NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2026 – Thousands of freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the Iranian Resistance gathered outside United Nations headquarters for two days, to protest the reception of Masoud Pezeshkian, arguing that the Iranian regime’s president does not represent the people of Iran.
Paria Garmroudi, a member of the Youth Committee supporting the Resistance, delivered a speech at the large demonstration in New York on the Iranian people’s resistance and their struggle for freedom and democracy in Iran, as well as the continuation of the path pursued by previous generations. She also spoke of her uncle, who lost his life in this struggle. The full text of her speech appears below:
Everyone, my name is Paria, and I stand before you as a young Iranian Canadian, proud of my Iranian heritage and determined to see a future defined by freedom, equality, and democracy.
Today, as world leaders gather at the United Nations, the voices they need to hear are rising from this rally and from inside Iran.
Our generations carry forward the legacy of those who came before us. For me, that legacy is deeply personal, as my uncle was executed by this brutal regime when he was my age, just as his life was beginning.
Earlier generations resisted the Shah’s dictatorship. Our parents resisted the religious dictatorship of the mullahs. Today, we reject both forms of tyranny. I mean the baby Shah, Reza Pahlavi, and the new baby mullah, Mojtaba Khamenei. We will not exchange a turban for a crown, or one dictator’s son for another. Iran is not a family inheritance. Iran belongs to its people.
The regime arrests, tortures, and executes, but its repression has not eliminated the resistance. Across Iran, MEK Resistance Units continue to grow and organize under the most dangerous conditions. Through acts of defiance, they challenge the atmosphere of fear and show the Iranian people that they are not alone.
The regime’s challenge is the Iranian people and their organized resistance, led by courageous women of Iran, who stand at the forefront of the Free Iran movement.
In fact, Maryam Rajavi’s political alternative includes her 10-point plan for a free Iran, which includes free elections, separation of religion and state, gender equality, equal rights for every ethnic and religious community, an independent judiciary, abolition of the death penalty, and a non-nuclear Iran at peace with the world.
We Stand with the Courageous Women and Men of Iran
To the courageous women and men inside Iran, we are here for you. To the youth and the students in Iran, I say: you have a movement that has fought for you.
The leading Iranian opposition movement was formed over 61 years ago and was founded by three young intellectuals with college educations from the most prestigious universities. They were executed, but more students joined.
The first wave of supporters who joined the movement in the early days after the 1979 revolution were primarily high school and college students. And decades later, the first wave of executions of political prisoners in March included young MEK members, including my uncle.
In fact, the MEK’s views, ideology, policies, and culture have always appealed to the younger generation because they are based on realities and have remained dynamic.
And to the leaders at the United Nations, hear the voices of the Iranian people. Hold those responsible for repression accountable, defend political prisoners, and recognize the Iranian people’s right to determine their own future.
We, the Iranian people, hope to see the end of the mullahs’ dictatorship and a free, secular, democratic republic in Iran.
