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.”
