Speaking at an international conference in Paris on January 11, General James Jones, former U.S. National Security Advisor, warned that Iran’s regime is on the verge of collapse and urged decisive global action to back the Iranian people and their organized resistance. Highlighting the regime’s declining control both at home and in the region, he pointed to the unraveling influence of the IRGC, citing the weakening of Bashar al-Assad’s position, Hezbollah’s near-collapse, and Iran’s economic crisis.

General Jones emphasized the growing defiance of the Iranian people, referencing widespread protests by retirees, workers, and educators. Despite severe repression, including nearly 1,000 executions over the past year, he praised the MEK-affiliated Resistance Units for their bold actions against regime targets.

He described the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) as a credible democratic alternative and called on the international community to abandon appeasement, impose stricter sanctions, and engage directly with Iran’s resistance movement. “The time for change is not tomorrow. It’s now,” he concluded.

The full script of Gen. Jones’s speech follows:

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Mrs. Rajavi, excellencies, friends of NCRI and MEK, our friends in Ashraf 3, ladies and gentlemen. It would be an understatement not to recognize that today we stand at a pivotal moment in history. The moment where the fate of Iran and its people, the stability of an entire region in the Middle East, and the values of freedom and justice hang in the balance. It is in fact a serious battle between autocracies and democracies.

The outcome of this will have a profound effect on how we will live and, more importantly, perhaps, how our children and grandchildren will live. But the year 2024 has been nothing short of catastrophic for the Iranian regime. Its foundations, both regionally and domestically, are crumbling under the weight of its own failures despite its allies in Russia, China, and North Korea.

So let us start with the regime’s regional strategy. A strategy that has been built on proxies, terrorist networks, and the blood of innocent people for many, many years. And for years, Syria was a linchpin of the regime’s expansionist ambitions, its so-called strategic depth. It is estimated that the regime spent more than $50 billion propping up the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It lost, by some estimates, 15,000 revolutionary guards, including more than 3 dozen brigadier generals. I’m very sensitive to generals being killed, as you might imagine.

But this year, the fall of Bashar al-Assad delivered a crushing blow to that strategy. At the same time, Hezbollah, once Tehran’s most powerful proxy, is on the verge of collapse. That deserves a round of applause.

The Houthis in Yemen have suffered devastating setbacks. The regime’s web of influence, meticulously woven over decades and at a huge cost, is unraveling before our eyes. But the collapse isn’t limited to the region.

It’s tearing through Iran itself. The economic free fall of Iran is clear. The Iranian economy is in ruins. The national currency, the rial, has plummeted to an unprecedented 810,000 rials per US dollar, its lowest point since 1979.

Prices are spiraling out of control. Corruption is rampant. Essential goods are out of reach for most Iranians, and severe power shortages and energy shortages have ripped the nation amid harsh winter conditions.

However, the economic collapse is only one side of the story. Across the country, people have risen up in defiance. Protests have erupted in nearly every corner of society. Bazar merchants in Tehran and other cities, retirees demanding their pensions, communication workers, nurses, doctors, educators, and others, are important for the society to run adequately.

And now the regime has responded. But how has it responded? With unspeakable brutality. This year alone, close to 1,000 people have already been executed, the highest number in over 3 decades. 34 of these executions were women, and 119 belong to the Baluchi minority.

Shockingly, 695 of those executions, nearly 70%, occurred under the so-called moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian’s tenure. But here’s what the regime doesn’t understand.

Repression cannot extinguish the flames of resistance. In fact, it encourages all of us to even be more resolute in the downfall of the regime. Amid this brutal crackdown, MEK-affiliated Resistance Units have risen across Iran.

They have defied the regime’s pervasive surveillance, infiltrated its security layers, and boldly targeted regime symbols, IRGC bases, and paramilitary bases and centers.

These brave men and women remind us of one undeniable truth. The spirit of resistance in Iran is alive. It cannot be crushed, and it cannot be silenced. Today, the Iranian regime is at its weakest point since 1979.

The death knells have begun to take a toll on this oppressive theocracy. But in every moment of crisis lies an opportunity for change, and that change comes in the form of a viable democratic alternative.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, NCRI led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. The NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan, as articulated by Mrs. Rajavi, states that every instance offers a clear vision for the future. A free democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran. This vision has received global recognition with 137 former world leaders, some here today, ambassadors, ministers, and senior officials voicing their enthusiastic support.

In November of last year, Mrs. Rajavi addressed the European Parliament presenting a road map for change in Iran and the role of the organized resistance. This road map, ladies and gentlemen, isn’t just words. It’s a blueprint for the future of a nation.

At this critical juncture, the international community faces a choice. Will it stand with the Iranian people and their resistance, or will it continue to appease a dying regime?

I believe that we all reject appeasement, especially now. We reject the false narrative of no alternative. A narrative that for years, the regime and its lobbyists have propagated the lie that there is no alternative to their rule. They claimed that the fall of the regime would lead to chaos and dismemberment of Iran. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There exists a structure and organized alternative. The NCRI and its principal component, the MEK. We, the West, must reject this false narrative and recognize that the NCRI is the legitimate voice of the Iranian people.

We must adopt a clear and firm policy with regard to the regime, and we must fully implement existing sanctions and introduce new targeted sanctions. We must cut off the regime’s financial lifelines, particularly by limiting oil exports. We must shut down the regime’s terror hubs in Europe.

Iranian embassies and diplomatic missions have become terrorists and intelligence hubs. Terror plots on European soil have been directly tied to regime operatives under diplomatic cover. These embassies must be shut down, and all regime agents, including those under false titles, must be exposed and expelled from European soil.

And we must engage with the real agents of change. The missing link in Western policy has been the failure to engage with the Iranian people directly and their organized resistance. The true agents of change in Iran are its people.

And we must do more to convince the people of Iran that, unlike previous periods, 2025 announces itself to be a year of defining moments and activities in history signifying the end of the regime. So the time for action is now. So, ladies and gentlemen, the regime in Iran is on borrowed time. It’s collapsed. It is no longer a question. It’s just a question of when.

The Iranian people have spoken for many years. They have endured suffering, tremendous sacrifice, unspeakable repression, and yet they remain unbroken, unyielding, and determined. So it is now up to the international community to also rise to the occasion.

Abandon the policy of appeasement. Hold the machine accountable for its crimes. Support the NCRI and Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s vision for a free Iran and begin to articulate what a free democracy in Iran will look like immediately after the collapse. The world must not look away because the time for change is not tomorrow. It’s now.

In the US right now, as you might imagine, people are saying it’s Trump time. A time that will not be good for the regime in Iran, but a time that will be very good for the people of Iran. May 2025 marks a giant step in the fight for freedom for the Iranian people.

Thank you very much.