In a message issued on Saturday, February 28, 2026, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) for the transitional period, declared that the death of Ali Khamenei marks the end of religious tyranny and the collapse of the Velayat-e Faqih regime. Emphasizing that the time has come to establish freedom and popular sovereignty, she announced the formation of a provisional government based on the NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan to transfer power to the people of Iran.
Mrs. Rajavi stressed that only the Iranian people possess the legitimacy to determine their political future, rejecting both the ruling clerical establishment and any return to monarchical dictatorship. She underscored that the Resistance does not seek foreign intervention, financial assistance, or the presence of foreign forces on Iranian soil, but instead calls for national solidarity to safeguard what she described as the product of 47 years of sacrifice and struggle.
Drawing attention to the need for unity among political forces committed to a democratic republic founded on the separation of religion and state, she called on patriotic members of the armed forces to stand with the people and urged regime forces to lay down their arms. She also outlined a roadmap for establishing a provisional government and holding free and fair elections within six months for a National Legislative and Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution and determining Iran’s future republican system.
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 1, 2026
Below is the full text of her message:
The Death of Khamenei Is the Death of Religious Despotism and the End of the Velayat-e Faqih Regime
Message of Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran for Transitional Period to Hand Over Sovereignty to the People of Iran
Saturday February 28, 2026
Khamenei’s death is the death of religious tyranny and the end of the regime of Velayat-e Faqih. Now is the time to establish freedom and the sovereignty of the people of Iran.
On behalf of the Resistance of the Iranian people, I declare:
Based on the Ten-Point Plan for transferring sovereignty to the people of Iran, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has announced the formation of a provisional government. The precedent of announcing a provisional government dates back to October 1981.
As the Iranian people demonstrated during the January uprising, they seek a future founded on a democratic republic and reject both the tyrannical mullahs and the dictatorial Shah.
I declare to the international community that only the people of Iran have the legitimacy to determine their country’s political future.
We have consistently said that the Iranian people write their destiny with the blood of their valiant sons and daughters and that there is no need for foreign intervention. We have consistently said that we do not seek money or the presence of foreign forces on Iranian soil.
Now is the time for solidarity and unity against the remnants of religious dictatorship and monarchical fascism that seek to steal the democratic revolution and the product of 47 years of suffering and sacrifice by the Iranian people and their brave children.
The NCRI, the most enduring democratic and independent coalition in Iran’s history, relying on a Resistance with 100,000 martyrs for freedom, presented the National Solidarity Front plan 24 years ago based on firm, nationalist, and patriotic principles. This plan calls on all political forces within the people’s front, who are committed to overthrowing religious despotism and establishing a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state, to act in solidarity and unity at this sensitive moment, despite their differences.
Here, I call upon the patriotic personnel of the army to stand alongside the people of Iran. The Revolutionary Guard and all other forces that preserve the regime must lay down their arms and surrender to the people.
Until the provisional government is established, students, workers, oil workers, farmers, young entrepreneurs, nurses, and teachers, women and men alike, together with soldiers and officers within the National Liberation Army, are the guardians of public safety, health, and security, and responsible for addressing the people’s needs and resolving their problems.
Based on NCRI resolutions, once the provisional government is established on Iranian territory, it is obligated to hold free and fair elections within six months for a National Legislative and Constituent Assembly.
The duties of this Assembly are to draft the constitution, determine the new republican system of the country, legislate for the administration of current affairs until the formation of the first National Assembly under the new constitution, and designate a government which, following the resignation of the six-month provisional government, will assume responsibility for the country’s affairs under the supervision of the Constituent Assembly.
I emphasize once again that the NCRI and the Provisional Government are not seeking power, but rather the transfer of power to the sovereignty of the Iranian people.
Hail to the people of Iran
Victory to the democratic revolution of Iran.
Long live the democratic republic.
