Iranian Resistance Leader: ‘Khamenei Must Go’ After U.S. Strikes Regime Nuclear Sites

Following U.S. airstrikes targeting Iran’s key nuclear facilities, Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), declared, “Now Khamenei must go.” She added, “The Iranian people welcome the end of the war and seek peace and freedom.”

On Sunday, Rajavi delivered a sharp rebuke of the regime, calling for sweeping change and blaming the Supreme Leader for years of costly miscalculations that have pushed the nation into crisis, driven by a now-destroyed nuclear weapons program pursued at the Iranian people’s expense.

“Khamenei is responsible for an unpatriotic project that, in addition to costing countless lives, has cost the Iranian people at least two trillion dollars — and now, it has all gone up in smoke,” she said.

She reiterated what her movement calls the Third Option: 

No to appeasement, no to war—yes to regime change, i.e., changing the religious dictatorship by the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance. Forward toward a free Iran and a democratic, non-nuclear republic with separation of religion and state and gender equality.

Sunday’s strikes are widely viewed as a message to Tehran: the era of unchecked nuclear escalation is ending. For Rajavi and the NCRI, it is more proof that the clerical regime cannot be reformed — it must be replaced.

Her Ten-Point Plan for a democratic Iran has drawn backing from over 4,000 lawmakers worldwide, 130 former heads of state, 80 Nobel laureates, and a majority of the U.S. House. It proposes a transitional government, free elections, a secular republic, and a non-nuclear, peaceful foreign policy anchored in universal suffrage and equal rights for all Iranians.

Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.