Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), warns that decades of Western appeasement have fueled instability and emboldened Iran’s regime, pushing the region to the brink.
He calls on the international community to abandon failed policies and support the Iranian people’s organized resistance as the only viable path to lasting change.
The full text of his briefing is as follows:
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning,
The Middle East is facing an unprecedented crisis. The roots of this crisis lie in two key factors: first, the Iranian regime and its conduct; and second, the West’s policy of appeasement, which for more than four decades has enabled the regime, through negotiations and concessions, to reach this dangerous point.
We have repeatedly warned that this regime is incapable of reform. It will not abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its warmongering in the region, or its violations of agreements. Appeasement of this regime is like nurturing a snake in one’s sleeve—it inevitably leads to war. In particular, the European Union’s policy of appeasement has been the most significant external factor in sustaining the regime and preventing its overthrow.
On the eve of the European Union summit, we hope that this failed policy, and all its consequences, will be permanently abandoned, and that its damage will be rectified.
For over two decades, the Iranian Resistance has emphasized that neither appeasement will tame this regime, nor will foreign war bring about its downfall. Today, after 40 years of appeasement and devastating wars, these truths are widely acknowledged. The only solution to this crisis is regime change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
The key question is: how can such a regime, one that spares no crime to preserve itself, be overthrown?
Experience in recent years has proven that illusions such as regime collapse on its own, or change through social media networks and satellite television, are baseless.
Overthrow requires a powerful, indigenous force rooted within Iranian society. Such a force, at the heart of an organized uprising, can bring this regime to an end.
Today, there is no doubt that Iranian society is in an explosive state. This reality, which manifested itself in the January uprising, continues to intensify daily. Following the end of the current war, this explosion is likely to become even more severe, one of the reasons the regime seeks to prolong the conflict.
As for organized resistance, there exists within Iran a disciplined and combat-ready force: the MEK’s Resistance Units, active across all 31 provinces for nearly a decade, gradually evolving into a liberation army. In the past year alone, they have carried out 3,000 operations. During the January uprising, they played a decisive role in organizing, guiding, and expanding protests, confronting repressive forces, and protecting demonstrators.
More than 2,000 members of these Resistance Units went missing during the January uprising, and it remains unclear how many have been arrested or killed.
A major turning point was the bold operation on February 23, when 250 members of the National Liberation Army targeted the compound of Ali Khamenei and the regime’s most secure institutions in Tehran—the most heavily protected site in Iran. In this operation, 100 fighters were killed or arrested, while 150 successfully returned to their bases. The opposing forces also suffered significant casualties. The Resistance has submitted the names and details of 82 killed or detained individuals, aged between 18 and 69, to the United Nations.
This operation, coming just weeks after the January uprising and the mass killings that preceded it, sent a powerful message: that a capable and organized force exists within Iran that can confront the regime at the highest levels, even in Tehran.
Despite severe security conditions during wartime, the operations of Resistance Units continue and are expanding. On Monday, March 16, in response to the repression and torture of prisoners in Khuzestan, particularly those facing execution, a unit of the National Liberation Army attacked the governor’s office in Ahvaz.
These units conducted 31 operations on March 3, and 20 operations on March 15, targeting the IRGC, Basij, and other repressive institutions.
[Clips of these operations]
Broad segments of Iranian society—including the families of over 100,000 martyrs of freedom and hundreds of thousands of political prisoners over the past 45 years—form the social backbone of this movement. This network represents the largest non-governmental social force in Iran. Through its intelligence network, the Resistance has exposed the regime’s most secret nuclear, security, and terrorist activities to the world.
The Resistance is also active politically and socially on the international stage, organizing a large community of Iranian expatriates and professionals across many countries. All expenses of this movement—from daily operations to communications, publications, gatherings, and a 24-hour satellite television network broadcasting via five satellites—are funded entirely by its members and supporters inside and outside Iran.
The regime is deeply concerned about the resurgence of uprisings and their convergence with Resistance Units, backed by this vast domestic and international network.
Meanwhile, the religious dictatorship has recently transformed itself into a hereditary clerical monarchy by appointing Khamenei’s son as Supreme Leader. With Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment, the regime’s power base has narrowed further, relying primarily on the IRGC and intelligence apparatus, making it more fragile and vulnerable. This appointment has also faced significant internal opposition. Over 30% of the Assembly of Experts boycotted the vote, and only 44 members, less than half, supported him.
This development underscores a fundamental reality: the regime has no path other than continuing its destructive policies of the past 47 years. Already, Mojtaba Khamenei has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, expand the war, and rely on proxy terrorist groups.
For over three decades, he has been directly involved alongside his father in suppressing uprisings and plundering the nation’s wealth. He now controls assets exceeding one trillion dollars. Three major economic conglomerates—Setad, Astan Quds Razavi, and the Mostazafan Foundation—are under his control, while the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya conglomerate is also overseen by leadership he appoints. According to regime officials, these four entities control 60% of Iran’s national wealth and are exempt from taxation.
The regime is employing various measures to prevent another uprising while attempting to boost the morale of its increasingly fearful and fragmented forces, including:
• Heavy deployment of armed forces in public spaces with machine guns
• Shoot-to-kill orders against protesters
• Street maneuvers to instill fear
• Use of proxy forces
• Internet shutdowns
Officials openly threaten the population with deadly force if they take to the streets.
[Clips of regime officials]
At the same time, the regime seeks to exploit remnants of the former monarchy to sow division within Iranian society, particularly in the diaspora. The former monarchy was a one-party dictatorship enforced through torture, executions, and the SAVAK secret police. Today, the former Shah’s son not only refuses to condemn those crimes but openly defends them. His proposed platform amounts to restoring a monarchical dictatorship. He has even threatened ethnic minorities, who constitute a significant portion of Iran’s population, with military suppression.
The Iranian people have made their position clear with the slogan: “Down with the oppressor, whether Shah or Supreme Leader.” They reject any return to the past. We do not consider monarchist remnants as a viable alternative; in practice, they serve the regime by obstructing the path to its overthrow.
On February 28, based on Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, the NCRI announced the formation of a provisional government. Its mission is to transfer sovereignty to the Iranian people within six months after the regime’s overthrow. This initiative has already received support from over 1,000 parliamentarians and political figures in the United States and Europe.
As Mrs. Rajavi has emphasized, the slogan of this resistance and its provisional government is peace and freedom, a democratic republic that rejects both religious dictatorship and monarchical fascism.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Tomorrow, the European Union summit will take place here in Brussels. We are not asking for money, weapons, or foreign troops. We call for an end to appeasement, a policy that has been the regime’s greatest lifeline and the greatest obstacle to the Iranian people.
The time has come for the international community to recognize the provisional government, to acknowledge the Iranian people’s right to resist the IRGC and overthrow this regime, to close the regime’s embassies, and to expel its agents.
We also call on European and other governments to prosecute the regime’s leaders for crimes against humanity and genocide under universal jurisdiction.
Thank you.
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