London – July 16, 2025 – At the UK Parliament, MPs, Peers, legal experts, and human rights advocates met to address the worsening crisis in Iran and the Middle East. Organised by the British Committee for Iran Freedom, the conference promoted the “Third Option: Regime Change by Iran’s People and Resistance,” rejecting both foreign military intervention and appeasement of the regime. Held shortly after a 12-day conflict that nearly sparked regional war, speakers from across the political spectrum backed the Iranian people’s democratic aspirations and endorsed Mrs Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan for a future republic.
Baroness O’Loan warned that Western policy is “trapped between two failed approaches, military intervention and diplomatic appeasement,” and urged support for “a principled third option, a regime change by the Iranian people and their organised resistance.” She read Mrs Maryam Rajavi’s message condemning recent political prisoner death sentences and calling for UK action to back the Iranian struggle and halt executions.
Lord Hamilton called for regime change to be the core of all policy toward Iran, condemning the regime’s persecution of women and its export of terrorism. “The top priority has got to be regime change… We have no interest whatsoever in them remaining in power, and we must get rid of them as soon as we possibly can,” he said.
Lord McCabe cautioned against feeding the regime’s claims of foreign hostility and urged support for Mrs Rajavi’s “third option.” He condemned over 700 executions and the IRGC’s call for a repeat of the 1988 massacre, criticising the West for “calling for regime change while threatening the opposition… That’s the ridiculous position we’ve placed the opposition in at the moment.” He endorsed the Ten-Point Plan for a free, secular, non-nuclear, democratic Iran.
Lord Whitty declared that “appeasement didn’t work… bombs from America and Israel do not work,” calling instead for support of the democratic alternative. He urged the UK to proscribe the IRGC, condemned the regime’s attempts to undermine UK democracy, and rejected any monarchist restoration, insisting, “We must back the NCRI and Madam Rajavi.”
Struan Stevenson dismissed Reza Pahlavi as the “clown prince,” saying his actions have “spectacularly backfired” and noting the popular slogan, “down with the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Mullahs.” He condemned Pahlavi’s outreach to the IRGC as an insult to victims and affirmed that Iranians see Mrs Maryam Rajavi as the voice of their democratic hopes. Jim
Shannon MP backed Mrs Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan and condemned the regime’s persecution of minorities, warning of echoes of the 1988 massacre. Naming political prisoners facing execution, he called the IRGC the “Supreme Leader’s private army of terror” and urged the government “to open a direct diplomatic channel with Madam Rajavi and the NCRI.”
Dowlat Norouzi, NCRI Representative in the UK, said appeasement has fuelled conflict and that the only solution is the “Third Option” of regime change by the Iranian people and their organised resistance. Calling the regime the “heart of evil” and warning it could produce ten nuclear bombs, she urged blacklisting the IRGC, restoring UN sanctions, and UK leadership in EU support for Iranian democracy. She also pressed for urgent action to save political prisoners from execution.
Baroness Verma praised the unity behind Mrs Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, declaring, “We reject war. We reject appeasement. We support the third option… regime change by the Iranian people and their organised resistance.” She condemned Reza Pahlavi’s outreach to the IRGC as an insult to victims and stressed women’s leadership, highlighting commitments to gender equality, ending executions, and a non-nuclear Iran.
Massoud Zabeti, a London-based lawyer, said the regime survives on “rape, torture, executions, murders, and arrests” while exporting “death, destruction, and chaos” across the region. Rejecting the idea of moderates within the regime, he credited the Iranian Resistance with exposing its crimes and nuclear ambitions. He argued that appeasement leads to war and called for “a strong and decisive policy… recognise the right of the Iranian people to resist… and allow the Iranian people to bring about the change that they desire without external interference.” The conference closed with a united call to end failed policies and back the NCRI’s democratic platform. Speakers agreed that supporting the Iranian people and their organised resistance is not only a moral imperative but the only viable strategy for a peaceful, secular, non-nuclear Iran and a more stable world.
