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Iran Opposition & Resistance

The Eternal Spring of Resistance: How Four Decades of Struggle Fuel Iran’s New Generation

Written by Shahriar Kia

Six-minute read

In a continuation of the wide-ranging interview on Voice of America’s Persian-language program Omgheh Meydan, aired on  April 11, 2026, host Fahimeh Khezrheidari asked Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chairman of the NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee, on the MEK’s structure, transparency, and appeal to Iran’s youth.

Interviewer: Mr. Mohaddessin, several points have been raised. You mentioned that you understand better than anyone the political importance of transparency. I’d like to delve into that. In the 1960s, 70s, and even the 80s, a certain level of secrecy in political and guerrilla activities was perhaps the “spirit of the times.” It was expected, and perhaps even preferred by society given the circumstances.

However, in the age of social media and the post-internet world—especially for the younger generation, digital citizens, and virtual users—transparency is what captures attention. To what extent is the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) considering this? Do you intend to become a more “open” organization? For years, many have viewed the MEK as a closed entity where information circulated only internally, and you primarily relied on your own media outlets. Do you recognize the necessity of becoming more transparent now?

Mohaddessin: I believe the issue can be framed differently. The reality is that our priority has always been our connection with the people and the masses. During what we call the “political phase”—the brief period following the fall of the Shah’s regime—we expanded rapidly because of our extensive ties with the public.

We went from an organization whose members were executed or imprisoned under the Shah to one capable of holding rallies of 500,000 people in Tehran. This connection is something we have always sought. What has limited us is not a lack of will, but the sheer pressure and repression directed at us.

Regarding our external relations, we have maintained a very transparent approach. Despite security concerns, the identities of MEK officials and members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) are public. Our programs are officially announced. Naturally, with the rise of social media, we have expanded these efforts. Aside from essential security protocols, we are open, transparent, and ready to answer any questions.

The real deterrent is the regime’s conspiracies and the “red lines” they impose on others, including the media. We maintain public offices in most European countries and North America. Our supporters operate openly. You mentioned the youth—the generation that grew up with platforms like X (formerly Twitter). This very generation is now turning to the MEK and the NCRI in large numbers.

Look at the recent executions you mentioned. Out of 13 political executions, six were active and experienced members of the MEK. If you look at the composition of those six, it is telling: three were around 60 years old, and three were in their early 30s. Interestingly, the commander of that unit, Vahid Bani-Amerian, was only 33. He led a group that included both veterans and youth. The other seven young people executed by the regime—if you read their indictments—were charged with the exact same activities carried out by the Resistance Units. They are following the same path…

If you consider that the core ideals of the MEK and the NCRI are freedom, democracy, and popular sovereignty, then those ideals never grow old. They never become “stagnant.”

In terms of the actual reality on the ground: the thousands of young people operating as Resistance Units or combat units within the “Liberation Army” inside Iran are predominantly young. While we have veterans from my generation who have remained steadfast—such as Mohammad Taqavi or Abolhassan Montazer, who were recently executed—the fire of resistance is being kept alive primarily by the youth. They are the ones joining and keeping this flame bright.

The “Fresh Blood”

Mr. Mohaddessin’s words cut through the regime’s tired propaganda with surgical precision. The Iranian Resistance is not an aging relic frozen in the 1960s or 1970s—it is eternally young, a living continuum where each new generation of brave Iranians steps forward to carry the torch, side by side with the pioneers whose decades of sacrifice have only deepened their resolve.

For 47 years—since the very first day the mullahs seized power in 1979—the MEK and NCRI have waged an unbroken struggle: organizing mass demonstrations, striking at regime symbols, exposing its nuclear weapons program, ballistic missiles, terrorism, and systematic human rights atrocities, while offering the only democratic alternative in the form of Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan.

Unlike fleeting, seasonal protest movements that flare up with social media trends and fade when the cameras leave, this Resistance was forged in blood long before Twitter or Instagram existed. Generations of politicians, analysts, and media figures have come and gone but the members of the Iranian Resistance have never wavered. They have maintained active, sustained global rallies, and built a clandestine network of Resistance Units inside Iran that today numbers in the thousands.

Look at the evidence on the ground today. In April 2026 alone, after the regime executed six steadfast PMOI members—including 33-year-old commander Vahid Bani-Amerian alongside veterans in their 60s—Resistance Units in Tehran, Isfahan, Zahedan, Tabriz, and beyond immediately responded with coordinated actions: projecting images of leaders, distributing messages of defiance, and chanting “The blood of executed Mojahedin shows the youth the path to overthrowing the regime.” Young Iranians, many in their 20s and early 30s, recorded video declarations pledging allegiance to the NCRI’s Provisional Government. These are not isolated incidents. Resistance Units—predominantly composed of Gen Z and millennial Iranians—have conducted hundreds of operations in recent months: graffiti campaigns, banner installations, attacks on regime centers, and commemorations that blend the courage of new recruits with the wisdom of veterans.

New Generations of Freedom Fighters

Deep in the shadows of Iran’s cities, the brave Resistance Units—organized clandestine cells of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)—embody the unyielding spirit of defiance that the clerical regime fears most. Though the mullahs and their state media often label them dismissively as “terrorists” to downplay their coordination and ideological depth, these are disciplined, ideologically committed fighters, predominantly from Gen Z and the millennial generation, who operate with precision and courage under the banner of the Iranian Resistance.

In the last 12 years, they have launched thousands of daring strikes: setting fire to IRGC Basij bases and signposts in hundreds of Iranian cities; torching massive billboards glorifying Qasem Soleimani in various locations; burning posters of Supreme Leader Khamenei and the “Executioner of 1988” Ebrahim Raisi in villages and town; and targeting centers of repression across numerous cities.

These actions—documented in videos smuggled out via secure channels and broadcast on PMOI’s platforms—go far beyond symbolic protest. They directly assault the regime’s instruments of terror. They challenge the regime’s vast security apparatus and eliminate fear in an outrages society. With faces often masked for survival and voices raised in chants saluting the National Liberation Army, these young freedom fighters risk everything—arrest, torture, execution—to shatter the regime’s facade of control, proving that the Iranian Resistance is not a distant memory but a living, expanding force that strikes at the heart of tyranny from within. Their operations, relentless and escalating, keep the flame of uprising alive, turning the streets into battlegrounds where the mullahs’ nightmare becomes daily reality.

The Alchemy of Time: Loyalty as a Measure of Truth

Age is not a measure of expiration; it is a testament of time-testing. No one is immune to the passage of years, yet how one endures them reveals everything. The pioneers and veterans who have braved prisons under both the Shah and the mullahs, who have lost comrades to the 1988 massacre and decades of assassination campaigns, embody an unbreakable loyalty.

Their gray hair and weathered faces do not signal stagnation—they proclaim that an ideal rooted in freedom, democracy, and human dignity cannot be broken by torture, exile, or execution. Their steadfastness inspires rather than intimidates the young. As one young Resistance Unit member declared in a recent video from the streets, the veterans’ blood “lights the path” for the new generation.

At the same time, the influx of “fresh blood” is undeniable and accelerating.

Diaspora youth—second-generation Iranians and young exiles in Europe, North America, and Australia—flood Free Iran rallies in Berlin, Brussels, Paris, and Washington. They speak at world summits, organize exhibitions, and amplify the voices of Resistance Units inside the country.

At the 2025 Free Iran Convention in Washington, a dedicated youth session showcased how this new generation has embraced the MEK’s historical narrative not as distant history but as their own living mission. They reject both theocracy and monarchy, demanding the democratic republic outlined in the NCRI’s platform. Inside Iran, university students and rebellious youth form the backbone of the Resistance Units, turning personal pain into organized defiance.

A Movement Without an Autumn

This is no monolithic image of uniformity—it is a vibrant, multi-generational force where the fire of the 1960s founders burns brighter in the hearts of today’s 18- and 23-year-olds facing the gallows. The regime’s execution spree in spring 2026, targeting both veteran commanders and defiant young protesters on identical charges, only proves the point: the mullahs are terrified precisely because the Resistance remains young at its core while eternally loyal in its soul.

The Iranian Resistance does not merely survive time—it defeats it. The veterans have paved the way with unimaginable sacrifice; the youth are now sprinting down that path with smartphones in one hand and the flame of freedom in the other. Together, they form an unbreakable chain that no dictatorship can sever. As Mohaddessin rightly stated, the ideals of freedom never grow old—and neither does the Iranian Resistance.

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