Something historic took place in the heart of Rome in late July. In the Italian Parliament, before an audience of prominent political figures and lawmakers, Iran’s democratic opposition laid out its case: the people of Iran are ready to reclaim their country – and they already have the framework to make it happen.
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), delivered that message on 30 July to the Chamber of Deputies, and again the following day at the Free Iran World Summit. Her message was clear and uncompromising: no war, no appeasement; regime change by the Iranian people and their organised Resistance.
At the Parliament, she warned of a recurrence of the 1988 massacre, highlighting more than 1,500 executions in the past year, and raising alarm over the fate of 14 political prisoners at immediate risk of execution. This followed the hanging of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), on 27 July for refusing to renounce their beliefs. Their fate is part of a grim pattern: the regime’s increasing reliance on the gallows to silence a society that refuses to submit.
Mrs Rajavi’s “Third Option” is neither foreign military intervention nor the decades-old Western habit of trying to “engage” Tehran. It is an appeal for a democratic, secular republic based on her Ten-Point Plan – abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, separation of religion and state, and a non-nuclear Iran. For Britain and Europe, the choice is obvious: continue rewarding a dictatorship that manufactures crises, or stand with the people risking everything for freedom.
The next day, the same message filled the hall at the Free Iran World Summit. Among the international voices of solidarity were Charles Michel, James Cleverly, Matteo Renzi, Giulio Terzi, Lucio Malan, Michèle Alliot-Marie, Ingrid Betancourt, and many other prominent dignitaries.
Former Prime Minister of Belgium and, until recently, President of the European Council, Charles Michel, addressed the NCRI directly: “Your courage, your energy, your resilience inspires all of us.” He praised the Ten-Point Plan as a credible future for Iran, stressing publicly that there is a genuine, organised alternative to the regime – and that the true danger lies in appeasing it.
From Britain, former home and foreign secretary James Cleverly offered a necessary reality check: “Leadership imposed from outside can never be a lasting solution.” Genuine change, he continued, must come from within Iran – from its youth, from women, from those who “ask for nothing more than what others take for granted: a voice, respect, and equal rights.” His message was as much to London as to Brussels: if we truly admire their bravery, we cannot keep propping up the machinery that jails and kills them.
The Iranian regime is losing legitimacy at home and responds to every challenge with greater repression. The courage of Ehsani, Hassani, and countless others echoes the victims of the 1988 massacre, who refused to abandon their ideals even at the cost of their lives.
The Rome meetings also dismantled one of the West’s most complacent excuses for inaction – the claim that there is “no alternative” to the clerics. The NCRI has been carrying out the painstaking work of preparing for transition for decades: drafting political platforms, training cadres, building networks inside and outside Iran, and articulating a democratic vision that includes an end to executions and the abolition of compulsory hijab. This is not a vacuum; this is a plan for a peaceful transfer of power.
Mrs Rajavi’s presence, stance, and welcome in the heart of Italy sent a message to every European capital: this is no fringe movement – it belongs in the mainstream policy debate.
It is time to face some long-overdue decisions:
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Declare the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organisation in its entirety.
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Withdraw political legitimacy from the regime by reducing diplomatic representation and shutting down influence-operation channels.
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Make any negotiations conditional on measurable human rights progress – not empty promises.
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Acknowledge the Iranian people’s right to resist tyranny under international law.
Some claim that engagement prevents war. In reality, appeasement has been the shortest path to war – funding and enabling Tehran’s repression and regional aggression. The “Third Option” offers the most lasting route to peace because it works in tandem with Iran’s people, not against them.
The choice for Europe – and for Britain – is no longer whether to “choose sides.” Every time we do business as usual with Tehran, we already have. The real question is whether we will finally align policy with principle – and with the only path to lasting stability: a free, democratic, secular Iran chosen by its own citizens.
As Charles Michel said in Rome: “There is a democratic alternative. Let’s choose Free Iran.” And as James Cleverly reminded us, we cannot build Iran’s future – but we can stop stifling it.
To echo this message, tens of thousands from the Iranian diaspora will gather on 6 September in Brussels to send a clear signal to the EU and the world: the time to stand by the Iranian people and their organised Resistance is now. We must stand in unity and solidarity with Maryam Rajavi for democracy in Iran – and for peace in the region and beyond.
