On March 4, 2026, at a gathering held in London to mark International Women’s Day, Baroness O’Loan, co-chair of the British Committee for a Free Iran and a member of the UK House of Lords, delivered a powerful speech highlighting the pivotal role of Iranian women in the struggle for freedom and democracy. Paying tribute to the courage and perseverance of Iranian women, she emphasized that their leadership is the result of nearly five decades of continuous struggle against repression and tyranny. The full text of her remarks is as follows:
Baroness O’Loan: Iran Is Moving Toward Democracy Through the Will of Its Women and People
Madam President, dear Maryam, colleagues, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, members of the Anglo-Iranian community especially.
It’s an honor to join you this evening and to stand with the women and girls of Iran, whose extraordinary courage has driven the protests against the regime since the very beginning but especially in more recently in 2019 and 2022.
Their leadership is not new, nor born of social media. It’s a result of nearly five decades of sustained struggle against the regime for democracy and freedom, despite imprisonment, torture, execution, and exile.
The PMOI, one of Iran’s oldest opposition groups and the main constituent of the NCRI, has institutionalized female leadership in Iran’s pro-democracy movement. An executive committee led entirely by women and the roughly 1,000 female PMOI members living in Ashraf 3 in Albania, many former political prisoners and eyewitnesses of the regime’s crimes against humanity, they all form the backbone of the organized resistance. Now, as events in Iran and the war we’re watching now evolve rapidly and unpredictably, one constant remains as we think about International Women’s Day.
Baroness O’Loan: To the Brave Women of Iran and Political Prisoners, Your Voices Will Not Be Silenced
It is that women are leading the resistance, the protest, the Resistance Units and direct actions against the regime. It has to be said, with so much help from the very brave men of Iran.
Days before the war, Resistance Units affiliated with the PMOI took the unprecedented step of confronting Khamenei’s stronghold with an offensive against his compound, risking their lives but shattering the regime’s climate of fear.
Today, we also honor the grieving mothers and families of those who were slain in the protests.
Even amidst profound sorrow, these mothers and families transformed the funerals of their loved ones into celebrations of their courage, with dance and songs, showcasing a nation’s determination to pay the heavy price to end the regime for freedom and democratic change.
It takes the most extraordinary courage to do that as you bury your loved child, husband, loved one.
These killings and terror have been carried out by the IRGC, following the Supreme Leader Khamenei’s orders. Khamenei is now dead.
The regime faces increasing pressure and the countdown on its brutal rule has begun. It will ultimately be unable to withstand the resolve of Iranian women and the people seeking a democratic future. That is the lesson of history and faith of every tyranny.
Dear Maryam, I commend you and the NCRI for offering a visible and tangible viable alternative by announcing a provisional government to transfer sovereignty to the Iranian people, grounded in your ten-point plan for Iran’s future, which has been supported, as Bob said, by some 4,000 politicians across the world.
The people of Iran have categorically rejected return to the former dictatorship of the Shah and the theocratic dictatorship of the mullahs.
At this decisive moment, you have filled a critical gap with a clear, inclusive roadmap that can unite millions of Iranians, especially women, in the struggle to liberate their country.
In the UK Parliament last Thursday, I spoke in a Lords debate on the Joint Committee on Human Rights report on transnational repression in the United Kingdom. This is action by foreign governments against people in the United Kingdom, against Iranians in the United Kingdom, action by the government of Iran against its people in the UK. I pressed ministers on proscribing the IRGC again and raised the matter of the threat to Iranian dissidents and activists living in the UK, and I called for the closure of the Iranian embassy in London.
The minister assured us that the government takes these threats from the regime seriously and will hold the regime accountable. The minister also said that the government plans to introduce legislation giving ministers proscription-like powers against organizations such as the IRGC. I asked the minister when it would happen and he said that it would happen when it happened, effectively.
But I suspect that in reality, it will pass fairly easily in both Houses of Parliament because there is such strong cross-party support for blacklisting the IRGC and because other countries and other organizations have done it. I will press our government to turn its stated support for the Iranian people’s human rights into formal diplomatic recognition of you, Madame Rajavi, and of your provisional government.
And I will ask again if we sever diplomatic ties with Tehran by closing the embassy in London and expelling the ambassador. Our government has already imposed sanctions on over 500 Iranian officials and institutions, including the entire IRGC. I welcome these measures; I urge rigorous implementation of them.
Dear Maryam, please convey this to the brave women of Iran, to the political prisoners, and to all who suffer under the brutal repression in Iran. We will not allow the regime to silence your voice or your just demands. You inspire us to stand on the right side of history in support of a free Iran, which is within reach because of your courage and sacrifice and that of all the women and men whom you lead. Thank you, Maryam. Nice to see you again. Thank you so much for your powerful remarks and for constant support for Iranian people especially women and their organized resistance and especially the recent formation of the provisional government for a democratic republic in Iran truly inspire us all. And I also much appreciate your effort in the House of Lords proscribing the IRGC.
