Speaking at the Free Iran 2026 World Summit in Paris on June 21, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield called on Western governments to abandon decades of appeasement toward Tehran and pursue direct engagement with the Iranian opposition. He also addressed the cancellation of the summit’s planned public rally following a bomb threat, arguing that the Iranian regime has continued to orchestrate terrorist plots in Europe regardless of diplomatic or nuclear negotiations.

Bloomfield criticized what he described as years of misleading narratives promoted by Tehran and echoed by some Western governments and major media organizations. He argued that these narratives were used to discredit the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) while preserving diplomatic engagement with the ruling establishment.

According to Bloomfield, the clerical regime is approaching the end of its rule after nearly five decades, leaving behind what he described as a network of individuals responsible for international terrorism and widespread human rights abuses. He said those involved should be held accountable for acts including global terrorist operations and the 1988 execution of thousands of political prisoners.

Bloomfield urged policymakers in Washington, London, Paris, and Berlin to shift their focus from engaging with Iran’s ruling authorities to supporting the country’s 92 million citizens. Among his recommendations, he called for providing secure communication tools to help Iranians overcome government-imposed internet shutdowns during periods of unrest.

Concluding his remarks, Bloomfield encouraged Western leaders to establish official dialogue with Maryam Rajavi, arguing that her Ten-Point Plan for a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran represents a credible framework for the country’s future and has received majority parliamentary backing in 34 countries.

The full script of Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield’s speech follows:

Good afternoon, greetings to Madame Rajavi, members and supporters of the NCRI, members of the People’s Mojahedin in Albania, to Iranians of the diaspora, to friends of the organized resistance, and to brave resistance supporters all across Iran.

Let me say a word about this hall where we are gathered.

It was built a few years ago when another rally in Paris was cancelled by the authorities.

In this place, members of the resistance and their friends can come together in an atmosphere of trust and goodwill.

It is a place where people speak truthfully about what is happening in Iran, and a platform from which our messages can reach the people of Iran.

In this hall, we hear not only men, but women thought leaders from many countries sharing insights and priorities for the future.

To see a highly effective organization with global reach led by Muslim women at every level, supported by men of the resistance – to see Mrs. Maryam Rajavi leading hundreds of conversations about Iran featuring former heads of government, commanders of our great military alliances, diplomats and leading legislators from virtually everywhere – is a profoundly hopeful and indeed magnificent spectacle.

And my friends, this is a place where the resistance and its supporters can gather in safety.  It is well known that agents of the Tehran regime have for 47 years pursued members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin and the NCRI.  Resistance members are not a cult; they live together, in safe locations, to avoid the assassins of Tehran.

It was disturbing yesterday to learn from the French court that the rally had been banned because the police received a bomb threat.  Who can forget that agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security were caught in 2018 and sentenced to 22 years in prison for planning to bomb the resistance gathering at Villepinte?

And yet, one fact does seem to have gone unnoticed on both sides of the political aisle in Washington: the Tehran regime spent months planning a mass-casualty terror attack in the heart of Europe while the nuclear JCPOA was still in full effect – before President Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement.  There is no partisan glory to be had in Washington on 47 years of failed attempts to reform the world’s most lawless regime.

According to the French court, the police report attributed this terror threat to remnants of the dreaded SAVAK security service under the Pahlavi regime, whose corrupt and brutal monarchy was expelled by the Iranian people a half century ago, never to return.  Let us see if the French authorities will investigate and hold accountable all who were behind this crime.

“There is nothing in Reza Pahlavi’s background that prepares him to contribute meaningfully to rebuilding Iran on a legitimate institutional basis. By contrast, the NCRI has extensive plans, committees, an established structure, and a clear roadmap,” Amb. @LBJunior told Simay… pic.twitter.com/ALdE7if2K0

— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) June 24, 2026

Along with many fellow American supporters of the NCRI and Mrs. Rajavi’s 10-point plan for the future of Iran, I have co-signed a letter addressing the current situation in Iran.  We support our courageous military forces seeking to protect against threats from Iran.  We hope diplomacy will achieve the security goals we all share.

But if 47 years of experience is any indication, the unelected terrorists now posing as the government of Iran are unlikely to embark on the path of reform articulated by the American Vice President.

As the American letter makes clear, there is a policy alternative still available to the United States and, indeed, to all Western governments, an alternative that for over 20 years has stood for a non-nuclear Iran that poses no threat to world peace.

We know why Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, and other capitals have avoided diplomatic engagement with the NCRI as a recognized Iranian political organization.  It is because Tehran relentlessly demanded that the West designate the MEK and NCRI as terrorists and thereby prevent their message of freedom from gaining official support.

The West complied, starting in the mid-1990s, and soon officials started to repeat, and over time apparently believe, false narratives concocted in Tehran, demeaning the resistance.  This appeasement was the price Tehran demanded for any discussion about returning hostages and curbing its nuclear enrichment program.

The BBC, New York Times, Bild and other major media knew their reporters could not enter Iran, or be sure of leaving Iran, if they told the truth about the organized resistance.

But today, the 47-year nightmare is ending.  The Khomeini dream of a medieval Shia kingdom from Karbala to Quds is gone.  What remains in Tehran is a circle of veteran terrorists hoping to cling to power, who should be facing prosecution for their role in terror attacks from Beirut to Berlin to Buenos Aeres, and the mass killings of their own citizens.

So, I ask Washington, London, Berlin, and Paris:  are you still afraid of offending this unelected junta by inviting a serious dialogue with Iran’s organized resistance?  The answer has to be “no” – we are not afraid.  It is time to focus all of our policy efforts on supporting the 92 million citizens of Iran.

What do they need?  They need communication links to escape the internet blackout of the regime.  They need to hear the truth about the regime’s atrocity crimes of genocide throughout the 1980s, the massive crime against humanity of executing up to 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, and the years of terror attacks, gray warfare, cyber-attacks, hostage takings, assassinations, murder-for-hire threats, and agents of influence planted all around the world, funded with the oil and gas resources that should have served the interests of the Iranian people.

It is time for the West to close the door on this malignant regime, and open the door to a dialogue with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, whose 10-point plan already has majority parliamentary support in 34 countries including the U.S. House of Representatives.

From this hall, let us carry a message that will empower the Iranian people.  No fear, no appeasement, no compromise of our governing principles.  It is time to let the voice of the organized resistance be heard around the world.

So, our message is YES to the 10-point plan, YES to exposing the truth, YES to dialogue with the NCRI, YES to standing in support of the Iranian people’s righteous fight for the rights we hold to be universal, and YES to a Free Iran.