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The Free Iran rally held on September 6 in Brussels, marking the 60th anniversary of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), became a powerful platform for a unified call to end the failed policy of appeasement toward Tehran. Tens of thousands gathered to celebrate decades of sacrifice by the Iranian Resistance and to highlight a message that resonates beyond Iran: appeasement strengthens tyranny, while resistance paves the way for freedom.
For decades, the people of Iran have paid the price of Western governments’ concessions to dictatorship. At least 74 years of such policies—under both the shah and mullahs’ regimes—have consistently bolstered rulers while abandoning the Iranian people to repression and exploitation. Appeasement did not prevent executions, prisons, or torture. On the contrary, as former U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy warned in Brussels, “Appeasement never gets us security. Appeasement invites fascism to continue to prevail.”
A Legacy of Silence and Complicity
Over the past 46 years, during every major uprising—1980s resistance, the student protests of 1999, the nationwide protests in 2009, the nationwide uprisings of 2017, 2019, and 2022—Western governments largely remained silent. Their silence was often accompanied by smiles at diplomatic tables and lucrative economic contracts. This silence amounted to complicity, fueling the regime’s machinery of oppression rather than restraining it.
At the #BrusselsFreeIranRally, former US Vice President Mike Pence declared: The time has come for a free Iran. Sixty years ago, a movement was born in the hearts of the Iranian people. Today, the MEK is stronger, more inspired, and unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/yYJgtWkDXX
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 15, 2025
Former UK Parliament Speaker John Bercow rejected any notion that appeasement could be considered an alternative to real change: “The alternative is not to appease the regime. The alternative is not to go to war. The alternative is instead to choose freedom.” His words captured the frustration of millions of Iranians whose cries for liberty were met with indifference abroad.
Why Appeasement Failed
The policy of appeasement not only failed to restrain Tehran, it emboldened the regime to expand its regional aggression and nuclear deception. Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told the rally, “The fact that the mullahs’ regime is still in Iran, [that it] can still continue its crimes, is proof of the failure of the strategy of appeasement that the international community, the West, and especially Europe, has followed until now.”
He continued, “In fact, the strategy of appeasement—talking to the mullahs about everything, about nuclear weapons—is proof that it is making things worse in Iran.” That failure, he stressed, has not only harmed the Iranian people but destabilized the Middle East and fueled conflict in Ukraine through Tehran’s military support for Russia.
The Resistance as the Answer
Against this backdrop, the Brussels rally underscored that ending appeasement is not a mere adjustment in foreign policy but a vital act of justice, one that tears down the wall separating the Iranian people from their rightful freedom.
For decades, the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) have exposed the regime’s nuclear deception, terrorism abroad, and systematic human rights violations. Their revelations have forced governments worldwide to reconsider their approach. As Bercow reminded the crowd, appeasement is no path to liberty: “You don’t get freedom in Iran through external imposition, and you don’t get it by currying favor with the regime and hoping for tender mercies.”
The Iranian Resistance has shown that freedom will not come from negotiations with tyrants but from the will of the people and their organized movement.
Gutted not to have made it to today's mass #FreeIran2025 demonstration in #Brussels. A massive mobilisation of Iranians & friends from every nation united in commitment to a free & democratic Iran. @Maryam_Rajavi & @iran_policy offer the only coherent #10PointPlan for the future https://t.co/tfjIhh1Tu6 pic.twitter.com/aGL4e8NcKh
— William Powell🔶🏴 (@WmPowell2021) September 6, 2025
A New Path Forward
The message from Brussels was clear: appeasement must end, and a new strategy must begin. Verhofstadt concluded, “So, the conclusion of today has to be that instead of a strategy of appeasement, we need a new strategy from the international community and especially from Europe.”
That new strategy, rooted in accountability and support for Iran’s democratic alternative, would mean sanctions on the regime’s leadership, designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, and opening structural dialogue with the democratic opposition led by Maryam Rajavi and her Ten-Point Plan.
Ending appeasement is not merely a matter of foreign policy—it is a decisive step toward breaking the chains that have held the Iranian people hostage. Each time appeasement faltered, Iranians took one step closer to freedom. Today, that struggle continues as a historic necessity.