In 2002, the NCRI exposed the existence of an undisclosed uranium enrichment facility inNatanz, leading to concerns aboutIran's nuclear program.[13][14][15][16] It was listed by theU.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, but was removed from this list in 2012, along with the MEK.[17][18]
PresidentAbolhassan Banisadr was supportive of theMEK and believed the clerics should not govern Iran directly. Consequently,Ruhollah Khomeini removed Banisadr from his presidency, while also preventing Massoud Rajavi and MEK members from participating in the elections. In June 1981, theMajlis ousted presidentAbolhassan Banisadr through animpeachment. BothMassoud Rajavi and Banisdar escaped Iran in 1981 during a campaign by the Iranian government to eradicate the MEK from Iran. Rajavi and Banisadr exiled to Paris and founded the National Council of Resistance of Iran.[21][22][23][24] The coalition was also joined by theNational Democratic Front and theKurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.[24]
The Foundation of the NCRI allowed Massoud Rajavi to "assume the position of chairman of the resistance to the Islamic Republic and provided an outlet for the Mojahedin to codify its ideological models for a future government to replace that of the mullahs."[25] Banisadr left the coalition in March 1983. In January 1983, Deputy Prime Minister ofIraqTariq Aziz and NCRI PresidentMassoud Rajavi signed a peace plan "based on an agreement of mutual recognition of borders as defined by the 1975 Algiers Agreement." According to James Piazza, this peace initiative became the NCRI's first diplomatic act as a "truegovernment in exile".[26] In 1983, elements united with NCRI began to depart the alliance because of conflicts with the MEK.[27] On 24 March 1983, Banisadr officially left the council.[1][28]
In 1986, the French government closed down NCRI headquarters in Paris to improve relations with the Islamic Republic. Rajavi and the NCRI moved their main operations toBaghdad, Iraq.[29][24][30]
In 2002 the NCRI exposed nuclear facilities inNatanz andArak in Iran. Iran was then declared "in breach of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons", which began to limit the nuclear program in Iran.[35]
In 2003, French police rounded up 167 PMOI sympathizers and placed 24 people under formal investigation, including the NCRI president Maryam Rajavi. In 2014, after an 11-year probe, the French courts dropped the charges.[36]
The NCRI has in the past three decades recorded and reported human rights violations in Iran to UN Special Rapporteurs, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International and other international human rights organisations.[37][38][39][40]
In June 2020, a majority of members of the US House of Representatives backed a "bipartisan resolution" supporting Maryam Rajavi and the NCRI's "call for a secular, democratic Iran" while "condemning Iranianstate-sponsored terrorism". The resolution, backed by 221 lawmakers (includingLouie Gohmert andSheila Jackson Lee), gave support to the Rajavi's 10-point plan for Iran's future (which include "a universal right to vote, market economy, and a non-nuclear Iran") while calling on the prevention of "malign activities of the Iranian regime's diplomatic missions." A NCRI representative said that "The fact that out of ten diplomats or agents of the Iranian regime expelled or jailed in Europe and the U.S. for terror plots over the past two years, eight of them were tied to operations against our movement, is a vivid testimony that the NCRI is the alternative to this regime." The resolution also called on the U.S. to stand "with the people of Iran who are continuing to hold legitimate and peaceful protests" against the Iranian government.[41][42]
In February 2021Belgian court inAntwerp sentencedAssadollah Assadi, who worked at the Iranian embassy inVienna, to 20-year jail term for plotting to bomb a rally of NCRI outsideParis in June 2018. He was arrested inGermany in June 2018. A Belgian couple of Iranian origin was also arrested with explosives and a detonator. A fourth man, Belgian-Iranian poet Merhad Arefani, was arrested in Paris and accused of being an accomplice. All three were convictedin a Belgian court for taking part in the plot and given jail terms of 15 to 18 years.[43]
The NCRI holds annual rallies in support of its goals. The "Free Iran" summit in Paris, an annual gathering of over 1,000 former or current officials, dignitaries, and lawmakers, urges the adoption of "a more resolute policy" vis-a-vis Iran.[44][45] Guests who have attended the summit since 2020 include heads of government, includingJanez Janša andStephen Harper,[46] prominent American and European ministers and secretaries, such asMike Pompeo andBernard Kouchner, and lawmakers includingÍngrid Betancourt,Bob Menendez,Ted Cruz,Kevin McCarthy andHakeem Jeffries.[47][48][49]
The NCRI, along with the MEK is regarded by the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and theRepublic of Iraq as aterrorist organization,[59] and was classified as aForeign Terrorist Organization by theUnited States, alleging that the NCRI "is not a separate organization, but is instead, and has been, an integral part of the MEK at all relevant times" and that the NCRI is "the political branch" of the MEK.[60] On September 28, 2012, the US State Department formally removed MEK from its list of terrorist organizations in a decision made by then-Secretary of StateHillary Clinton, ahead of an October 1 deadline set by a US appeals court.[18]
Dick Armey suggested that the State Department wrongly included MEK in the terrorist list from the beginning.[61]Alireza Jafarzadeh was its official representative in the US until the Washington office was closed by the US State Department in 2002 on the grounds that it was only a front group for the MEK by then listed as aterrorist organisation in the US.[62] It has been alleged that the inclusion of NCRI and MEK in the list was a token offered to the Iranian government rather than based on the facts of the matter. According to theWall Street Journal[63] "Senior diplomats in the Clinton administration say the MEK figured prominently as a bargaining chip in a bridge-building effort with Tehran." The Journal added that: In 1997, the State Department added the MEK to a list of global terrorist organizations as "a signal" of the US's desire for rapprochement with Tehran's reformists, saidMartin Indyk, who at the time was assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs.President Khatami's government "considered it a pretty big deal," Indyk said.
TheEuropean Union in May 2004 implied that NCRI is part of thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran and excluded the NCRI itself from a list of organisations considered to be terrorist organisations, including the People's Mujahedin of Iran "minus the National Council of Resistance of Iran" on its list of terrorist organisations.[64]On January 26, 2009,EU Council of Ministers agreed to remove the MEK from the EU terror list. The group said it was the outcome of a "seven-year-long legal and political battle".[65][66][67][68] TheEuropean Union had previously listed the MEK on its list but excluded the NCRI itself from the list of organizations considered to be terrorist organizations.[69] According to some sources, it has an active global network.[70][2][71][clarification needed]
The Middle East department of theForeign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in theUnited Kingdom stated in early 2006 that it is widely understood that "Iran's [nuclear] program, which was kept secret from theIAEA for 18 years, became public knowledge largely because of revelations of the NCRI, and this led to heightened international concern."[72] At the same timeMichael Axworthy, former head of the Iran section at the FCO, claimed that the NCRI is a "tightly disciplinedfront organization for the MEK" and deemed them unreliable.[73]
In a meeting at the Council of Europe in April 2006, Maryam Rajavi elaborated on the movement's vision for a future Iran and presented a Ten Point Plan for Future Iran, according to the organisation's website.[74][37][75][76][77] The plan has been supported by British MPs,[37] some arguing that it is a potential programme that "would transform Iran" since it calls for the abolition of the death penalty, the creation of a modern legal system and the independence of judges.[37] At a debate on the human rights situation in Iran in the House of Lords on December 8, 2016,Lord Alton of Liverpool said, "The manifesto says: Cruel and degrading punishments will have no place in the future Iran. Madam Rajavi would end Tehran's funding of Hamas, Hezbollah and other militant groups and is committed to peaceful coexistence, relations with all countries and respect for the United Nations charter."[78]
According to aRAND report, the NCRI styles itself as a parliament-in-exile[79] representing the Iranian opposition, with Maryam Rajavi serving as its president-elect and advocating for the creation of a democratic Islamic republic in Iran. Also according to the RAND report, the organization launched campaigns to highlight human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic and provided intelligence on state activities to Western governments. It communicated its positions through dedicated media outlets, including newspapers and a radio station.[2]
On 31 July 2025, Maryam Rajavi proposed the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and the establishment of a democratic, non-nuclear state during a rally in Rome organized by theNational Council of Resistance of Iran. The event drew support from notable Western political figures.[80]
Goulka, Jeremiah; Hansell, Lydia; Wilke, Elizabeth; Larson, Judith."The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum"(PDF).RAND National Defense Research Institute: xxiii....the National Council of Resistance of Iran (a MeK subsidiary)
^Mark Edmond Clark (2016), "An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of theMujahedin-e-Khalq", in David Gold (ed.),Terrornomics, Routledge, p. 70,ISBN978-1-317-04590-8
^Cohen, Ronen (August 2018). "The Mojahedin-e Khalq versus the Islamic Republic of Iran: from war to propaganda and the war on propaganda and diplomacy".Middle Eastern Studies.54 (6):1000–1014.doi:10.1080/00263206.2018.1478813.S2CID149542445.
^Chicago Tribune wires, 'Iraq Denies Link with Death of Opposition Leader in Rome', Chicago Tribune (17 March 1993), p.4.
^Safa Haeri, 'A bad month', Middle East International, No. 463 (19 November 1993), p.11.
^United Nations Committee against Torture (2008),Jose Antonio Ocampo (ed.),Selected Decisions of the Committee Against Torture: Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment, vol. 1, United Nations Publications, p. 212, Communication N 2582004 section 7.2,ISBN978-92-1-154185-4, E 08 XIV4; HR/CAT/PUB/1,The MEK has been involved in terrorist activities and is therefore a less legitimate replacement for the current regime.
^"COUNCIL DECISION"(PDF).Official Journal of the European Union. 28 June 2007.Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved8 November 2013.
Clark, Mark Edmond (2016). "An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of theMujahedin-e-Khalq". In Gold, David (ed.).Terrornomics.Routledge. pp. 66–76.doi:10.4324/9781315612140.ISBN978-1-317-04590-8.
Piazza, James A. (October 1994). "The Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran in Exile".Digest of Middle East Studies.3 (4):9–43.doi:10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x.
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