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Iran National Council | |
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| Chairperson | Reza Pirzadeh |
| Spokesperson | Reza Pahlavi[1] |
| Founder | Reza Pahlavi[2] |
| Founded | April 2013; 12 years ago (2013-04) |
| Headquarters | Paris,France[3] |
| Ideology | Constitutional Monarchism[4] Secularism[3] Iranian nationalism |
| Political position | Big tent |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| irannc | |
TheIran National Council (NCI;Persian:شورای ملی ایران,romanized: Šurā-ye melli-e Irān), officially theIran National Council for Free Elections,[5] is an umbrella group of theIranian opposition[2] withReza Pahlavi as the spokesman.[1]
The "self-styled"[1] National Council claims to have gathered the support of "tens of thousands of pro-democracy proponents from both inside and outside Iran."[6] It also claims to representreligious andethnic minorities, as well asmonarchists andrepublicans.[7] According to Kenneth Katzman, in 2017 the group which was established with over 30 groups has "suffered defections and its activity level appears minimal".[8]
According toThe New York Observer, the council serves asReza Pahlavi'sgovernment in exile in order to reclaim theformer throne after overthrowing the current government.[4] It has also been described as an organization that profiles him as "the newpresident of Iran".[1] However, Pahlavi has repeatedly renounced the monarchy, and has instead advocated for free elections to form aconstituent assembly that could determine the future form of governance in Iran.[9][10] Of the more than 390,000 supporters of a change.org petition declaring Pahlavi "my representative", many emphasized that they only backed him as an "interim figure" who could bring about a democratic transition away from the Islamic Republic, not to restore thefallen monarchy.[11] According to TheInternational Business Times, Pahlavi has no experience and is trying to "pluck the fruits of others labor".[12]
TheNational Council of Resistance of Iran has in the past denounced Pahlavi and the Iran National Council, calling it a "so-called opposition entit[y]". The NCRI called on him "to first return the billions of dollars his father stole from the nation, denounce the atrocities committed by his grandfather and father and distance himself from theIRGC and theBasij, which he had previously praised as guardians of Iran’s territorial integrity and law and order in society".[13] During the59th Munich Security Conference in February 2023, members of theIranian opposition, including the Iran National Council, were invited to speak about Iran's future.[14] While there, one of Pahlavi's cohorts from the council denounced theNational Council of Resistance of Iran.[citation needed]
