As Iran's future hangs in the balance, President-elect of the National Council for Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, submitted answers exclusively to Just the News, offering insight into the nature of the uprising, the mechanics and process of replacing the regime, and the timeline for such a replacement. 

How do these uprisings differ from those in 2019 and 2022?

According to Rajavi, this current uprising displays a dramatic increase in organization, focuses on dismantling centers of repression, and has expanded nationwide across Iran's largest cities and smallest towns, involving all 31 provinces and at least 207 cities.

Rajavi told Just the News, "Unlike the 2022 uprising, which was sparked by the regime’s killing of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini and initially revolved around the issue of compulsory hijab, and unlike the November 2019 uprising, which was triggered by the shock of gasoline price hikes, today’s uprising is not tied to a single incident or a specific, short-term demand. This movement is the product of a long accumulation of anger, political awareness, and collective will for regime change. It is therefore not a transient explosion, but a conscious movement with an explicitly overthrow-oriented character."

"In November 2019, the backbone of the uprising was formed mainly by the poor and marginalized, while students and parts of the middle class were far less present. In 2022, despite the breadth of the protests, the focus was more on a cultural and symbolic demand, and large sections of the working and productive classes did not actively participate. By contrast, the 2026 uprising is truly nationwide and social in character, encompassing workers and bazaar merchants, students and teachers, women and youth, ethnic groups and nationalities, across all 31 provinces and at least 207 cities. The participation of the bazaar on this scale is unprecedented since the anti-monarchical revolution."

Rajavi told Just the News: "In short, the current uprising is not a repetition of the past but a more advanced and mature phase of the same revolutionary process that began in 2017 and has now reached a point from which the regime cannot retreat," amid a more isolated and weakened regime facing economic collapse and eroded repressive capabilities.

What is required to overthrow this regime? 

"The developments of recent months have clearly demonstrated a fundamental truth: although the regime ruling Iran has been seriously weakened and has suffered heavy blows, it will not collapse automatically under the weight of its own failures. This dictatorship will not be overthrown by foreign pressure or by decisions made in world capitals. As I have repeatedly stressed, change in Iran can only be achieved by the Iranian people themselves, through an organized, nationwide resistance present on the ground—one capable of confronting one of the most brutal repression machines of our time."

The primary organized resistance is the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) and its Resistance Units, a movement with six decades of uninterrupted struggle against both the Shah's dictatorship and the current regime.

According to Rajavi, the atrocities against MEK are devastating. "More than 100,000 of its members and supporters have been executed or killed under torture, including 30,000 political prisoners hanged in the 1988 massacre solely for remaining loyal to the MEK. This price is the proof of the resistance’s historical legitimacy and the depth of its roots in Iranian society."

Rajavi also lost two sisters, the older, Narges, at the hands of the Shah's regime; the younger, Massoumeh, at the hands of the mullahs' regime while 8 months pregnant. 

"What has shaken the regime is not scattered protests, but the fusion of a popular uprising with an organized and self-sacrificing force capable of turning revolt into regime change."

If and when an overthrow happens, how long will it take to restore order, and how will the process unfold? 

"With a deeply rooted, organized, and nationwide resistance inside the country and a recognized democratic alternative, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the transfer of sovereignty from dictatorship to the people can take place in an orderly, peaceful, democratic, and law-based manner. What makes this transition possible is not merely the fall of the regime, but the existence of a ready political and executive framework for “the day after,” and that is precisely what the NCRI has prepared for years."

After the regime’s overthrow, a provisional government with a limited mission would organize free elections for a Constituent Assembly within six months, after which all power transfers to elected representatives to draft and ratify a new constitution via referendum.

The NCRI’s vision includes complete gender equality, separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iranian Kurdistan, judicial independence, and freedom of parties—principles outlined in the Ten-point Plan for a Free Iran presented more than two decades ago.

“We are not seeking power nor a share of power. We fight and we sacrifice so that the Iranian people can attain their freedom. We want to return sovereignty to its rightful owners: the people of Iran.” This stance is backed by thousands of experts, specialized working groups, and international support from over 4,000 parliamentarians and 125 former heads of state and government.

Given Iran's dynamic and freedom-loving culture of the 1970s, will Iranians naturally return to that after the regime falls, or have decades of repression made that difficult? 

"Iran possesses a rich, millennia-old culture that both monarchical and religious dictatorships have tried to deform and destroy. That is why the Iranian people reject both systems. The overthrow of this regime will therefore herald a cultural, social, and political renaissance—most notably a devastating blow to Islamic fundamentalism, for which this regime has been the global epicenter. Women will play a central role in this transformation and are its primary driving force."

"Iranian society over these 45 years has not merely been suppressed; through resistance it has deeply internalized political awareness, a sensitivity to freedom, and a rejection of every form of despotism. The young generation in the streets today has neither nostalgia for monarchy nor illusions about reforming this regime. They are connected to the world; they know human rights, gender equality, secularism, and human dignity—and they demand them."

According to Rajavi, future Iran will not revert to the 1970s but emerge as a more mature, conscious, and tyranny-resilient society. Healing social wounds, emigration, mistrust, and destruction will require time, wise policies, and national justice, powered by the strongest-ever freedom-seeking will of women and youth.

"Future Iran will not be a “return.” It will be a historic leap toward a democratic, secular, pluralist, non-nuclear republic living in peace with the world," with active, equal women's participation in leadership as both guarantee and driver of progress.

You emphasize the role of youth and women. How have they accelerated and empowered the movement, and what is your message to them? 

Iranian women, having endured over four decades of systematic humiliation, discrimination, and repression, are the front-line organizers, inspirers, and leaders of the uprising; their courage in breaking regime-imposed ideological symbols has shattered the wall of fear, with women's leadership in the MEK over three decades contributing decisively—today 52 percent of NCRI members are women.

Iran's youth, raised amid crisis, poverty, censorship, and state violence, bring unprecedented courage and creativity, networking and mobilizing to turn scattered protests into a continuous nationwide uprising; unattached to the despotic past or reform illusions, many are organized within Resistance Units.

Rajavi wants the people of Iran, particularly its women and youth, to know this: "The message to Iran’s women and youth is clear: they are not alone, and their voice is the heart of this uprising. The regime tries to intimidate them through violence, killings, and crimes against humanity, but the fact that millions stand in the streets shows that fear has changed sides. Their perseverance, solidarity, and organization, the distilled legacy of 120 years of struggle by the Iranian people against four dictatorships, will not only wear down repression but will open the path to a free, democratic, and equal Iran. The future belongs to them, and history will record these days in the name of their courage."

Read the full interview transcript here.

Amanda Head is the White House Correspondent at Just The News. Follow her on X.