Kiana Rezaeian calls on the international community to stand with the Iranian people
New York, Sept. 23, 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 Iran’s UN seat belongs to the people of Iran.
Kiana Rezaeian from Canada was one of the young women who joined the rally and addressed the participants on the second day of the rally. The full text of her speech appears below:
A Message to World Leaders
Hello, everyone. My name is Kiana and I join you today from Montreal, Canada.
Today, as Masoud Pezeshkian speaks inside the United Nations, I want to make one thing clear: he represents a blood-soaked dictatorship of IRGC and the mullahs.
To every world leader inside the United Nations today, let that sink in. Earlier this year, the world watched as thousands of protesters were killed in the streets of Iran. The evidence has been documented by the Iranian Resistance, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations. Therefore, to all world leaders, you cannot claim ignorance, you cannot turn a blind eye, and you cannot offer legitimacy to the representatives of a regime responsible for these crimes.
Living the Wounds of History
I may have not lived in Iran, but Iran’s history has shaped my life. For me, Iran’s history has traveled through memories, through family stories, and through the wounds that one generation passes on to the next.
My parents were born in Iran. My father left when he was only 17, and my mother when she was 19. They left Iran, but they could not leave its history of resistance behind.
My uncle was imprisoned under the Shah’s dictatorship. For two years, my family didn’t know where he was, whether he was safe, or whether they would ever see him again.
Later, under Khomeini’s rule, my aunt was also imprisoned for two years. These are not simply dates or events that I learned about in a history book. These are experiences that happened to people in my own family, but more importantly, they show how political repression can affect much more than the individual who is imprisoned. They taught me that repression doesn’t affect only the person who is arrested. It impacts parents, siblings, children, and an entire generation.
A Legacy of Resistance: No to Shah, No to Mullahs
I am a living example of the resistance legacy of those who came before us. Earlier generations resisted the Shah’s dictatorship. Our parents resisted the religious dictatorship of the mullahs. Today, we reject both. We say no to the mullahs and no to the Shah. Yes to a democratic republic.
The women of the MEK showed my generation that women and girls aren’t merely victims of oppression, they are leaders of change. That courage has been passed from mothers to daughters, from grandmothers to granddaughters, and from one generation of resistance to the next.
Today, political prisoners continue to resist from inside the regime’s prison. Women and young people continue to organize and confront the regime across Iran.
The True Voice of Iran
But how is it that despite repression, our nation has never given up? That is because, to the utter dismay of the ruling ayatollahs, there is an organization, a force, in Iran with over six decades of legacy. There is a historic leader for our people: first, Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, and now Massoud Rajavi, to whom several generations of Iranians owe their lives.
They are the true voice of Iran, not Pezeshkian and not the executioners he represents.
To the world leaders gathered inside the United Nations: I was born in Canada, but Iran’s struggle is part of my inheritance, and with that inheritance comes a responsibility: to remember, to speak, and to never remain silent.
I see that in the story of MEK in Ashraf 3, the MEK network in Iran, and the MEK’s resistance units.
I see that in the story of Vahid, Pouya, Babak, Arghavan, and thousands more who are paving the way for us to carry their struggle forward until Iran is free.
Long live freedom and democracy in Iran. Long live the MEK.
Thank you.
