Conference at the Luigi Einaudi Foundation focused on Iran’s political crisis, democratic change, and support for the NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan.
Maryam Rajavi: Regime Faces Deepening Political and Economic Crisis
The Luigi Einaudi Foundation in Rome hosted an international conference on July 17, 2026, bringing together political leaders and international figures to discuss the situation in Iran and prospects for democratic change. The event featured speeches by NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, Senator Giulio Terzi, President of the Italian Senate’s 4th Permanent Commission on European Union Affairs, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Senator Andrea Cangini.
Dalla parte del popolo iraniano!
Sala gremita oggi in @fleinaudi con la Presidente del Consiglio Nazionale della Resistenza Iraniana @Maryam_Rajavi, il Presidente della IV Commissione del Senato @GiulioTerzi, l'ex Sindaco di New York @RudyGiuliani e il Segretario generale della… pic.twitter.com/sHhAKxYvKE
— Fondazione Luigi Einaudi (@fleinaudi) July 17, 2026
Throughout the conference, participants examined the internal challenges confronting Iran’s ruling establishment, including political divisions, economic deterioration, and growing public dissatisfaction. Speakers rejected both the current religious dictatorship and any return to monarchy under the Pahlavi family, while expressing support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s Ten-Point Plan as a framework for establishing a secular and democratic republic. They also urged Western governments to end policies of appeasement and fully enforce terrorism-related sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
— Fondazione Luigi Einaudi (@fleinaudi) July 17, 2026
Opening the conference, Maryam Rajavi described the current state of Iran’s ruling system as one marked by political and economic deadlock. She said the authorities have relied on regional conflicts to divert domestic pressure while responding to dissent through arrests and executions, including measures targeting members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Rajavi also pointed to recent political developments inside the establishment, including disputes within the Assembly of Experts over a memorandum of understanding with the United States and disagreements surrounding Mojtaba Khamenei’s succession, describing these developments as signs of increasing vulnerability. She said widespread public grievances, negative economic growth, and the Revolutionary Guards’ domination of the economy have intensified social unrest.
Mrs. Rajavi stated: “Even during the funeral of Khamenei last week, an event that was supposed to be a show of unity, a number of regime loyalists chanted ‘Death to the compromisers!’ against Masoud Pezeshkian and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and threw stones at the regime’s foreign minister. Just twenty-four hours after the agreement was signed, the regime’s new supreme leader officially announced that, in principle, he held a different view.”
She continued:
“A country sitting on a sea of oil and gas cannot even provide its own energy needs,” she declared. “By placing the economy under the control of the Revolutionary Guards, and foundations tied to Khamenei, this regime has destroyed the middle class and the independent private sector… As a result, even if the regime’s oil incomes surge or Iran’s frozen assets are returned, the country’s economic conditions will not improve because, as always, the lion’s share of these funds will be spent on building missiles and drones and funding the regime’s proxy forces in the region.”
Rajavi warned that the authorities would continue pursuing their existing policies despite mounting pressure.
“The regime will never abandon its nuclear bomb-making, war, and terrorism and it will never stop its arrests, executions, and continuous violations of human rights,” she warned. “However, it will not survive in the face of the uprisings and the organized resistance.”
Addressing the role of organized opposition inside Iran, she said:
“The overthrow of this regime can only be achieved by the people of Iran and their organized resistance.”
She added:
“This is especially true because the organized resistance and its Resistance Units are driving the uprisings toward the overthrow of the regime making them more organized and focused every single time.”
Concluding her remarks, Rajavi said:
“In their accelerating progress, the Resistance Units evolve to units of the Liberation Army and make up the decisive force for change in Iranian society, today.”
Andrea Cangini: Democratic Principles and the Ten-Point Plan
Welcoming participants to the Luigi Einaudi Foundation, former Italian Senator Andrea Cangini recalled that the foundation had gathered one year earlier to commemorate Mahsa Amini and present the Iranian Resistance’s political alternative.
Cangini said the NCRI’s platform reflects principles consistent with liberal democracy. He also criticized the expanding military cooperation between the IRGC and Russia and expressed concern over increasing arrests and executions carried out by the Iranian authorities.
Speaking about the NCRI’s political platform, he said:
“We presented the Ten-Point Plan of the National Council of Iranian Resistance, which is perfectly supportable from a liberal point of view.”
He highlighted two principles that he considered particularly significant:
“Two points stand out among those ten as essential for me: equality between men and women, and the secularism of the State.”
Cangini also emphasized the importance of cooperation among opposition groups, stating:
“We have raised appeals for the unity of the opposition because we believe that the more the oppositions to the mullahs’ regime have the strength and capacity to unite, the more the regime will suffer.”
Rudy Giuliani: Support for Democratic Change and Rejection of Monarchy
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani voiced strong support for the Iranian Resistance and dismissed proposals advocating the restoration of the Pahlavi monarchy. He described Iran’s ruling establishment as increasingly dependent on repression, violence, and proxy forces to maintain its authority.
Giuliani said the international community recognizes the courage, organization, and resilience of the MEK under Maryam Rajavi’s leadership. Rejecting the prospect of restoring the former monarchy, he stated:
“The MEK certainly does not bring the Shah back to power, we do not want another Shah in power, we have already lived through that era.”
Referring to the record of the former monarchy, he continued:
“He stole billions of money, he established the revolutionary guards to control the people.”
Contrasting that legacy with the NCRI’s political platform, Giuliani said:
“If you can truly look at what the National Council of Resistance offers through its Ten-Point Plan, it is about history, it is a way of evolving one’s life toward freedom, equality, and the basic values of the human being.”
Looking ahead to political developments in Iran, he added:
“We are now realistically being able to see an end to the regime in Iran… The mullahs must go, the ayatollah must go, and they must be replaced by a democratic government which Madam Rajavi represents.”
Praising the perseverance of members of the Resistance, Giuliani concluded:
“For decades you have not backed off, not looked away, not taken a break. When offered release in exchange for betrayal, your people told them to go to hell. That is courage.”
Senator Giulio Terzi: Democratic Leadership Must Replace the Current Regime
Senator Giulio Terzi reaffirmed the Italian Parliament’s support for the Iranian Resistance and criticized initiatives promoting a return to the monarchy. Recalling a hearing of the Senate Human Rights Committee, he referred to claims that elements of the IRGC maintained ties with Reza Pahlavi to facilitate a political transition, rejecting that argument and describing the IRGC as a terrorist organization whose influence must be eliminated.
Expressing appreciation for Maryam Rajavi and the NCRI, Terzi said:
“I motivated my thankfulness by telling her that everyone present yesterday, as today, are indebted to her for bringing this extraordinary lighthouse of freedom, democracy, determination, equality, and pluralism that she represents with her great organization, or rather with all the organizations that form part of the Council of the Iranian Resistance, for the example she gives to the free world.”
Terzi stressed the importance of fully implementing the European Union’s February 2026 decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Highlighting the Guards’ role within Iran’s political and economic structure, he said:
“The IRGC are the Iranian state, and the Iranian state is the IRGC, because 210,000 or 220,000 men are embedded in the entire banking system, in all productive activities, and in all capacities.”
Calling for democratic leadership in Iran, he stated:
“Iranians strongly request a fully respected, reliable, democratic, republican leadership drawing its legitimacy absolutely not from present or past oppressors, but from the enormous sacrifices of its martyrs and from the extraordinary courage of its citizens.”
Concluding his remarks, Terzi referred to victims of the Iranian regime’s acts of terrorism, from the 1988 massacre to more recent assassination attempts against European politicians, saying:
“It is a terrorist state, and within it, there is a great wave of freedom that is driven by your movement, Madame Rajavi.”
"#Iran: oggi conferenza internazionale a Roma con Terzi.
Roma, 17 lug. (LaPresse) – Conferenza internazionale sull’Iran a Westin Excelsior (via Vittorio Veneto 125) a Roma dalle 16 alle 18, con leader politici italiani ed europei, personalità che hanno ricoperto incarichi… pic.twitter.com/mit6Njjr79— Giulio Terzi (@GiulioTerzi) July 17, 2026
