On September 22, 2026, retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, called on the international community to place its confidence in the Iranian people and their organized opposition, arguing that decades of military pressure, negotiations, and sanctions had failed to end Tehran’s repression or regional ambitions.
Addressing an NCRI supporters’ rally outside the United Nations in New York, Gen. Clark said lasting political change could only be achieved by Iranians themselves. He described the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as an organized force capable of contributing to a democratic transition and highlighted Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, including free elections, political freedoms, separation of religion and state, and an end to nuclear-weapons ambitions and regional intervention.
Gen. Clark sharply criticized the Iranian regime’s human rights record, regional policies and nuclear activities, while arguing that decades of inconsistent international policies had failed to alter its conduct. He urged governments concerned about instability following political change to instead place greater confidence in Iranian society and the organized Resistance.
Concluding his remarks, Gen. Clark said any transition must ultimately be driven by the “courage and determination of the people of Iran,” while calling on the international community to recognize and support that effort.
The full text of Gen. Clark’s speech follows. This transcript has been edited for publication and clarity.
🚨 General Wesley Clark (Ret.), former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, remarks at the rally by thousands of supporters of the NCRI and its President-elect Maryam Rajavi, outside UN on Sept 22, 2026.
Rally backed regime change in Iran by Iranians and the Resistance. pic.twitter.com/iTSpBjKZ3E— NCRI-U.S. Rep Office (@NCRIUS) September 24, 2026
Thank you. Thank you very much for the introduction.
I want to say what a privilege and an honor it is for me to be here, to look out and see the friends of a free Iran here.
I want to say to those inside Iran: Your time will come to be free also. We know that.
We are here in New York. We are here during the week when leaders from all over the world come together in diplomacy to try to settle differences and make a better future for mankind.
But one group is here, one set of leaders is here, who should not be here. And those are the IRGC-backed leaders of an Iran that is an enemy of human freedom, an enemy of democracy, and intent on causing chaos in the world.
They should not be here.
Forty-seven years ago, a new ruler took power in Iran. He was a religious leader who had been exiled from Najaf. He came from Paris, he brought his zealots, and he teamed up with some of the worst henchmen of SAVAK who stayed to work with the new regime.
Ayatollah Khomeini embodied an expansive vision of Islam. He aimed to dominate the Middle East and all of Islam, and he aimed to do it by forcing the subjugation of the people of Iran and turning the clock back on efforts to modernize.
Today, the world is in a crisis because of his legacy.
The people of Iran are his greatest victims: denied political rights to choose their own government; denied the human rights of freedom of speech and association; and even the right to dress as they so choose; manipulated and exploited by a cynical regime controlled by a military autocracy that is corrupting and stealing the wealth of the people of Iran.
Persia was one of the great civilizations of human history. But it has now been broken by self-serving autocrats in the guise of a religious theocracy.
What place is there in the 21st century for a government that announces as its sole purpose the destruction of other governments; that wants to kill millions of people; that has plotted year after year, decade after decade, to get the weapons to attack and kill other people; and at the same time subjugated its own citizens and denied them their deserved human rights and freedoms?
That government that is in power in Iran today should have no legitimacy to be here in New York as a member of the United Nations.
How can the other nations that have assembled here in New York accept among their ranks the government of Iran, which has created a network of terrorists; since the early 1980s has attacked and killed hundreds of people allied with other governments; has repeatedly, as a matter of policy, called for the death of other nations; resisted all efforts of its citizens for peaceful change; imprisoned thousands; been condemned repeatedly by the United Nations; killed 30,000 to 40,000 people this year in cold blood; and is executing people every single day simply because they have a different political view?
Why is that government here in New York?
Now, that government is trying to intimidate the international community by violating the Law of the Sea and claiming control over the Strait of Hormuz.
It is encouraging its allies to be able to block the Bab el-Mandeb. It has long-range ballistic missiles. It seems to be going after nuclear weapons.
What kind of government is that to be recognized in New York as legitimate?
But there is hope.
There is hope for change, and that change is driven by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
That is the hope for the world, not just for the Iranian people.
For decades, under Mrs. Rajavi’s leadership, the Mojahedin-e Khalq, the MEK, has resisted the tyranny of the ayatollahs: resisted by the power of ideas, resisted where possible and necessary.
It is this organization that is the greatest enemy of the ayatollahs, the most feared organization, and the real hope for mankind, for change in Iran and for peace.
The MEK — you are in every province in Iran.
Not just here in New York, not in Paris. You are in every province in Iran.
And you are in the hearts of so many millions of people in Iran. We know that.
You are organized. You are standing by. You are telling us in the outside world what is going on inside.
You are seeking change.
The Iranian people have endured decades upon decades of struggle.
Thousands of Iranians have lost their lives at the hands of the regime. And yet, in the face of death, they still stand strong for freedom and democracy.
It’s time we support them. @GeneralClark… pic.twitter.com/mngFepd6xt
— OIAC: Organization of Iranian American Communities (@OrgIAC) September 22, 2026
You are seeking a government that represents the people, their aspirations, that represents freedom, that represents the right to choose their leadership, to wear the clothes they seek, to have the associations and travel and opportunities that everybody else in the world expects as their right.
Today, the MEK is engaged in resistance: small acts of resistance, small efforts to gain arms, to gain traction, to show this regime in Iran, this IRGC-backed regime, must leave.
It must be gone.
Here is the hope.
Here is the hope and belief and the confidence of so many of us in the West.
We believe that under Mrs. Rajavi, the MEK for Iran will provide the basis for a democratic transition of power in Iran.
Mrs. Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan for freedom of speech, association, democratic elections, separation of church and state, an end to the policies of nuclear arms and regional domination — and she will break the power of the IRGC over the economy and state policy.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is what we are hoping for, for you in Iran.
But we cannot do it for you.
Only the people of Iran can give freedom and power in Iran.
We urge that the United Nations should assemble; it should announce this provisional government headed by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi.
I would like to say to all of you here in New York, and all watching throughout the world: Know that we in the United States believe you are the future of Iran.
You are the hope for a peaceful recovery from half a century of cruel exploitation and domination.
You are the hope for peace in the region.
For too long, the governments of the world have fretted and temporized about the ayatollahs’ regime.
Oh, there has been worry about it.
But there are those who say it should be attacked, and there are those who say, “No, let’s negotiate with it.”
And there are those who say, “Let’s sanction it.”
Then there are some who say, “Let’s give it something so it complies.”
The policy was a crazy mismatch of policies.
And for 47 years, nothing has really stopped the brutality or the imperialistic vision of the ayatollahs.
But now the world can see the correct path ahead if they listen to the people of Iran.
The people of Iran want a new government.
They want to enjoy the freedoms that so many in the West take for granted.
They want to live in peace and prosperity with their neighbors.
They want to pursue friendship in the region.
Like people everywhere, they like to have pride in their heritage, their families, their language, their friendships, their sects, and the country of Iran.
Some are Persians, some are Arabs, some Azerbaijanis and Kurds and Balochis and other tribes. Some are Shia Muslims, some Sunni, Baha’i, Zoroastrian, Christian, Yarsans, Jews.
But under the ayatollahs, all have been oppressed.
Iran has become an outcast from the march of civilization.
In the West, there has been slow and hesitant talk of regime change because some were afraid.
They do not know what would happen if the people of Iran are given a legitimate choice and have a real voice in their future.
They are afraid of disorder, confusion, a loss of economic opportunities.
But this is the time the global community must take the risk and believe in the people of Iran.
They must believe in the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
They must believe in the courage and the commitment, the dedication that have seen this organization survive through 47 years of action against it by the regime.
I believe change is possible in Iran, and I believe it is going to happen.
And I believe it will happen driven by the courage and determination of the people of Iran, and I believe it will happen led by the National Council of Resistance and the MEK.
Please, choose the right moment.
Choose the right moment, but act.
And the world will owe you a great debt of thanksgiving.
Thank you.