition of the Resistance Units’ right to challenge the Revolutionary Guards.
NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi was the keynote speaker, who addressed the rally online from France. Other speakers included Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA), former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Ambassador Sam Brownback, and several members of the Iranian American communities in the U.S.
In her remarks, Mrs. Rajavi said, “Now is the time to rise. Neither chance, nor coincidence, nor imaginary forces-none of these will cause change in Iran. This regime will neither collapse, nor will it implode from within. There is only one way. That one and only way is organized resistance and uprising. Everything depends on the will and struggle of the youth of Iran. Everything depends on whether we are willing to pay the full price for freedom. This is why we have come to the forefront. And we declare: Now is the time to rise.”
Referring the fake opposition groups that have emerged abruptly from obscurity, the NCRI President-elect added, “There is another group that, through commotion and clamor in support of the previous dictatorship seeks to aid the survival of the current regime. At some point in the past, a Russian Cossack Colonel and later an English General, and on a third occasion the coup plotters of August 19, 1953, each in turn crafted a king for Iran. Now, it is the turn of the IRGC to do the same. This means the neo-fascist monarchists are nothing more than pawns of the ruling religious fascism.”
Underscoring that the Iranian Resistance is driven by the courageous and selfless sons and daughters of her nation, bolstered by the steadfast support of the Iranian people, Mrs. Rajavi stressed, “We have never sought, nor will we ever seek, the intervention of foreign powers to fight on our behalf or bring us change. Our strength in this battle, both moral and material, is rooted in our independence,” adding, “this struggle stems from the Iranian people’s unquenchable thirst for freedom—a thirst for which over 100,000 martyrs have made the ultimate sacrifice in uprisings and resistance against this regime. We are confronting a criminal regime that has blocked every avenue for dissent, resorting to street massacres, blinding, the hanging of innocent youth, and mass arrests of thousands of people.”
Referencing the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which states, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,” Mrs. Rajavi declared, “Indeed, faced with a regime that relentlessly wages war against its own people, employing organized violence and its criminal Revolutionary Guards, what response could be more potent than an organized uprising and resistance led by the Resistance Units? Yes, this is the inalienable right of the Iranian people.”
Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA) opened his speech by saying, “we’re here to say that we stand with the Iranian people and we reject the parasitic regime that has ruled that country since 1979. Honoring International Women’s Day, he added, let us honor the innocent women of Iran killed by this evil regime and join the Iranian women here, and Maryam Rajavi in calling for a free democratic non-nuclear Republic of Iran.”
Congressman Sherman recalled the recent report by the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) about Iran’s enrichment of near weapons-grade uranium, sufficient to make up to six nuclear bombs. He added, “Now, first, we should remember that it was the MEK (The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, AKA PMOI) that first revealed to the world in 2002 that Iran was working on a nuclear weapon. This is the last resort of the Ayatollah’s regime. It cannot achieve popularity because of its policies, so it seeks to terrorize its own people and the people of the region. But it has failed. It lost its ally Hezbollah and its ally Assad. And soon, it will lose its death grip on the Iranian people.”
Emphasizing that the United States must support those working for democracy in Iran at this critical moment, he stated, “A democratic Iran will not develop nuclear weapons. That is why last week, my fellow Californian congressman Tom McClintock and I joined with 150 bipartisan members of Congress to introduce a resolution (H.Res 166) supporting democracy in Iran, condemning state-sponsored terrorism, and standing with the Iranian people in calling for democracy.”
Hon. Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, began his speech by emphasizing the need for sanctions on the clerical regime. He stated, “Once again, the sanctions have been placed on one of the most brutal regimes in world history. Once again, they’re beginning to suffer.”
Referencing the recent uprisings that brought the mullahs to the brink of downfall and the MEK’s role in mobilizing protests, Mayor Giuliani said, “You were really close to doing it in 2019, 2020, and 2022. We’re back there now, and the mullahs are even weaker. They were propped up by Hezbollah. Where are they now? They were propped up by Assad in Syria. Where are they now? You’re not going to need American or European troops. You only need yourselves, Madame Rajavi, and the NCRI.”
He added, “The Ayatollah (Ali Khamenei) said you are not a strong group, you are a fringe group, a cult. But he later said the one group I really fear, because they have the resources and organizational ability, is the MEK. If you were so weak, why are you the most targeted for execution and murder in Iran? Because they are afraid of you. They know what you did in 2017, 2018, and 2019. They know how you can trigger an entire nation. All you need from us is our support. You don’t need soldiers; you need support.
Ambassador Sam Brownback, Former Governor of Kansas, started by saying, “the winds of change are blowing in Tehran. It is time. It is pastime for this to happen. I applaud your heart and how you’ve stayed with this for a long time.”
Chanting with the crowd, “No more nukes. No more mullahs” He added, “We need European support for it, and they should support a change in regime in Iran. We’ve got to get rid of this regime in Iran, or it will be nuclear. It’s not now or never. It’s now or nuclear. It has to change.”
Ambassador Brownback underlined, “This will be maximum pressure campaign, which is being put on by the White House, but it also needs a political component.
It needs to support regime change in Iran. That’s what it needs to have with it. We’ve got maximum economic pressure. We need maximum security pressure. We need maximum political pressure on the Tehran regime. It’s a change. By the people of Iran. You will not have peace in the Middle East while the mullahs’ rule in Tehran. There won’t be. It won’t happen. They sow chaos, not accord. They are not peace makers. They are deal breakers; they have to go.”
