As Iran grapples with the fallout of massive nationwide uprisings and devastating foreign military strikes that have decapitated its top leadership, a coalition of international dignitaries gathered virtually to back a transitional democratic roadmap. The conference, titled “Iran at a Crossroads: Supporting the NCRI Provisional Government Based on Its Ten-Point Plan,” convened former heads of state, foreign ministers, and human rights advocates to address the rapidly materializing power vacuum in Tehran.
The summit took place against a backdrop of unprecedented volatility. In late December 2025 and January 2026, a nationwide uprising swept through hundreds of Iranian cities. The clerical regime’s response was characteristically brutal; according to figures cited at the conference, the crackdown left nearly 40,000 protesters dead and more than 300,000 wounded. Weeks later, on February 28, 2026, targeted military strikes by the United States and Israel heavily degraded the regime’s military infrastructure, resulting in the deaths of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and numerous senior officials. In a frantic bid for survival, the surviving establishment installed his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the new Velayat-e Faqih.
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A Blueprint for Transition
Addressing the conference, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), outlined the structure and mission of the newly announced Provisional Government. She characterized the installation of Mojtaba Khamenei as a descent into a “hereditary clerical monarchy” and proof that the regime is entirely devoid of solutions for its survival.
“At a time when Iran and the entire region are engulfed in a devastating war, in the name of peace and freedom, I call upon the world to recognize the only solution to Iran’s grave crisis,” Rajavi stated. “This solution is the overthrow of the regime by the Resistance through an organized uprising and the Army of Liberation.”
Rajavi detailed the Provisional Government’s mandate, which is anchored in the NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan. The plan guarantees universal suffrage, the separation of religion and state, gender equality, the abolition of the death penalty, and a non-nuclear Iran. Former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird emphasized the practical mechanics of this transition, noting that the provisional government would operate on a “strictly limited six-month mandate to transfer sovereignty to the people of Iran.”
The initiative has garnered widespread international backing. Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy, revealed that a joint statement endorsing the Provisional Government has been signed by more than 1,000 global parliamentarians, former heads of state, and ministers. Terzi described this as an “unprecedented endorsement” that reflects a growing global consensus around a legitimate framework for a peaceful transition.
The Role of Ground Forces
While the world’s attention has been captivated by the aerial bombardments, speakers emphasized that lasting political change cannot be achieved from the skies alone. The conference highlighted the heavy operational burden borne by the PMOI Resistance Units on the ground.
In the past year alone, these internal networks conducted roughly 3,000 anti-repression operations. Rajavi disclosed that during the January uprising, the Resistance Units played a decisive role in protecting protesters by targeting the regime’s repressive centers. The human cost has been severe, with more than 2,000 fighters reported missing since January.
A pivotal turning point was highlighted: on February 23, 2026, just days before the foreign military strikes, 250 fighters of the Liberation Army attacked Ali Khamenei’s heavily fortified residence. The brazen assault, which left 82 fighters killed or arrested, shattered the regime’s aura of invincibility.
General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, acknowledged the shifting military reality. Noting that foreign air forces are actively sweeping the skies and destroying the infrastructure of the IRGC and the Basij, Clark told the Resistance Units, “There’s no stopping the aircraft overhead. The defeat of the regime is inevitable.” However, he stressed that the ultimate outcome depends on the organized opposition: “Between now and then you must act, courageously but cautiously. You must continue to strike at the fragments of the regime while preserving your strength.”
Rejecting the “Hereditary” Alternatives
As the clerical regime falters, a significant portion of the conference was dedicated to neutralizing what speakers described as a foreign-backed campaign to resurrect the deposed Pahlavi monarchy through Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah.
Dignitaries were unified in their rejection of replacing one dictatorship with another. “Democracy is not hereditary. Being someone’s son does not give you the right to lead a country,” stated Esther Rodriguez, Vice President of the Assembly of Madrid. She warned that the Shah’s son’s refusal to distance himself from his father’s repressive regime makes him a problematic figure for a people looking toward a democratic future.
Nobel Peace Laureate Tawakkol Karman situated the current crisis within Iran’s broader history of foreign interference, recalling the 1953 coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstated the Shah. Karman warned Western nations against attempting to “replace the dictatorial regime with the Shah regime again,” viewing such maneuvers as attempts to control Iran’s strategic resources. “Western countries should support the Iranian people, not the war against the will of the Iranian people,” she argued.
Baroness O’Loan, a member of the UK House of Lords, exposed the deceptive political tactics utilized by monarchist factions. She revealed that supporters of Reza Pahlavi had gathered signatures from UK parliamentarians ostensibly in support of Iranian women, only to fraudulently use those signatures to lobby the UK government on behalf of the Shah’s son. “This was wrong,” O’Loan declared, citing it as an example of the faction’s lack of democratic integrity.
Calls for a Policy Shift
With the regime in its death throes, the conference participants urged Western governments to formally abandon the remnants of their appeasement policies. Guy Verhofstadt, former Prime Minister of Belgium, called on the European Union and the United States to open a “structural and structured dialogue with the democratic opposition,” arguing that social media condemnations are no longer sufficient.
Speakers also raised alarms about the enduring security threat posed by the regime’s overseas apparatus. Citing a recent intelligence report, Baroness O’Loan highlighted an acute rise in assassination and kidnapping attempts by Iranian state agents in the UK since 2022. She echoed Rajavi’s call for immediate diplomatic severing, demanding, “We must close the embassy and work with our allies to help you.”
As the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East undergoes a seismic shift, the consensus among the international leaders was clear: foreign military intervention and attempts to install hereditary rulers cannot substitute the will of the Iranian people. Real stability, they argued, relies on recognizing the NCRI’s Provisional Government and supporting the internal resistance forces who have bled for a secular, democratic republic.
