The leader of a Paris-based Iranian opposition group said Tuesday that following the announcement of a ceasefire in the Iran-Israel air war, the Iranian people should now take action to overthrow Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), made her statement a day after the last heir to the Iranian monarchy, Reza Pahlavi, urged Western governments to recognize that regime change is necessary to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region.
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Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Donald Trump
(Photo: Atta Kerare, Charly Triballeau / AFP)
Rajavi’s remarks came shortly before Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the military to strike Tehran in response to Iranian missile fire, which violated the ceasefire. "The proposal for a ceasefire and ending the war is a step forward for the third option: neither war nor appeasement," Rajavi said in a statement, following President Trump’s announcement that a ceasefire had taken effect in the aerial conflict that began on June 13. "Let the people of Iran themselves, in the battle of destiny, bring down Khamenei and the dictatorship," she added. She emphasized that the NCRI seeks a democratic, non-nuclear republic, with separation of religion and state, gender equality, and autonomy for Iran’s ethnic nationalities.
After the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday, President Trump raised the possibility that Iran’s hardline clerical regime might be toppled. However, his administration clarified that the objective of the strikes was limited to dismantling Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran did not immediately respond to Rajavi’s comments. Iranian authorities maintain that their nuclear program is peaceful and deny pursuing nuclear weapons
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The NCRI—also known by its Persian name, Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK)—is banned in Iran. It was listed as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union until 2012. Despite criticism of its internal operations and unclear level of domestic support, the group remains one of the few organized opposition movements with a network capable of mobilizing supporters. "In their century-long struggle, the people of Iran have, at great and bloody cost, repeatedly rejected the dictatorships of both the Shah and the clerics," Rajavi said.
On Monday, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the deposed Shah, called on Iran’s police, military, and security forces to abandon the regime. However, opposition to Iran’s clerical government remains fragmented, with no singular recognized leader and a variety of competing ethnic and political groups. Analysts note that any serious challenge to the Islamic Republic would likely require a large-scale popular uprising—something many say remains uncertain and highly debated.
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Foreign Minister Israel Katz has instructed IDF to be ready for retaliation
(Photo: Avi Moalem)
The NCRI largely remained in the background during the Iran-Israel air conflict, reportedly to avoid the appearance of publicly siding with Israel. Sources familiar with the group’s strategy said it refrained from overt messaging to maintain focus on internal change. The MEK initially participated in the 1979 Islamic Revolution but broke with the regime shortly afterward, later fighting against the Islamic Republic during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
In past waves of mass demonstrations against the regime, the NCRI has played a visible role online, working to document events through networks inside Iran. Iranian authorities frequently accuse the group of inciting unrest. Several of its activists have reportedly been executed over the past year. Notably, in 2002, the NCRI was the first to publicly disclose Iran’s covert uranium enrichment program.