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Former European Council President Charles Michel speaks at the third session of the 2025 Free Iran World Summit in Rome, July 31, 2025
Speaking at the third session of the Free Iran World Summit 2025 in Rome on July 31, Charles Michel, former Prime Minister of Belgium and President of the European Council (2019–2024), delivered a forceful address condemning decades of repression by Tehran’s regime and voicing unequivocal support for the Iranian Resistance. Michel praised the courage and resilience of Iranians—particularly women and youth—who continue to risk their lives in pursuit of freedom despite pervasive violence and fear.
He described Iran’s ruling establishment as “weaker than ever,” highlighting its escalating executions, systematic human rights abuses, export of terrorism, and nuclear ambitions. Michel recalled the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners and warned of the regime’s growing brutality today, calling silence “complicity” and appeasement “a failed policy.” He argued that the NCRI and its leading force, the PMOI/MEK, offer the “only credible, organized democratic alternative,” embodied in Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan for a secular, free, and nuclear-free Iran.
Drawing on his European leadership experience, Michel urged governments not to yield to Tehran’s blackmail tactics but to stand firmly with the Iranian people. Closing on a personal note, he invoked the story of a woman imprisoned as a child, declaring that a free Iran is a moral imperative and “the right side of history.”
The full text of Charles Michel’s speech follows. Portions have been lightly edited for clarity and flow.
Former EU Council President and former Prime Minister of Belgium @CharlesMichel speaking in Rome Free Iran International Conference with Maryam Rajavi pic.twitter.com/Vk4A6dMkM9
— Firouz Mahvi (@FirouzMahvi) July 31, 2025
Dear Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, dear President. Dear friends of Iran. Dear friends of Free Iran. Dear freedom fighters.
Your courage, your energy, your resilience inspires all of us. For decades, you have lived under two regimes built on injustice, terror, and violence. Your fundamental rights—the right to speak your mind, the right to choose your own leaders, and the right to shape your own destiny—have been systematically denied. Yet this relentless brutality has not extinguished the flame of resistance. On the contrary, the spirit of resistance has grown bolder and stronger. From the streets of Tehran to the towns and villages across the country, from Ashraf 3 to every corner of the globe, a powerful voice—your voice—rises again and again, refusing to be silenced. The Iranian women who bravely walk unveiled and dance. The students who sing their love for freedom. The brave Resistance Units who defy censorship and tyranny. And the countless families who suffer and mourn but do not surrender. Never.
You know the danger. You know the risks. Yet even in the face of brutality and terror, you march forward, and you still raise your voices because you know that silence only strengthens the criminals. My dear Iranian friends, your resistance is unbreakable. Today, the mullahs’ dictatorship is weak, probably weaker than ever. And this dictatorship is afraid. They can keep saying you are not organized. They can keep saying you do not represent much. They can keep saying you are not a credible alternative, but their relentless obsession to oppress and target you shows the exact opposite. You are organized, you are credible, and you strongly represent the people of Iran, their hope, and their future.
My dear friends, a regime that seeks to control every word, every act, every vote cannot last forever. Their fear is showing. Their time is ending, and that is why they are more and more aggressive. That is why they are more and more dangerous and ready to do anything to maintain their grip on power. Human rights violations are escalating; the number of executions is about to reach new heights. Just last month, 81 political prisoners were executed. State media are calling again for surveillance and killings, and these calls are cruel warnings. This rhetoric fuels fears of a repeat of the summer of 1988. Let’s never forget the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, 90% of whom were affiliated with the PMOI/MEK.
At the “International Free Iran Summit 2025” in Rome together with Ms. Ingrid Betancourt, Rudy Giuliani, Cherles Michel, Mme. Maryam Rajavi, Mme. Michèle Alliot-Marie#FreeIran2025 @IBetancourtCol @RudyGiuliani @CharlesMichel @Maryam_Rajavi @MAlliotMarie pic.twitter.com/sye8pet4lk
— Giulio Terzi (@GiulioTerzi) August 1, 2025
Ladies and gentlemen, the dictatorship also exports its cruelty beyond its borders. For decades, the clerical dictators have pursued a deliberate strategy of exporting chaos, funding and arming terrorist groups and proxies in Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and all across the world. The mullahs have fueled hatred and spread violence. And in the same vein, they have massively supported Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine and against its democratic dreams and ambitions.
Ladies and gentlemen, let’s not be mistaken. Their nuclear and ballistic missile projects are developed to threaten more, to blackmail more, and to try to impose their mad vision of the world. Billions of dollars have been wasted to fuel this nuclear ambition in an attempt to grant themselves a license to kill with complete immunity. And the price of their impunity is fully [borne] by the Iranian people, who struggle every day to meet their basic needs: water, electricity, or bread.
Nevertheless, today it is still possible to end this arms race. And it is possible thanks to you. Because more than 20 years ago, you had the courage to denounce to the world the secret project to build this nuclear arsenal. A complete and verifiable dismantling of this program must take place. It cannot be negotiable, full stop.
Charles Michel, Président du Conseil européen (2019-2024), et ancien premier ministre de la Belgique a déclaré au #FreeIran2025 : « Le silence ne fait qu’enhardir les criminels, et pourtant vous continuez à élever la voix, car vous ne capitulerez pas. Le régime clérical vous… pic.twitter.com/mv90Fq7IVJ
— Afchine Alavi (@afchine_alavi) August 1, 2025
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, in my previous capacities as Prime Minister in Belgium and as President of the European Council, I have also witnessed how the dictatorship uses a variety of cynical tools to blackmail and to pressure European countries and governments: the hostage-taking tactic, massive cyberattacks, aggressive disinformation campaigns, and even terrorist actions committed on European soil. These are attempts to deter European governments from acting with force against the interests of this dictatorship. Let’s be clear: We cannot be intimidated. We cannot be blackmailed. We will not be trapped anymore.
On my side, I’ve learned my lesson. And I have a very strong opinion today: Doing more of the same will lead to the same result. Over the last century, and more recently with Russia, Europe has witnessed firsthand the devastation that unchecked militarization can bring. And we also know the consequences of failing to act in time. Lesson number one: do not appease the aggressor, because the policy of appeasement does not work and will never work. Lesson number two: do not be silent, because silence strengthens the criminal; silence is complicity. Our collective voices can be and will be a powerful game-changer.
And it leads me to lesson number three: There is an alternative. There is a democratic alternative. That’s the only way, the Third Way: the recognized, organized opposition and its resistance. You, the people of Iran. It’s not about appeasement. It’s not about foreign military intervention. It’s about supporting the Iranians to take control of their own destiny. It’s about making clear that only the Iranian Resistance, with their hands and with their hearts, will build a free, democratic, and peaceful future.
Madam President, dear friends, Iran has become a vast, open-air prison for women. Because for the mullahs, being a woman is a crime. Women suffer countless discriminations and intimidations. Yet they are the ones shouting the loudest for freedom: “Woman, Life, Freedom!” The mullahs may try to lock women behind bars, but it is women who hold the key to Iran’s future. Ladies, you are the driving force for change and progress in Iran.
In his exclusive interview with Simay Azadi, @CharlesMichel told our senior correspondante @Ehsaneghbale that Appeasement has failed, and silence is complicity. We support the #IranThirdoption, the 10-point plan, the brave people inside Iran, and the residents of Ashraf 3.
Tune… pic.twitter.com/ZECxeA6aKd
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) July 30, 2025
Madam President, Mrs. Rajavi, you lead through the strength of your example. I commend your leadership, your resilience, your determination, your empathy, your sincerity, and those of your teams and the members of this organization. And again, I would like to give a special mention to the incredible commitment of the people of Ashraf 3. Your vision of a free and democratic Iran is a promise. It’s a contract. It’s a light of hope. Because that is the only roadmap from tyranny to democracy. And your Ten-Point Plan is a blueprint, an oath for a democratic republic where people choose their leaders and reject dictators. A secular government where people have the right to live according to their beliefs or non-beliefs. Equality where every boy and girl can grow up with opportunities, not oppression. Justice where the rule of law is guaranteed and life-taking judges have no place. A nuclear-free Iran living in peace with its neighbors and with the rest of the world.
To conclude, Madam President, dear friends, in recent months, I’ve had the privilege of meeting and speaking with some of you. You have shared with me your sufferings. You have shared with me your pains and memories, sometimes from childhood, of the courts, of the jails and their hard floors. In particular, I remember the story of this woman imprisoned when she was six years old, together with her mother. She told us her fears. She told us the screams and the cruelty of the guardians when torturing the prisoners. I also have a daughter, and she is six years old. This is not the world I want for her, nor for any child in the world.
Let’s ask ourselves what’s right, what’s fair. Free Iran, that’s right and fair. Let’s choose human dignity. Let’s choose justice. Let’s choose humanity. Let’s be on the right side of history. You are not alone. Let’s choose Free Iran.
I thank you.