Dozens of diverse Iranian opposition figures have held a preliminary meeting in London and will convene a larger gathering next month to discuss how Iran might best move to democracy if the regime were toppled, a key organiser said on Tuesday.
At the meeting at a London hotel on Monday and Tuesday, more than 30 participants from various political, civic, professional and economic areas meet in person and by video. They agreed to hold a fuller meeting on March 28-29 in London that they are calling the “Iran Freedom Congress".
Principal co-ordinator Mehrdad Marty Youssefiani told The National that never since the 1979 Revolution have so many Iranian groups representing so many interests come together in this way.
“Republicans sitting with monarchists, constitutional monarchists, leftists sitting with centrists and so on and so forth,” said Mr Youssefiani, who is an Iranian American. “This has never happened because of your traditional ideological challenges and differences.”
Another source said hundreds of people would be invited to the March summit.
Those at this week's meeting agreed the only viable path towards a democratic system would be through pluralism and the inclusion of Iranians from all ethnicities, Mr Youssefiani said.
Those attending wanted to “come together and respond to the Iranian people's quest, as well as the free world's quest and desire to see the collective, pluralistic Iranian opposition unite", he said. “This group felt that they want to respond to that desire, so we assembled for the past two days representation of every single ethnic group in Iran.”
The National this month reported that opposition figures and Iranian-American businessmen were planning to convene in Palm Beach, Florida as the White House seeks input on who could assist in any transition should supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei be toppled.
Mr Youssefiani said Freedom House, which is largely funded by the US government, had been leading those efforts but logistical challenges including visa issues for some would-be attendees resulted in the venue being switched to London. Freedom House declined to comment for this story.
Mr Youssefiani previously worked for nearly two decades for Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah, and said at least three of the people at this week's initial meeting were constitutional monarchists.
The talks come at a critical time in Iran. US President Donald Trump last month said “help is on its way” as Iranian authorities killed thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets to protest against the dire state of the economy.
Since then, the US military has amassed huge firepower in the region, including two aircraft carrier strike groups and other naval assets.
The Pentagon has also boosted regional missile defence and the State Department on Monday ordered the partial evacuation of the embassy in Beirut amid fears of a regional conflagration.
Iran and the US are expected to hold a third round of nuclear talks on Thursday in Geneva and Iranian officials have warned they would fire on US military bases in the region if Tehran is attacked.
The US seeks deep concessions from Tehran on its nuclear programme and other crucial issues, including the range of its ballistic missiles and treatment of its people. But Iran has appeared to drag its feet on promising what Mr Trump wants to hear, raising the risk of imminent US strikes.
In a new sign of how hard the Trump administration is working to undermine the Iranian government, the CIA on Tuesday posted messages on X and across other social media platforms calling for Iranian people and officials to provide information to the US.
The US spy agency provided detailed instructions on how would-be defectors from the Iranian regime could get in touch by using VPNs and connecting to the secretive Tor network.
The Iranian embassy at The Hague said the CIA’s move was “open interference”.
“Imagine the outrage if roles were reversed,” it said on X. “Double standards, exposed.”
