Addressing an international conference on July 16, 2026, at the Italian Parliament in Rome, former U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy urged world leaders to stand firmly with the Iranian people, framing the movement against Tehran’s regime as a universal human rights imperative rooted in principles like the Rome Treaty. Kennedy strongly condemned the ruling mullahs as the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism and a primary perpetrator of crimes against humanity, citing their squandering of trillions on nuclear ambitions, funding of regional terror proxies, and systematic execution of domestic dissidents.
Reflecting on decades of failed diplomacy—including various U.S. “grand bargains”—Kennedy argued that the regime has repeatedly rejected peaceful resolution, forfeiting all political legitimacy through state-sanctioned violence. However, he stressed that foreign military intervention is not the answer. Rather, the regime’s greatest fear is its own citizens, as demonstrated by persistent popular uprisings from 2017 through early 2026.
Consequently, Kennedy called for decisive international support for organized opposition movements, explicitly endorsing Maryam Rajavi, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and MEK Resistance Units active throughout the country. Drawing historical parallels to his father, Senator Edward Kennedy, who led anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa, and the youth who brought down the Berlin Wall, Kennedy asserted that democratic change in Iran is historically inevitable.
The full speech script of Patrick Kennedy follows:
Intervento di Patrick J. Kennedy, già membro del Congresso USA, al Convegno "Iran del Futuro. Diritti Umani, Sicurezza e stabilità per una transizione democratica" alla Camera dei Deputati.@FratellidItalia @fdieuropa @FDI_Parlamento @ecrgroup @PJK4brainhealth @fabiorampelli… pic.twitter.com/vRE9J01HJr
— Giulio Terzi (@GiulioTerzi) July 16, 2026
Thank you very much. Grazie.
We’re all wearing headphones to learn what others are saying in Italian, in English, in Farsi. But we’re all here speaking one language. That’s the language of human rights. Thank you to the Italian Parliament.
Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you for your leadership on the resolution to stand with the Iranian people. Because you’re not just standing with the Iranian people, you’re standing for human rights.
When I was in the Congress, I had the opportunity to work with Congressman Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, to stand with the Rome Treaty. The Rome Treaty that said we were going to stand up for human rights and stand up against crimes against humanity. And that was a declaration of universality. It didn’t matter whether you were in Rome, whether you were in Europe, whether you were in the United States. We as a world said we will not tolerate the kinds of crimes against humanity that we’ve seen throughout history.
Today, we are seeing crimes against humanity. And the number one perpetrator against crimes against humanity is the mullahs in Tehran, who are dedicated to funding trillions of dollars, two, three, four trillion dollars over the last several decades to come up with a nuclear weapon. They don’t need to be in this war. They could easily not have this war if they gave up their commitment to terrorize the world with a nuclear weapon.
And understand this, they are the number one sponsor of terrorism everywhere in the world is the mullahs and the Iranian regime today in power in Tehran. Whether it’s supporting Hezbollah, supporting Hamas, supporting the Houthis, they are everywhere. They’re sponsoring terrorist acts across the world.
🚨 "We Cannot Repeat the Mistakes of the Past"
In an exclusive interview with Simay Azadi on July 16, 2026, @PJK4brainhealth said:
"We cannot impose regime change from outside. We cannot repeat the mistakes of imposing a dictator, like the West did with the original Shah. We… pic.twitter.com/teyZ78wmwW
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) July 19, 2026
But most importantly, they’re terrorizing their own people. They are the number one country in the world for executing their own people. What kind of government claims legitimacy and tortures and kills their own people? They have lost every shred of credibility and legitimacy to be called leaders of this great country of Iran, because they are dedicated to killing their fellow Iranians who were doing nothing more but standing up for democracy and freedom.
So, we are here today to say we are going to learn from history, because you know the phrase, those who fail to learn of history are doomed to repeat it. We have given the mullahs every opportunity over the last several decades to have a peaceful solution.
Whether it’s President Obama’s grand bargain, President Biden’s grand bargain, every single time the world community said, let’s try to resolve this peacefully, the Iranian regime refused, and they are refusing again today. But let us understand the answer are not more bombs, because we know that the real fear that the mullahs have are of their own people.
We have seen popular uprisings, whether it’s December 2017, November 2019, September 2022, or most recently January of 2026, the people of Iran will take back their country.
But we as an international community need to be supporting the people. We need to be supporting the people. We need to be supporting Maryam Rajavi and NCRI and the legions of organized Resistance Units throughout Iran, the MEK’s resistance fighters who’ve been waging this fight for decades.
Now people say, how could you ever overthrow the terror and brutality of the mullahs? Did anyone ever think we would see the end of apartheid? No. My late father, Senator Edward Kennedy, led the charge in the United States Senate to impose economic sanctions on the government of the apartheid. And Nelson Mandela walked out of jail and walked into the presidency of South Africa.
Former US Congressman @PJK4brainhealth says neither negotiations, nor war with Iran will work.
Instead, he says the West must show solidarity with the Iranian people and their Resistance movement that are rising up to overthrow the mullahs' dictatorship. 💯
CC: @RapidResponse47 https://t.co/uTV85x1MPG pic.twitter.com/7UwFOTnj61
— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) July 16, 2026
No one, no one ever thought they would see that day. And of course, during the Cold War, people said there is no chance that we will see an end to the Iron Curtain and the rule of communism. And then it was the young people throughout Eastern Europe who stood up and tore down the Berlin Wall.
My friends, this will happen. It is a matter of history. The only question now is, are we going to be on the right side of history? And we have an opportunity today to recommit ourselves to that historic principle that we’re all human beings, and but for the grace of God, we’re not living in the prisons in Iran.
But I have an obligation to all of my fellow human beings who are being terrorized every night by the mullahs, who are worried about the IRGC and the secret police coming in and stealing my children and putting them in jail and torturing them. I am so glad I do not have to live underneath the mullahs’ regime. But I know I have an obligation as a human being to stand up for those who are having to live through that type of oppression and torture.
When my uncle, President Kennedy, spoke about this issue in Berlin, his most famous quote was, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” He said, “I am a Berliner.” What was he saying? He was saying, “I am one of you. We are all in this together.” And so to Maryam Rajavi, to all of those at NCRI, to all the resistance leaders in Iran, we are with you. Man-e Irani hastam. Man-e Irani hastam. Man-e Irani hastam. Man-e Irani hastam.
Thank you very much.