Iranians fear political ‘terror’ group could fill the void in Tehran

As American and Israeli leaders urge Iranians to rise up and bring about regime change, various players and organizations are maneuvering to position themselves as the country’s next heir to the throne.

One such figure is Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). No sooner did rumors of the ayatollah’s demise begin to swirl on Saturday than Rajavi announced the establishment of a transitional government.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other forces tasked with preserving the regime must lay down their arms and surrender to the people,” Rajavi said in a statement.

Rajavi has long promoted a 10-point plan for democracy and has cultivated support in the United States. But many Iranian expatriates and dissidents strongly oppose any involvement of Rajavi or the NCRI, which is associated with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), also known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

The organization has a shady inception. It played a key role in the overthrow of the Shah in the 1979 Islamic Revolution yet was subsequently rejected by the nascent Islamic Republic. The group then carried out several bombings in Tehran that killed Iranians as well as several U.S. servicemen in the 1970s. Its leaders fled the country.

And though MeK opposes the Iranian regime, it has aligned itself with Muslim extremists against the government.

WHAT IS THE MEK?

Critics describe the organization as a Marxist-Islamist cult that demands celibacy from members, separates families, suppresses dissent and enforces ideological conformity.

“The MeK is an Islamist Marxist death cult, literally the other side of the coin that is the Islamic Republic,” said Khosro Isfahani, of the National Union for Democracy in Iran. “NCRI is just one of its fronts. The organization has a history of crimes against humanity and zero credibility or mobilization power in Iran.”

Isfahani and others argue that the group, operating in exile in Albania, has little meaningful support among Iranians on the ground.

Despite its sordid past, the organization has the backing of several prominent Americans. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have publicly expressed support for the NCRI.

In February 2025, a bipartisan group of 151 U.S. lawmakers rallied behind a resolution endorsing the movement and Rajavi personally. Human rights advocate Shabnam Assadollahi, who was once imprisoned in Iran, urged U.S. lawmakers to reconsider backing the organization. 

“Any alliance with or support for this group constitutes a betrayal of the Iranian people’s aspirations for freedom from both religious dictatorship and Islamic fundamentalism—whether from the MeK or the Islamic Republic,” Assadollahi wrote in the Times of Israel. “Iranians seek neither an Islamic Republic nor a return to extremism; they want a true democracy rooted in secular principles.”

The MeK was previously designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and was implicated in the killings of several American military officers in Iran in the 1970s. 

The group’s past casts doubts on whether it would have good relations with Israel. The MeK is known to be virulently antisemitic and has cooperated with factions hostile to the Jewish state, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

According to an article in Ynet News, the PLO and MeK cooperated in the lead-up to and during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The PLO helped facilitate the movement of Palestinian fighters into Iran to support opposition to the Shah. Palestinian militants trained alongside MeK members and contributed to the formation of what became Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

RIVAL VISIONS FOR IRAN

Rajavi’s movement is directly opposed to Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late Shah, who has drawn visible support during recent protests.

“As the Iranian people demonstrated during the January uprising, they seek a future based on a democratic republic and reject both the Shah and the mullahs,” she said. “Our path leads toward the future and the establishment of a democratic republic, not a return to the buried dictatorship of the past.”

The NCRI says it wants to establish a democratic republic in Iran free of the rigid clerical control, but ironically requires its female followers to wear a hijab.

According to Assadollahi, former MeK members say the organization “tolerates no dissent.” 

“Those who question its leadership are punished, often through psychological abuse, isolation or forced confessions. This is not the behavior of a pro-freedom movement – it is the behavior of a totalitarian organization seeking power for itself,” she wrote.

In recent days, Pahlavi called on Iran’s military and security forces to defend the people against the ruling establishment.

“Your duty is to defend the people, not to defend a regime that has taken our homeland hostage through repression and crime,” he said in a statement. “Join the nation and help ensure a stable and secure transition.”