At the Free Iran Convention 2025 that was held on November 15, 2025, in Washington D.C, former U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy delivered an emotional and wide-ranging address celebrating the resilience of the Iranian Resistance and urging the United States to seize the historic opportunity for democratic change in Iran.
Kennedy praised Secretary Mike Pompeo, former Speaker John Bercow, and Ambassador Carla Sands for their clarity and leadership, emphasizing that the NCRI and MEK have demonstrated real political capacity through their diverse panels, talent pool, and organizational strength. Drawing from personal reflections and his family’s legacy of human rights leadership, he argued that the struggle in Iran is not solely an Iranian cause but a universal moral duty.
The former Congressman highlighted the courage of those in Ashraf 3, the perseverance of young Iranians confronting repression, and the role of women and experts across the Resistance in building a viable democratic alternative. Rejecting the notion of restoring monarchy, he insisted that Iran’s future must be based on democracy and the principles outlined in the NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan.
Kennedy recounted historical parallels—from President Kennedy’s stance on Berlin to Nelson Mandela’s rise from prison to presidency—to argue that seemingly impossible victories arrive suddenly. He concluded by urging unity, persistence, and global solidarity so that the Iranian people may finally achieve a free and prosperous republic.
The full text of Patrick Kennedy’s speech follows:
Thank you so much for that great warm welcome. It’s great to be with you. It’s especially great to see so many distinguished American leaders. Secretary Pompeo, what a tremendous job he did in putting an end to appeasement when he was Secretary of State. And to have Speaker Bercow, I am so glad I’m not up immediately following the Speaker. Wasn’t he terrific? A terrific job. And the ambassador once again proved the point that in a pluralist society, we can finally see women reflected in the great government and representation of the people of Iran.
And I just want to say to Professor Gharib, you have such humility, and it is truly inspirational to hear of your accomplishments and also know that you represent so many who were never able to realize the ambitions you had in Iran because of the mullahs.
And think about where Iran would be today if people like you had been able to pursue your dreams and ambitions. Imagine a different Iran we would have today. But the good news is, you and your compatriots have never forgotten the fight, and you are ready to return to Iran and help Iran reestablish its leadership in the world.
You know, I see Madam Rajavi, who I’m so grateful to know and to know of her particular inspiration and that of NCRI and MEK. As has been said already, a movement cannot function if it doesn’t have the process and the ability to manifest the changes it seeks.
And by having the young women’s panel, by having the young persons’ panel, by having the diaspora in technology and science, and by having the great diplomats, you are showing that there is a process here. There is a process whereby Iran can make the transition because it has the back room, as we say in politics. There are smart people in the back room.
I’ve always relied on those people to help me in my life, and I can tell you at every one of the events that I’ve ever been to at MEK, NCRI, I see brilliance, people capable, people who are motivated. And thanks to your sacrifice, you’re going to be the ones who write a new chapter in Iran’s history when Iran becomes free.
So, since I first spoke to you, I now have to use glasses. That’s how long I have been in this battle with you.
I want to make the points that have been made before. So you know there’s the saying, “Everything has been said but not everybody has said it.” But it’s important for the broader public to hear from American political leaders once again what this is all about.
And so that is why I want to repeat the points that have been made, that this is no ordinary conference. This is a moment of history, and congratulations to you for making this conference happen now when we need to focus the United States Administration and the United States Congress on what is happening in Iran today, so that they do not lose focus on the opportunity that is before us to seek change in Iran.
Your message is loud and clear, and I’ve had the privilege of seeing that message epitomized because I’ve been to Ashraf 3 and seen the model of what Iran can look like when people of industry and intellect and perseverance come together and build a community.
If people wonder, can anyone organize? Can anyone put it together? This is a big job to transition from a history of dictatorship and theocracy. That’s not a small job. But you look at what the people of Ashraf 3 have done, and they are an oasis. They have been fighting the fight in spite of the terror that they face both in Iran and in Iraq.
Let us not forget how they were repeatedly bombarded and killed and attacked. And you know what? They still played their music. They still recited poetry. They still celebrated one another. That is the kind of model that is in store for Iran when it finally takes back its freedom for its own people.
And you know what else is the model for the future? It’s the young people you’ve heard spoken of repeatedly at this conference. Because a movement cannot continue if it doesn’t have people ready to take up the banner, to take up the mantle.
And I can tell you a little bit about that in my family, because I had some really great role models. And so it’s not an accident of fate that I am standing before you here. Because it was my uncle as President of the United States who stood up in the Cold War to the Soviet Union when they were encroaching on East Germany and East Berlin.
And you all know that famous speech because when he delivered that speech, he wanted this to be seen not as an East Berlin fight. He wanted this seen as a fight for all humanity and all freedom. And that is why I’m with you today, because this is not an Iranian fight, even though it’s the people of Iran who are waging it.
This is a universal fight. And I would hope, if I were in Ireland, no offense, Speaker, and I had oppressors, and I was living in the kind of conditions that the people of Iran are living in today, that I would have more people than just my fellow Iranians speaking up for me because I would want everyone to know that it’s only by accident of birth that I am in Iran, because I am a child of God, and I could have been born anywhere in the world.
And there but for the grace of God, I am not seeing my five children today born into a country with the oppression of these mullahs. I thank God that as a father and a loving husband, I do not have to witness the degradation, the terror that your family members have to witness on a daily basis as they try to raise their children in a country that is being dominated and terrorized by the mullahs.
I am so grateful that I am not living in a country that will persecute and dehumanize my wife and my three daughters simply because they’re women. I say to myself, I have an obligation to stand up for them because there but for the grace of God goes every single person in this world who’s living under oppression. They need to know that they are not alone because they could be any one of the rest of us. And you obviously have had families that have shared today about the brutality of this regime.
And we are reminded all the time that it is the number one country in the world for the imposition of the death penalty on their own people. Number one leader in killing their own people. What kind of leadership takes pride in the fact that they are known around the world to be the leading country in killing not only their own people but killing the dreams and the hopes of their own people?
And you think to yourself, in the modern way, when people think about Iran, they think, oh, there’s a lot of oil there. But you listen to Professor Gharib, and you look at the symphony orchestras, and you say to yourself, the biggest natural resource of Iran are its people.
And the exciting thing, even in the midst of darkness and incredible oppression, when it would be easy for anyone to say, look at the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 martyrs. Look at the massacres ever since. Look at the number of people who are being arrested every day in Iran, who are being tortured and murdered and killed by their government. It would be easy if you were a young person to say, “Not for me.” I’ve seen what this regime can do to people, and I am too afraid. But all of us have seen the courage and the strength of the young people across Iran as they stood up against that type of oppression.
The courage means that all of you who have fought this battle for all of your lives can rest assured that no matter what, your struggle will carry on in the great determination and courage of all those young people who are standing up in the Iranian Resistance movement all across the country of Iran today.
Now, we have all been treated to a terrific sense of humor from Speaker Bercow about the Shah’s son. Because I don’t need to add to that. It was brilliant. And it just shows the comedy that anyone could take this person seriously when they miss the whole point. The whole point is to free the country. What about that don’t you get? It’s not about you. It’s about the people that you say you care about.
And if you did care about them, the last thing you would choose to do is resurrect an old dictatorship when the argument for the future is a democracy. And that is why we need to follow the democratic example manifest in the Ten-Point Plan of the NCRI and Madam Rajavi.
Now, as I mentioned in my family, I grew up thinking to myself, what is there left for me to do? I had these incredible people in my father’s generation. One of them, my aunt Eunice Shriver, started Special Olympics, which is now in over 190 countries around the world, uniting people and families who were previously shunned because their loved one had an intellectual and developmental disability. I grew up watching my uncle Bobby with Martin Luther King.
I grew up watching my father fight apartheid in South Africa, which no one ever thought. No one, to Secretary Pompeo’s point, no one ever thought they’d see the end of that. And you know what was so remarkable about that moment? Is that they had to go pick up the future president of the country from the jail. They had a motorcade, a presidential motorcade. And you know what they did? They drove it all out to the place where all the political prisoners were incarcerated.
And they had to pick up Nelson Mandela and take him out of jail, and guess where? They drove him directly into the president’s office and he took over.
So, I just hope you know, as it’s been said before, these moments are going to happen. And I know you’ve been awfully patient and you’ve been waiting for too long. But don’t give up because the moment is coming and it’s coming soon.
And all I have to say to you is I am so grateful, as the Speaker said, for the opportunity to be on this road with you. My children literally have grown up watching MEK rallies. And I can’t wait to take them to Iran and get the tour guides. Have Madam Rajavi even tell me who the best tour guide is for me to choose.
And then I will take my kids all around and hear all about the Persian people and the birth of civilization and the greatness of a culture and the greatness of a people. And I will be able to say, I was part of this fight to make sure that the ultimate dream that was embodied through millennia of a free and prosperous Iran ultimately was manifest.
And I will be able to say that I was part of these great number of people who did the right thing. And you know what? It’s not going to be one person who does this, it’s all of us together.
And in the words of my uncle, speaking about South Africa, he said, each of us, each one of us, he didn’t say all of us, each one of us can work to change just a small portion of events. And in the total of all those acts will be written the history of our generation.
Each time, he said, a person stands up or acts to improve the lot of others, like those brave Ashrafees, like those brave young Resistance Units, like Madam Rajavi, each time someone stands up, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope. And all those ripples coming together can create a current that can knock down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
So this is it. We don’t have to do it all on our own. We’ve got everybody in this room, everybody in that room, and people all over the world who are joining in, because together we can finally achieve this goal of a free Iran. Thank you so much.