The National Council of Resistance of Iran will hold the 2025 Free Iran Convention in Washington, D.C., as defections and unrest challenge Tehran, and former U.K. Speaker John Bercow is among the international figures lending support to the opposition.

The Free Iran Convention is convening in Washington as a coalition of groups, led by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, lays out a plan for pushing Iran toward a democratic, prosperous republic. Organizers frame the event as a day to refocus global resistance against a regime that has long oppressed its own people and exported violence abroad. Attendees and speakers will press for tougher international measures and clearer pressure points on Tehran.

Public calls for mass demonstrations have amplified the unrest inside Iran. “I invite the people of Iran to, on Sunday, November 16, with the flag of the Lion and Sun, initiate a million-strong march for the transition from the Islamic Republic regime,” Komazani said. — Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil)

Reports of high-profile defections are adding fuel to the opposition’s momentum. Yesterday, it was reported Colonel Sajjad Azadeh defected from the regime. Azadeh said in the video, “This regime of lies, deceit, and occupation will come to an end.”

Against that backdrop, organizers see a window to press harder for change in Tehran. One notable attendee is John Bercow, the former Speaker of the U.K. House of Commons, who traveled to speak at the convention and to spotlight mass executions and legal repression inside Iran. His participation signals cross-border concern among democrats and conservatives alike that the Iranian regime must be confronted.

Bercow highlighted the scale of the brutality when we spoke before his departure. “There is an ongoing crisis of an exponential scale of executions in Iran by the dictatorship,” Bercow said. “Over 100,000 members of the MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) opposition to the regime and its supporters have been executed over the last 45 years, including 1988 massacre. Those executions continue to this day. Nine out of 10 killed are from the MEK, the principal opposition to the regime,” Bercow added.

He spelled out hard numbers that should unsettle any observer. Bercow cited the roughly 1,500 people killed in the 2019 uprising and noted the regime’s disproportionate share of executions per capita worldwide. These are not abstract figures; they are evidence of a system that punishes dissent with lethal force and legal harassment designed to crush organized resistance.

On the convention’s aims, Bercow was blunt and direct. “The purpose of the convention is to reiterate focus and organize again the global resistance to one of the most appalling dictatorships on the face of the planet,” he said. Bercow also called the NCRI the “principled opposition” and argued that legitimacy comes from the willingness to endure risk and keep resisting. “The sheer venom and frequency of attacks by the regime [against the NCRI] is a testament to that.”

He made clear his stance on foreign involvement: focus on isolation, not intervention. “What we’re saying is two-fold: isolate the regime through the heaviest possible sanctions,” and let any claim to speak for Iranians be verified through democratic processes. The message underlines a preference for strong, principled pressure that avoids open military entanglement while denying the regime freedom to operate internationally.

Bercow insisted that weakness only invites more aggression. “First, there is no doubt that [Iran] is a dictatorship that has no respect whatsoever for weakness and appeasement. It understands…can respect strength,” Bercow said. “There’s no point thinking… we’d better be nice to them. That is a council of despair which will get the international community and long-suffering people of Iran nowhere,” he added.

He praised movement in London but urged tougher international action across the board. “The British government has made the right noises, and policy is a bit better now than it has been,” he said, while stressing the need for harsher economic measures, travel bans, and visa restrictions. “What is being done in Iran cannot be allowed to stand.”

There is room for optimism, Bercow noted, because opposition to the regime draws rare, cross-party consensus in some parliaments. “I have to tell you, I know of no other foreign affairs cause that enjoyed such united support across parliament than that for the Iranian opposition.” The convention aims to turn that political concern into tangible pressure on Tehran.

The Free Iran Convention is scheduled for November 15, running from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person. Delegates and speakers will press for isolation, accountability, and support for the organized opposition as the regime faces defections and growing unrest at home.