Dozens of diverse Iranian opposition figures have held a preliminary meeting in London and will convene a larger gathering in March to discuss how Iran might best move towards democracy if the regime were toppled.
More than 30 participants from political, civic, professional and economic areas met in person and by video at a London hotel on Monday and Tuesday. They agreed to hold a fuller meeting on March 28 and 29 in London that they are calling the “Iran Freedom Congress”.
Media co-ordinator Mehrdad Marty Youssefiani told The National that not 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, an Iranian American. “This has never happened because of your traditional ideological challenges and differences.”
Shahriar Ahy, a prominent Iranian American who helped organise the meetings, said about 300 people were expected at the summit next month.
He said those in attendance this week worked with a sense of urgency and “wanted to send a signal that something is happening”, as the situation in Iran might be completely different by the end of March.
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.”
Political groups in exile
The meeting's representatives were from political parties in exile, including from ethnic minority groups such as Kurds, Balochs, Turks and Ahwazi Arabs, according to the London-based Balochi political activist Rahim Bandoui who attended the private event.
They expressed concerns about the prominence of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s deposed shah, who has expressed his desire to rule Iran after the Islamic regime falls, if he ultimately were to receive a mandate from Iranians.
“This is an unfair representation. They [monarchists] have the right to be active, but those who have been fighting this regime for decades are being ignored,” Mr Bandoui told The National.
Mr Youssefiani worked for nearly two decades for Mr Pahlavi and said at least three of the people at this week's initial meetings were constitutional monarchists.
Mr Ahy said he emphasised during this week's meeting that the Congress was not competing with Mr Pahlavi. “On the contrary, he and the Congress are far more likely to succeed together than apart – that's pluralism's way,” he said.
The meetings agreed on two principles: that a future government of Iran must recognise the rights of the country’s diverse ethnic groups and communities, and a “full manifesto of human rights”.
For Mr Bandoui and others, this means Iran would become a federal state to better represent its minorities. “We shouldn’t have a centralised government,” he said.
Mr Bandoui represents the Balochistan People’s Party in the UK and said he was likely to attend the March conference, as long as the two agreed principles were upheld.
The National has previously reported on how Iranian minority groups in exile have been working together to mobilise against the regime and prepare for a democratic transition.
The Broad Solidarity for Freedom and Equality in Iran has been the main vehicle uniting their voices, alongside other Iranian political parties that oppose the current regime and a return to the monarchy.
Comparisons have been drawn to the Iraqi opposition in exile who gathered in 2002 at the London Hilton Metropol to unify the different groups. Mr Bandoui rejected this comparison on the basis that the Iraqi opposition’s conference had US backing.
He insisted that the Iranian Freedom Congress would be Iranian-led and not seek backing from other countries. “We will depend on our own people’s support,” he said.
Abdulrahman Al Haidari, an Ahwazi activist, said that while the Iranian opposition would not “copy” the Iraqi model completely, there were lessons to be drawn from the 2002 conference. “They locked the door and discussed the issue among themselves until they came up with a solution they agreed on,” he said.
Failed meeting in Florida
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 receives some funding from the US government, had been leading those efforts in the US, 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.
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.”
