On May 31, 2025, at an international conference focused on forming a decisive policy toward Iran and recognizing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), former Scottish MEP Struan Stevenson delivered a blunt and impassioned address. He asserted that the regime in Tehran is at its most vulnerable since the 1979 revolution, weakened by sanctions, corruption, mismanagement, and external military pressure.
Stevenson highlighted the surge of domestic unrest and emphasized that the regime’s increasing use of executions reflects desperation in the face of a rising, organized Resistance. He praised the exponential growth of Resistance Units across Iran under the leadership of Maryam Rajavi and credited the PMOI/MEK with establishing itself as a credible “government-in-waiting,” enjoying international political support.
He strongly rejected Reza Pahlavi’s attempts to re-enter Iran’s political future, calling him a “phony” out of touch with the Iranian people. Stevenson affirmed that Iranians seek neither monarchy nor theocracy, but a democratic republic rooted in secularism and civil liberty — as defined in Mrs. Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan.
He concluded by calling on Western leaders, especially the United States, to recognize the NCRI as a legitimate force for democratic change.
Excerpts of Struan Stevenson’s speech follows.
Struan Stevenson speaking
Paris International Conference with Maryam Rajavi #FreeIran2025 @STRUANSTEVENSON pic.twitter.com/ZMpKnohqUG— Firouz Mahvi (@FirouzMahvi) May 31, 2025
The Mullahs are at their weakest point since the 1979 revolution.
There is no question. And with their economy in a state of collapse, after decades of sanctions, mismanagement, corruption, the Iranian people are restless.
They are ready to explode. Predictably, as we have heard, the mullahs’ response has been to ramp up executions to try and terrify the population into submission.
But the Mullahs know there has been an exponential rise in the number of resistance units spreading right across the country under the inspirational leadership of Mrs. Mariam Rajavi.
The PMOI/MEK has garnered a massive international reputation, as we see here today with diplomats, academics, parliamentarians, decision makers backing them.
They’re recognized as a government in waiting, ready to step in when the theocratic regime is overthrown. But ladies and gentlemen, let me add a cautionary tale.
.@StruanStevenson: The mullahs fear the exponential rise of #MEKResistanceUnits across Iran under @Maryam_Rajavi’s leadership. The #NCRIAlternative is seen globally—as today shows—as a government-in-waiting, ready to lead when the regime falls.
https://t.co/Vk5fftsVTU— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 31, 2025
Since the Shah fled the country during the 1979 revolution that overthrew his tyrannical regime. Reza Pahlavi, his 65-year-old son, has lived in affluence and luxury in America.
But each time the ruling autocracy of the mullahs appears to be under threat, he breaks the surface to trumpet his claim to the peacock throne, you know, it has echoes of the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.
He’s like the naked emperor trotting around the capitals of the world, saying, please allow me to be the king again. He even recently said, if the mullahs are overthrown and he is made king, he has no intention of returning to Iran.
He’s too frightened and he’s living in such luxury on the back of the billions of dollars, billions that his father looted from the Iranian people, which has never been accounted for. Reza Pahlavi is a phony.
The Iranian people don’t want him. You know, ludicrously, he has said that he’s in communication with the IRGC, the regime’s Gestapo. He says they will be needed to maintain order after the overthrow of the millers.
You couldn’t make it up. The PMOI/MEK reject the mullahs’ dictatorship, their religious dictatorship, and they seek to replace it with a democratic and independent republic based on the separation of church and state.
President Trump and Western leaders now have to move to consult with Mrs. Rajavi and the PMOI/MEK to achieve regime change and to relieve 95,000,000 Iranians from their oppression and suffering.
Thank you.