Ali SafaviIn a series of policy statements, the U.S. government has once again underlined its commitment to “maximum pressure” on the Iranian regime. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, detailing the latest escalation in sanctions, underscored the administration’s determination to push Iran’s already faltering economy to the brink.
By throttling oil exports and crippling the production of kamikaze drones, now a cornerstone of Tehran’s regional aggression, Washington aims to deprive the regime of both revenue and reach, tightening the noose on its destabilizing ambitions.
The administration’s rhetoric signals a shift in Iran policy, but while it implements tools to force Tehran into a verifiable nuclear agreement, its true value lies elsewhere. A decisive U.S. Policy should include a declaration of solidarity with the Iranian people.
To be effective, it must not aim for mere diplomatic concessions but for the fundamental weakening of the theocracy itself, paving the way for its ultimate demise at the hands of the people.
Anti-regime protests shook the Iranian regime’s foundations in January 2018, November 2019, and September 2022. The last of these, emerging from outrage over the killing of a young Kurdish woman by “morality police,” was widely recognized as the greatest challenge to the ruling system since it was established in the wake of the 1979 anti-monarchical revolution, explicitly calling for regime change.
Many of the slogans of the 2022 uprising, like “death to the dictator, whether Shah or Supreme Leader,” have traditionally been associated with the main opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its main constituent group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The MEK has been widely credited to be the first entity to expose Tehran’s clandestine nuclear program in 2002.
The NCRI has since argued that Tehran’s quest to obtain nuclear weapons has become an entrenched part of its strategy for reinforcing its grip on power. It has also argued that a regime change by the Iranian people is the only means of definitively and permanently preventing the mullahs’ breakout to nuclear weapons capability, as well as halting their support for terrorism and Islamic extremism in the surrounding region and throughout the world.
The U.S. is also conducting major strikes against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. International reports have long exposed Tehran’s hand in fueling the Houthi insurgency. United Nations Security Council experts have documented the Iranian regime’s direct supply of advanced weaponry to the Houthis.
Beyond arms, Tehran bankrolls the group and amplifies its propaganda, cementing Houthi control over Yemen’s war-torn territories. Despite repeated international condemnations, Iran remains undeterred, using Yemen as a staging ground for regional destabilization.
Thousands of supporters of the NCRI democratic coalition held a major rally in Washington, DC, on March 8 to call for regime change in Iran. Speakers, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Democratic member of the House of Representatives Brad Sherman, and Iranian-American activists, used the opportunity to highlight the ongoing progress of dissident activity throughout Iranian society more than two years after the latest uprising.
That activity has largely been channeled by a nationwide network of “Resistance Units” affiliated with the MEK and committed to implementing concrete plans for regime change and democratic transition authored by Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI President-elect, following the mullahs’ overthrow.
As the March 8 rally sought to illustrate, the ranks of the Resistance Units have swelled in recent years, and their activities have intensified to a degree that leaves close watchers of Iranian affairs filled with confidence that regime change is right around the corner.
From all indications, 2025 can be a decisive year for Iran. The international community can play a critical role by signaling readiness to defend the Iranian people in all diplomatic venues and work with the new leadership that emerges in the wake of the mullahs’ overthrow.
The emergence of a strategy that shuns appeasing the mullahs is a hopeful sign for the Iranian people. The ultimate task of regime change is the responsibility of the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
It should be a welcome sign to the administration that Maryam Rajavi has said time and again that the resistance neither seeks foreign boots on the ground, nor military or financial aid from the U.S. and other foreign powers. All they ask for is for the West’s policy of appeasing a tyrannical regime to end immediately.
Ali Safavi (@amsafavi) is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Thomas McArdle
Perhaps I don’t understand because I’ve never been under the thumb of a tyrant who will kill as readily as blink.
But Iran has been under this despotic government for nearly 50 years! Moreover, Trump 1.0 (from 2016-2020) sanctioned Iran until its government was nearly bankrupt.
I’ve known Iranians in the US-and they are good, strong people. But this resistance has been going on for years and years-why is it still in the non-revolutionary stage?
To me it seems when the West does sanction Iran and make it’s government weaker, the Iranian despotic government still prevails; as it does when it had to deal with the Biden Administration with its ‘bending over backwards” diplomacy.
As I said, I’ve never been under a tyrant-I’m just making a kind of rueful observation.
A timely and powerful piece — I fully agree with the writer. The Iranian people have shown extraordinary courage. It’s time for the U.S. and its allies to apply real pressure on the regime and recognise the Iranian people’s right — and that of their organised Resistance — to defend themselves against the regime’s brutal machinery of repression. Regime change is no longer a distant hope; it’s fast becoming a real possibility.
Iran is a sovereign country and its people can decide its fate without our help. We should mind our own business. Doing otherwise has never helped us.
You are quite correct. Now, apply that to US citizens who should, without regulatory oppression, media distortion or classroom brainwashing, be allowed to decide their own fate without any governmental interference. For example, I want to drive an internal combustion engine car and buy a shower head that delivers something better than ant spit.
You and I agree.