Maryam Rajavi claims that the change of diet is at hand in Iran

While the historical cease-fire of President Donald Trump takes effect, the uncertainty about the future of Iran and the push of the change of regime have the main Iranian opposition groups which vividly fight to persuade the Iranians that they are most capable of taking over from the mullahs.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Maryam Rajavi, elected president of the Iran National Resistance Council (NCRI), answered questions about the group’s positions and policies that she hopes that the Iranian people will rise up against the regime.

Rajavi directs the controversial group, which is affiliated with Mujahedin-E Khalq (Mek). Once listed as a terrorist organization in the United States, the group was withdrawn from the list in 2012 and was recognized for first exposing the nuclear weapons program of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Extracts from the Fox News Digital interview with Maryam Rajavi follow.

Is the regime change a possibility in Iran? Evaluate the next steps for us

Maryam Rajavi, head of the NCRI.

Fox News Digital: Do you think that the change of diet will occur in Iran?

Maryam Rajavi: Absolutely. The change of diet in Iran is not only a possibility but a historical imperative – inevitable and at hand. An explosive and unhappy company and organized resistance willing to pay the highest price for the freedom of their homeland exists today. Conversely, the supreme chief regime has lost all legitimacy due to deep structural corruption, ruthless repression and generalized economic incompetence.

The waves of popular uprisings – from 2009 to 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 – with powerful slogans like “Death to the Dictator, Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the Oppressor, be it Shah or the leader,” clearly reflects the unshakable Iranian resolution to end this regime.

People are agitating flags during an event in the Ashraf-3 camp, which is a base for the popular organization of Mojahedin in Iran (Mek) in Manza, Albania, July 13, 2019. (Reuters / Florion Goga)

What does your group offer to the Iranian people?

Maryam Rajavi: We offer the Iranian people a democratic and inclusive alternative: a Republic based on the separation of religion and the State, the complete gender equality, respect for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities and the abolition of the death penalty. The ten -point plan that I presented 19 years ago at the Council of Europe is rooted in the universal principles of human rights and provides a complete and practical roadmap for a free and just Iran. Unlike the regime, which governs by fear and repression, we believe in the power of people and their free choice.

The people who followed the call of the German-Iranian society in Berlin show before the Iranian embassy against the so-called “moral police” in their country of origin, in Berlin on Friday September 23, 2022. (Wolfgang Kumm / DPA via AP)

At the heart of our resistance, Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI / Mek), with its history of 60 years of confrontation of two dictatorships, presenting a tolerant and democratic Islam which embraces coexistence among the disciples of different religions. It represents a cultural alternative – indeed, antithesis – to the backward and reactionary culture of clerics. From the start, our slogan confronted with clerics was clear: “No to the compulsory veil, not with compulsory religion, and not with compulsory governance.”

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One of the most distinctive characteristics of this resistance against misogynistic religious tyranny is its constant commitment to gender equality. For more than three decades, women have exercised hegemony and occupied commanding roles within the Mek, the main constituent of the NCRI – a pioneering phenomenon which represents a deep and unprecedented transformation.

The supreme chief, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks in a television speech of the New Year, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 21, 2022. (Office of the Iranian supreme chief via AP)

Many say that your group is unpopular among ordinary Iranians – how do you react?

Maryam Rajavi: In absolute tyranny conditions, when has the popularity of our resistance already been truly tested by free elections or reliable polls? In these circumstances, the only measure is the legitimacy of the resistance itself.

Such accusations are part of a deliberate demonization campaign and deepened by the regime against its main opposition. Each year, the regime spends hundreds of millions of dollars producing films, television series, hundreds of books, thousands of articles, recruiting mercenaries posing like opposists, forging documents and leading cyber operations, as well as the hiring of foreign journalists and media – all to dissociate Iranian resistance and have questioned its credibility. Their objective is to persuade international counterparts that no legitimate alternative exists and that engaging with this regime is their only option.

The smoke rises from the construction of Iranian state television after an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 16, 2025. (Photo ap)

If our resistance really lacked popular support, why is the regime so afraid of its influence and impact in Iran? Why, in the past 46 years, has the permanent slogan of all official regime ceremonies – even in Parliament – “Death in Mek? Why were more than 100,000 supporters and members of Mek been executed? Why did the regime constantly target the gatherings and representatives of resistance abroad in its plots and terrorist operations?

Look at the international gatherings of the NCRI, sometimes attracting crowds of 100,000 people. They are representatives of the Iranian people, in particular the urban middle class. Look at the list of Martyrs Mek, including various social classes and the financial independence of the Mek, entirely funded by Iranian contributions to the country and abroad.

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We are fighting on behalf of tens of millions of Iranians for freedom and a better future, pursuing the ideals for which George Washington was fighting – crazy human rights: life, freedom and continuation of happiness, under a government drawing its power from the consent of the governed.

What is your message to President Trump?

Maryam Rajavi: Our message to the president and all the world leaders is clear: the change of regime is at hand, achievable by the Iranian people and their organized resistance. We have constantly stressed that we need neither money nor weapons. What we are looking for in the international community is a firm policy against the regime and recognition of the right of the Iranian people to self -determination – without any form of dictatorship, whether religious or monarchical – and recognize the resistance units fighting against CRGC to overthrow the regime. This approach benefits not only to the Iranian people, but also ensures sustainable peace and stability in the Middle East and in the world.

Twenty -one years ago, in the European Parliament, I warned that neither the war nor the appeasement would solve the crisis of Iran. I recommended the third realistic option: the regime change by people and their resistance organized. I then warned that appeasement would embrace the regime and ultimately impose war on the West. Today, this warning has become too bitterly, of reality.

Many opposition groups exist inside and outside Iran. Isn’t it time to put aside the differences and to unite – including the monarchists, the minorities and your group – for the greatest good?

Maryam Rajavi: In Iran, all those who have committed to reverse this united diet stand.

Politically, since its foundation in 1981, the NCRI has demonstrated, as the widest and longest political coalition in Iranian history, its desire to cooperate with all political and current groups engaged in democracy, human rights, secularism and a form of republican governance. This advice encompasses various organizations, representatives of various ethnic groups, notably the Kurds, the Baluchis, the Arabs, the Turkmens and the political figures with varied perspectives. In 2002, the NCRI proposed the National Solidarity Plan, urging all currents and political groups to unite around three principles: reversal of the regime, Democratic Republic and secularism.

An Iranian flag above the horizon of Tehran at sunset. (istock)

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The NCRI fully supports the rights of oppressed minorities both under (Mohammad Reza) Pahlavi and office dictatorships, and our autonomy plan in Iranian Kurdistan, adopted 42 years ago, serves as a model for other ethnic groups.

However, (the) monarchy has no place in Iran, and any alliance with the monarchists only benefits from the regime, who seeks to associate his opponents with the past dictatorship. The remains of the Shah have no influence or significant organizational presence inside or outside Iran.

People pass in front of a large banner featuring portraits of leaders killed by armed groups aligned by Iran, notably the chief of Hamas Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, and the Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, in the center of Tehran, Iran, on May 1, 2025. (Photo of Mohammadali Najib / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

If the regime falls, how should the next Iranian chef be selected?

Maryam Rajavi: Only through a democratic process – free and fair elections.

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According to the NCRI plan, the provisional government established after the fall of the regime is forced to organize elections for a constituent and legislative assembly within six months – real elections by the direct and secret ballot. Once convened, this assembly will assume governance, responsible for writing a new constitution and managing national affairs. The provisional government’s mandate will end during the creation of the Assembly, which will then appoint a new interim government reflecting the people’s vote.

The Iranian people do not look at the past or the current status quo quo quo – to a free and democratic future, where legitimacy derives only from ballot boxes.