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Maryam Rajavi on Iran’s 2022 Uprising Anniversary: “The Footsteps of Uprising Echo Once Again in Iran’s Cities”

Iran Freedom
Maryam Rajavi says the legacy of Iran’s 2022 uprising continues to echo across the country.

NCRI President-elect says the legacy of the 2022 uprising and its martyrs continues to inspire Iran’s rebellious youth, while declaring that the regime’s efforts to prevent its overthrow have failed

On the anniversary of the 2022 uprising in Iran, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said that the memory of those killed, wounded, imprisoned, and involved in the uprising continues to inspire preparations for what she described as another major uprising across the country.

In her message to freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the Iranian Resistance, Mrs. Rajavi said that “the echoing footsteps of those uprisings” are once again being heard across Iran’s cities. She paid tribute to what she described as the 750 martyrs of the 2022 uprising and to the tens of thousands who were wounded, injured, or imprisoned.

Women’s Role in the 2022 Uprising

Mrs. Rajavi said the uprising began with the death of Jina Amini and spread throughout Iran, including Tehran, Zahedan, and Kurdistan, following the deaths of young protesters including Hadis Najafi, Sarina Esmailzadeh, Mehrshad Shahidi, Khodanur Lojei, and Dr. Ebrahim Rigi.

Her message also recalled what it described as Zahedan’s Bloody Friday, students who were suspended or expelled, young people who erected street barricades in Mahabad, Javanrud, Sanandaj, and Kamyaran, and the activities of PMOI Resistance Units.

According to Mrs. Rajavi’s message, Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian regime’s parliament, later acknowledged the role of the Resistance Units, saying they had played “the greatest role” in executing and organizing the events.

Mrs. Rajavi said the 2022 uprising spread the slogan, “Death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the (mullahs’) Leader!” and demonstrated what she described as the decisive role of women, following decades of sacrifice and courage by PMOI women and other women fighters.

She particularly praised female students who, according to the message, chanted, “With or without the hijab, forward toward revolution!” and said their actions thwarted efforts to derail the movement. She also said the slogan “Neither Shah nor the Mullahs” had gained greater force and validity.

Regime Measures Described as a Failure

Mrs. Rajavi said that, eight months after the uprising of January, every measure and tactic undertaken by the regime to prevent its eventual overthrow had failed.

She described Iran’s cities as facing continuing unrest and said that protests by a suppressed, plundered, and disenfranchised population were continuing to grow. Her message attributed the expansion of discontent to rising prices, impoverishment, and attempts to shift the burden of the regime’s failures and bankruptcy onto the population.

The message said the regime had become increasingly fearful and had resorted to gradual increases in gasoline prices, while arguing that such measures would ultimately fail.

Mrs. Rajavi also said that attacks on people’s livelihoods would not resolve what she described as the regime’s bankruptcy and that repression would not prevent another uprising. She referred to defiance in long queues, anger arising from deprivation and hunger, and the self-immolation of workers as signs that, in her words, there was “no way out for Khamenei’s son.”

Executions and Pressure on Political Prisoners

According to Mrs. Rajavi’s message, the Iranian regime had responded to the situation by resorting to executions, including the execution of dozens of political prisoners in recent months, among them PMOI members.

She also referred to death sentences imposed on political prisoners and rebellious protesters, as well as what she described as inhumane pressure on prisoners of the uprising.

Mrs. Rajavi characterized these measures as a “desperate struggle for survival” and said they were ultimately doomed to fail before what she described as the will of the freedom-loving Iranian people.

Democratic Alternative Described as Ascending

In contrast, Mrs. Rajavi described the democratic alternative as being in a state of ascension, supported, according to her message, by a rebellious generation, by the battles and suffering of its members and supporters, and by the heroes of the Resistance Units.

She also pointed to the election of her “dear sister” Mahnaz Maimanat as the new Secretary General of the PMOI on the anniversary of the organization’s founding, describing the development as a testament to the cohesion and strength of the movement.

“Peace and Freedom Will Triumph”

In the final section of her message, Mrs. Rajavi said that the 2022 uprising, followed by what she called the January 2026 uprising, had exposed what she described as the destructive role of remnants of the Shah’s dictatorship.

She listed three roles she attributed to those remnants: acting as “a wrench in the gears of the uprising,” draining the people’s revolutionary energy, and using staged television broadcasts and social media fabrications that, she said, ultimately serve the regime’s interests.

Citing Massoud Rajavi, Mrs. Rajavi said: “The great lesson of two wars and one uprising in 2026 is that a return to a puppet royalist fascism is nothing more than a mirage.”

She concluded that the remnants of both the mullahs and the Shah seek war and dictatorship, while the Iranian people seek peace and freedom. The message identified “Peace and Freedom” as the rallying cry of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and concluded with the assertion that peace and freedom would ultimately triumph.

“Hail to Freedom!
Hail to the People of Iran!”

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