Friends, I spoke earlier today at the demonstration, and this is what I said:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In this month of June, France remembers.
It remembers the Occupation.
It remembers the Resistance.
It remembers the women and men who refused to kneel before tyranny.
It remembers that freedom is not given.
It is won.
And it must be defended.
Today, if we have gathered before you, it is because the Iranian people are fighting their own struggle for freedom.
For decades, Iranians have been portrayed as a people who submitted.
Yet the truth is very different.
For nearly half a century, they have resisted.
They have resisted in prisons.
In universities.
In factories.
In the streets.
They have resisted even in the cemeteries where their murdered children are buried.
Because what governs Iran today is not the expression of the Iranian people's will.
It is an occupation.
An ideological occupation that has taken a nation thousands of years old hostage.
An occupation that has diverted Iran's immense wealth to finance an ideological project that does not reflect the aspirations of the Iranian people.
An occupation that plunders national resources while Iranian families sink deeper into poverty.
An occupation that imprisons, tortures, and executes those whose only demand is the right to live freely in their own country.
Just as occupied France once did, occupied Iran today is not asking for charity.
It is asking for solidarity.
French history teaches us a fundamental truth:
Without the Resistance, France would never have been liberated.
But without the support of the free world, the Resistance could never have triumphed.
No one would have dared say to the French Resistance:
"You are on your own."
No one would have dared tell France that it should negotiate with those who oppressed it.
So why should Iranians today be expected to accept what the French would have rejected yesterday?
We are not asking others to carry out our revolution for us.
We are asking the world to stop supporting our oppressors.
We are asking the world to recognize the legitimacy of our struggle.
We are asking the world to stand with the Iranian people.
And this people have paid a terrible price.
Thousands of political prisoners.
Thousands of executions.
Thousands of broken families.
Thousands of young lives cut short by the regime's bullets.
Many of them carried the Lion and Sun.
That symbol is more than a flag.
It is the symbol of a nation that refuses to die.
It is the symbol of those who fell with the name of Iran on their lips.
It is the symbol of those who gave their lives so that their country might one day be free again.
Today, despite every attempt at manipulation, despite the regime's propaganda, despite relentless disinformation campaigns, one figure has emerged as the rallying point for the overwhelming majority of Iranians who reject both the Islamic Republic and ideological extremist movements.
That figure is Prince Reza Pahlavi.
Why?
Because he embodies what the Iranian people are demanding.
Democracy.
The rule of law.
Fundamental freedoms.
The territorial integrity of Iran.
And above all, the right of the Iranian people to choose their future freely through the ballot box.
He does not ask to be appointed.
He asks that the people decide.
That is why so many Iranians, regardless of their political backgrounds, stand behind him today.
And we also have a clear message for Western governments:
Stop choosing, on our behalf, who is supposed to represent us.
Stop manufacturing artificial opposition movements.
Stop promoting organizations that the Iranian people themselves reject.
In what democratic country would an opposition movement be appointed from abroad?
Would anyone suggest that candidates tolerated by the Kremlin represent the true Russian opposition?
Would anyone award them international prizes and then claim they speak for the Russian people?
Then why impose upon Iranians something that would never be accepted for any other nation?
The voice of Iran is in Iran.
It is in the prisons.
In the universities.
In the streets.
In the factories.
It is in the streets of Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, and Zahedan.
It is with the mothers mourning their murdered children.
It is with the young people who continue to risk their lives for freedom.
But let us be clear.
The struggle of the Iranian people is not merely the struggle of one nation seeking its freedom.
It has become one of the defining struggles of our time.
Because fighting for a free Iran is not only about Iranians.
It is about a more peaceful Middle East.
It is about ensuring that the wealth of a great nation serves its people instead of fueling conflicts, militias, and proxy wars.
It is about allowing the children of the region to grow up with hope rather than fear.
It is about confronting what we regard as one of the world's leading state sponsors of terrorism.
It is about confronting the criminal networks that thrive in the shadow of this system, whether through drug trafficking, human trafficking, or the financial networks that feed instability.
It is about the security of the peoples of the Middle East.
It is about the security of the peoples of Europe.
It is about ensuring that democracies no longer bear the consequences of the expansion of political Islamism.
When Iranians demand freedom, they are not only defending their own future.
They are defending a vision of the world built upon popular sovereignty, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and peace.
That is why our struggle extends beyond Iran's borders.
That is why it concerns every man and woman who values freedom.
Today, from France, we ask for only one thing:
Let this voice be heard.
Remember.
Remember the French Resistance.
Remember those who refused submission.
Remember those who died for freedom.
Remember the thousands of Iranians who have fallen so that their nation might live.
Do not look away.
Do not remain neutral.
As Elie Wiesel once said:
"Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim."
So today we make a simple appeal.
Remember.
Stand with us.
Stand with the Iranian people.
Stand with their freedom.
Stand with their right to choose their own destiny.
And together, let us ensure that Iran, just as France once did, finally regains its freedom.
Long live a free Iran.
Long live friendship among nations.
And long live freedom.