The Iranian people are once again engaged in sustained, nationwide resistance against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that for more than four decades has relied on systematic repression, ideological coercion, and violence to maintain power. This uprising is not an isolated episode, but the continuation of a long struggle for national sovereignty, and democratic self-determination.
Since the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022, Iranian citizens from all regions have demonstrated extraordinary courage in confronting a state apparatus that employs arbitrary detention, torture, executions, and mass surveillance to suppress peaceful dissent. The persistence of these protests, despite brutal crackdowns, reflects a profound and irreversible rupture between the Iranian population and the ruling regime.
Central to this movement is the visible re-emergence of national symbols and unifying figures that transcend factionalism. The widespread invocation of Iran's pre-revolutionary national identity and the public support expressed for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi reflect a popular demand for continuity, legitimacy, and unity - rather than ideological experimentation or externally imposed alternatives. These expressions should be understood not as nostalgia, but as a rejection of the Islamic Republic's claim to represent Iran's history, culture, or future.
Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has articulated a clear commitment to a peaceful transition, national reconciliation, territorial integrity, secular governance, and the principle that the Iranian people alone must determine their system of government through a free and democratic process. His role as a unifying national figure - without seeking power by force or faction - stands in contrast to the fragmentation and coercion that have defined Iran's political landscape since 1979.
We therefore affirm:
- The legitimacy of the Iranian people's uprising against totalitarian rule.
- The right of Iranians to rally behind a nationally unifying leader, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose position has emerged through popular support rather than factional appointment.
- The responsibility of democratic governments to support the Iranian people through diplomatic pressure, targeted sanctions against regime institutions, and the protection of activists.
- The need to reject false equivalence between a brutal theocratic state, the Islamic Republic, and a population demanding freedom, the Iranian people.
- The responsibility of the international community is to support, by all appropriate means, the Iranian people's struggle for democracy and self-determination.
- This requires attentiveness to the voices expressed across Iran's streets, including the leader whose name is repeatedly invoked by the protesters themselves.
Signatories:
Nima Gholam Ali Pour (SD)
Mats Arkhem (SD)
Rasmus Giertz (SD)
Daniel Persson (SD)
Ludvig Aspling (SD)
Richard Jomshof (SD)
Erik Hellsborn (SD)
Björn Söder (SD)
Arin Karapet (M)
Staffan Eklöf (SD)
Annelie Sjöberg (SD)
Eric Palmqvist (SD)
