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Iran: Several Members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization (PMOI/MEK) Arrested During Attack on Judiciary Headquarters in Tehran

- October 17, 2026

The leadership of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) inside the country announced that several members of the organization were arrested on the evening of Friday, October 16, 2026, during clashes with security personnel from the judiciary and police patrols, while an attack was underway targeting the central headquarters of the Iranian regime’s judiciary in Tehran. According to the statement, the clashes took place at around 9 p.m. local time on Abdollahzadeh Street, off Keshavarz Boulevard, near the judiciary’s central headquarters. Resistance Units Mobilized Following Reports That Mohseni Ejei Was Heading to the Headquarters The PMOI leadership inside Iran explained that, several hours before the operation, information had been received indicating that Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, head of the Iranian regime’s judiciary, was on his way to Keshavarz Boulevard to proceed to the central headquarters. The statement added that, immediately upon receiving this info...

Iran Faces a Growing Internal Crisis

- September 15, 2026

By Chuck Wald We have passed the six-month mark of the war between the United States and the Iranian regime. Whatever Tehran’s rhetoric may suggest, its theocratic dictatorship is weaker today than at any point since its establishment in the aftermath of the 1979 Revolution. As this situation continues to unfold, it is increasingly important for Western governments and the broader international community to consider the policies needed to help bring about change driven not by foreign intervention, but by the Iranian people and their organized resistance. The country’s economy, already suffering from years of decline before the war, is now exhibiting some of its worst indicators in decades, including inflation exceeding 100 percent on key consumer goods. Predictably, these pressures have intensified factional infighting within the regime. The turmoil has been compounded by the loss of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, February 28. Khamenei has be...

Tehran Is Fighting Over Power. Iran’s Opposition Just Transferred It.

- September 13, 2026

Ivan Sascha Sheehan Iran is facing two very different leadership stories. Inside the Islamic Republic, the question of who can lead the country, and whether the system can maintain cohesion around that leadership, has become increasingly difficult to answer. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared publicly for roughly six months, leaving much of his political role to speculation. President Masoud Pezeshkian has meanwhile faced growing criticism from different factions as Iran confronts the consequences of war, economic collapse, and deepening social pressure. On September 6, as Iran’s ruling system struggled to project unity at the top, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) marked the start of its 62 nd year of founding by choosing a new secretary-general. The contrast is striking. According to the organization, Mahnaz Maimanat was elected through a three-stage internal voting process involving members in seven countries. She received 56 percent of the ...

Iran’s opposition elects its tenth female secretary-general

- September 09, 2026

By EU Reporter Correspondent The election of Mahnaz Maimanat (pictured) to lead the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran highlights more than three decades of continuous female leadership within one of Iran’s principal organised opposition movements. An important development has taken place within the Iranian democratic opposition. On 6 September, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the principal organized component of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), elected Mahnaz Maimanat as its new Secretary-General, at the beginning of the organisation’s 62nd year. The election took place through three successive rounds involving PMOI members in seven countries — France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Albania. In the first round, Maimanat received 56% of the votes, ahead of Badri Pourtabbakh and Narges Azdanlou. The position is for a two-year term and may be renewed by the PMOI’s Central Council. Born in Tehran ...

These two women are the most serious challenge to Ayatollah's brutal regime in Iran

- September 09, 2026

By Paul Baldwin Women accused of adultery are routinely stoned to death in Iran. Neither domestic violence nor marital rape are crimes. Women face punishment for refusing to wear the veil, and they can be forced into marriage at the age of nine. Female court testimony carries only half the weight of a male’s, they are banned from many vocations, cannot ride motorcycles and the state dictates the way they must dress. Almost every credible human rights group agrees women in Iran are very much second-class citizens, and effectively the property of men. Which makes it all the more astonishing that the biggest and most serious challenge to both the mullahs’ religious dictatorship and the medieval-style male hegemony comes from two women. Dissident Iranians in the UK on Sunday helped voice support for 67-year-old woman Mahnaz Maimanat in her role in the fight against both the Ayatollah and his brutal attack dogs, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Maimanat joins Maryam Rajav...

Why is Tehran so hostile to a woman leading its organized opposition?

- September 09, 2026

Arranged by: Reza Hoseani Former PMOI Secretary General Zahra Merrikhi (left) raises the hand of newly elected Secretary General Mahnaz Maimanat (right) during the final voting session, Ashraf 3, September 6, 2026. On September 6, 2026, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) elected Mahnaz Maimanat as its new Secretary General. The PMOI selects its Secretary General through a three-stage election process, which involves progressively broader participation within the organization. In the first round, the members of the Central Council participate in the selection; in the second round, the heads and managers of the organization’s various sections vote. Both phases are conducted by secret ballot. The process concludes with a third and final round, in which all available members participate in an open vote by show of hands. The assembly to elect the new Secretary General was convened by Zohreh Akhyani, president of the PMOI Central Council. In the first round of votin...

Why Iran’s Future Matters for Armenia and the South Caucasus

- September 07, 2026

Shahrokh Tavakoli Iran’s domestic crisis is no longer an issue confined within its borders. For Armenia and the wider South Caucasus, the question is not only what happens inside Iran, but what kind of country Iran may become and what that change could mean for its neighbors. Armenia’s geographic and economic links with Iran make this question particularly important. Iran is an important southern neighbor, a trading partner and an overland route connecting Armenia to the wider region. Prolonged political instability in Iran could therefore affect transportation, trade and economic security beyond Iran itself. The deeper problem, however, is domestic. Inflation, declining purchasing power, unemployment and widespread social dissatisfaction have developed alongside intensified arrests, severe sentences and executions. Instead of addressing the underlying causes of public discontent through structural reform, the authorities have increasingly relied on security measures and po...

EU Policy on Iran — a Legacy of Failure

- February 19, 2024

By Struan Stevenson When Assadollah Assadi, the Iranian ‘diplomat’ jailed for 20 years in Belgium for a terrorist bomb plot, was released in a farcical deal with the Iranian regime and returned to a hero’s welcome in Tehran, many thought the EU’s appeasement policy had reached rock bottom. Warnings were sounded that the release of Assadi would embolden the mullahs to attempt a further bomb attack or assassination attempt on European soil. The warnings were ignored and sure enough, in November 2023, a hitman financed by the Iranian regime attempted to assassinate Alejo Vidal Qudras, a former senior vice president of the European Parliament. Mr Vidal Qudras was shot in the face, in broad daylight, outside his home in Madrid. He miraculously survived. Following Assadi’s arrest for attempting to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in Paris in 2018, Spanish socialist Josep Borrell, the EU’s high Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security said nothing. When Assadi was sentenced to a ...