At the Free Iran Convention 2025 in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Secretary of State Mr. Mike Pompeo delivered a sweeping address outlining why he believes Iran’s path to freedom will come from within. Speaking to Iranian activists, scholars, and community leaders gathered to assess the growing momentum for political change, he described the moment as one defined by weakening authoritarianism, expanding internal resistance, and an emerging democratic alternative. Mr. Mike Pompeo opened by praising the event’s keynote speaker, calling Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s remarks “inspiring,” and adding that he intended to pick up “precisely where she left us all.” The task ahead, he said, was “about forward.” He framed his remarks around two themes: Iran’s deteriorating situation under clerical rule and the capacity of its internal opposition to chart a different course. “This regime is weak,” he said. “It is more internationally isolated than ever.” He pointed to testimonies from Iranians inside the country about the “difficult” conditions they face and described a government that now relies almost entirely on fear. The “brutal suppression in 2022,” he noted, illustrated how deeply repression had become embedded in the state’s survival strategy.

Secretary Mike Pompeo: The NCRI didn't ask for American boots on the ground or external regime change; it didn't ask the West to do anything more than support the Iranian opposition.
Full quote from @mikepompeo's speech at the #FreeIranConvention2025:
"I have observed the NCRI in… https://t.co/9h4CubJJP3 pic.twitter.com/9wXXM2VEld

— Ehsan Eghbal Eslami (@Ehsaneghbale) November 16, 2025

Mr. Mike Pompeo described an economy plagued by “mismanagement” and “poisonous corruption,” led by officials who “would simply rather take wealth than build it.” He also discussed the regime’s regional setbacks, noting that Hezbollah had become “a shadow of what it once was” and that in Syria, Bashar al-Assad was “no longer in control.” In this context, he said, the people of Syria now face a decisive choice between a future built on equality or a return to a model that had “so poorly served them for so many years.” He also highlighted the diminished capacity of Iran’s nuclear program. While stopping short of calling it fully defeated, Mr. Mike Pompeo said it was “absolutely fair” to assert that its ability to regenerate and function under air defense protection was now “massively diminished.” Reflecting on his years of government service, he addressed the recurring question: When will the regime fall? “These questions are impossible to answer,” he cautioned, comparing the uncertainty to his time patrolling the East German border during the Cold War. “Nobody could answer the central question… When will it fall?” Yet authoritarian regimes, he noted, often collapse “with unbelievable speed.” Mr. Mike Pompeo stressed that internal resistance—not external intervention—determines the timing. Change happens through “dedication and hard work,” he said, and through the efforts of those who build the capabilities the Resistance needs “for the moment that that day comes.” He warned sharply against appeasement, calling it “failure.” “If you appease tyrants, they will grow in power,” he said. Shipments of cash from Western countries, he argued, enable repression, fund terrorism, and strengthen the Revolutionary Guards. He reiterated the importance of starving the regime of money, credibility, and moral authority. Mr. Mike Pompeo also urged European leaders not to accept claims that no alternative exists. “Everyone in this room knows precisely that there is an alternative,” he said, describing it as a “free and independent, sovereign Iran delivered to it by its own people.” He noted that the democratic alternative supported by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi and the NCRI had shown its capability over more than four decades. He contrasted the NCRI’s approach with calls for foreign intervention. “It didn’t ask for American boots on the ground,” he said. “It didn’t ask for an external change of regime.” Instead, it sought support for the opposition and increased pressure on the ruling system. Mr. Mike Pompeo closed by urging unity and perseverance. “Hang together. Stay together,” he told attendees, emphasizing the need to support those resisting inside Iran. He expressed confidence that the Iranian people’s “God-given right” to a free society would eventually take root and predicted that one day he would stand with them to welcome a leadership “duly selected, elected by the people of Iran.” He ended his speech with a call to action and hope: “May God bless Madam Rajavi and God bless the great people of Iran.”

At the Free Iran Convention 2025 in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Maryam Rajavi delivered the keynote address to an audience of Iranian activists, scholars, and community leaders gathered to examine Iran’s rapidly shifting political landscape. Her speech centered on a single overarching question: How can meaningful change be realized in Iran? Mrs. Maryam Rajavi opened by marking the sixth anniversary of the November 2019 uprising, calling it a turning point that “shook the very foundations of the religious dictatorship.” She saluted the protesters who were killed and described the moment as a reminder of the “grave and sensitive circumstances” Iran now faces.

FreeIran2025: Convention in Washington, D.C.

Throughout her remarks, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi returned repeatedly to one premise: the overthrow of the ruling system is “both necessary and timely.” She argued that the regime has reached “the final phase of its winter,” after years of prioritizing “repression, plunder, and warmongering.” According to her, these same tools have now trapped the state, leaving it weakened “from every angle.”

#FreeIran2025Convention in Washington, D.C.
Convening this assembly to examine the current grave and sensitive circumstances is both timely and indispensable.
The war that erupted a few months ago demonstrated unequivocally that the policy of appeasement has failed, and it has… pic.twitter.com/qTcdWKsZQo

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) November 16, 2025

She pointed to wide-ranging social pressures building across the country. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi described women and young people facing chronic unemployment and low wages, millions living in shantytowns forming “a powder keg poised to erupt,” and a labor force pushed to the limit by inflation, shortages, and collapsing infrastructure. The tragic self-immolation of Ahvaz resident Ahmad Baledi, she said, offered “a stark illustration of the explosive state of Iranian society.” Mrs. Maryam Rajavi cited thousands of annual protests by workers, teachers, nurses, and retirees as evidence of “a surging river, driving inexorably toward the overthrow of the clerical regime.” She referenced the “sea of blood” resulting from more than 100,000 executed members of the Resistance, framing this as the backdrop against which the current wave of unrest has taken shape. A core section of her speech focused on the regime’s inability to enact reforms. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi listed three points: the state cannot make political or social changes, the economic decline is “uncontrollable,” and despite the costs of regional interventions and the nuclear program, its leadership “is unable to change course.” She challenged the notion that the system could be moderated, noting that the MEK attempted reforms during the regime’s early years, only to face killings and later mass executions. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi warned that figures branded as “reformists” had roots in earlier waves of repression, saying these labels masked the continuation of the same hardline policies. Turning to foreign policy, she sharply criticized decades of Western engagement. The “policy of appeasement,” Mrs. Maryam Rajavi argued, enabled the regime’s expansion, facilitated its nuclear progress, and “blocked the path to democratic change.” She highlighted the blacklisting of the MEK, the bombing of its bases, and the disarming of the National Liberation Army as steps “carried out at the direct request of the clerical regime.” Mrs. Maryam Rajavi then restated what she called the “Third Option,” first presented in the European Parliament: “neither appeasement nor war,” but the overthrow of the regime “by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance.” She said recent regional conflict underscored that appeasement had failed and demonstrated that foreign military intervention would not bring change. Emphasizing the role of Iran’s younger generation, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi recalled how the 2019 uprising revealed “hundreds of thousands of bold, courageous young fighters.” She described the Resistance Units as an expanding force inside Iran and noted the executions of MEK supporters, including Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani in July, as proof of the regime’s fear of this network. She credited the PMOI’s decades of organization and sacrifice as “an invaluable asset in paving the way to liberty,” saying the future depended on “self-sacrificing individuals unafraid to give their lives.” Mrs. Maryam Rajavi closed by outlining the NCRI’s program for a future Iran: a democratic republic, free elections, separation of religion and state, gender equality, and autonomy for nationalities. She stressed, “We are not fighting to seize power. Our goal is to return sovereignty to the people of Iran.” After the regime’s fall, she said, a provisional government would oversee elections for a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution. Calling on governments to recognize the Iranian people’s struggle and the actions of “rebellious youth against the Revolutionary Guards,” Mrs. Maryam Rajavi ended with a clear message: “Victory be yours.”