Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death sparks historic upheaval, with Iranians celebrating and the NCRI’s 10-point plan proposing a provisional government and free elections within six months. Ali Safavi, whose brother was executed in 1981 and witnessed the 1988 MEK massacre, frames this as a 54-year struggle’s climax, citing last Monday’s raid on Khomeini’s compound—250 protesters vs. security forces, 100 dead. Critics like Hannity blame Western appeasement, including the 2015 nuclear deal, for emboldening Iran’s global aggression, while callers urge arming opposition forces to prevent U.S. intervention. The moment hinges on Iranian unity—unlike Afghanistan’s collapse—with any nuclear revival facing swift consequences, testing whether freedom or chaos will prevail. [Automatically generated summary]
If you want to be a part of the program, let's go back to Sunday, President Trump announcing the death of the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamani, and the surrender of thousands of the Iranian military.
Listen.
Iran's formerly supreme leader, Ayatollah. Khomeini is dead.
This wretched and vile man had the blood of hundreds and even thousands of Americans on his hands and was responsible for the slaughter of countless thousands of innocent people all across many countries.
Last night, all over Iran, the voices of the Iranian people could be heard cheering and celebrating in the streets when his death was announced.
The entire military command is gone as well, and many of them want to surrender into saving their lives.
They want immunity.
They're calling by the thousands.
The hour of your freedom is at hands.
For years, you have been asking America for help.
Siege this moment.
Do not let it pass.
Unbelievable history in the making here.
Iranian people rightly cheering Khamani's death.
One Iranian protester calls out celebrities for complaining about ICE agitators while remaining silent on the current Iranian regime.
You know what's amazing about this?
You think of, oh, genocide.
Israel lost the equivalent on October 7th.
They have less than 10 million people in their population.
It's a country the size of New Jersey.
It is a tiny country, and their military might is breathtaking.
But it's born out of necessity because they've been surrounded their entire existence by people that want to wipe them off the map.
And what they've been able to accomplish in terms of protecting and securing their homeland is spectacular.
But if you think back, what was happening in the halls of Congress, college campuses, worldwide rise of anti-Semitism, which is repulsive, and the punditry class even.
I mean, unbelievable.
Now, Iranian protesters calling out a lot of the celebrities, for example, and there were many of them this weekend, you know, condemning Donald Trump.
Unbelievable.
Listen.
Mr. Mark Ruffalo, why are you talking about the ICE, that one single woman that died, that came in front of ICE?
I don't understand where you guys want to take this for Gaza and Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Neither of you have lived under the Islamic Republic tyranny that you guys are talking about the death of one single woman that I've came in front of an ICE agent, a police, and you guys are talking about, you guys have human rights.
You guys have everything that you need in your life.
We have been taken, our lives have been taken away from us.
You guys have everything, and you guys once for once have one president in your country that wants the best for the people of America that have built the land for 250 years.
America has a right to have a country.
America has a right to have a country as much as Iranians have a right to have a country.
So let's get the facts right here.
All right?
Let's not get ourselves lost in this illusion that you guys have been building for us.
And then let's take a trip down memory lane because all Democrats could care about was hating on Donald Trump and trying to get a vote on the War Powers Act from 1973.
It is not constitutional.
Here's Nancy Pelosi actually making the case against the War Powers Act.
But of course, then Barack Obama was president.
Madam Speaker, the last.
Madam Leader, you're saying that the president did not need authorization initially and still does not need any authorization from Congress, one Libya.
Yes.
Yes.
That was a great answer.
I do agree with the president that this is likely the chance, you know, one chance for a generation that the Iranian people will have.
And their hour is at hand.
I hope there are plans for countries to provide arms.
You don't win revolutions with slingshots.
And that the people will now be able to fight back after they've been slaughtered by this evil Iranian regime as they have been protesting for their liberty and freedom.
Something I've always argued is the natural state of mankind to be in.
And they have lived under tyranny and a theocracy now for far too long.
And I'm just hoping that they now might be able to, for those holdouts that are still in power, that they would have the ability to defend themselves as they now take back their government and hopefully create a new destiny and a new future for their children and their grandchildren.
Now, we had Reza Pahlavi on this program a number of times.
Joining us now is Ali Safavi, is a member of Iran's parliament in exile, National Council of Resistance of Iran, and president of Near East Policy Research and consulting and policy analysis firm from Washington, D.C. Thank you so much, Ali, for being with us.
I'm sure you're in contact with a lot of people in Iran.
Are the people now ready to take this once-in-a-generation opportunity and take their country back?
Well, thank you very much, Sean, for having me on your show again.
Actually, I'm speaking to you now from Paris.
I'm not too happy with Paris today.
I'm not too happy with Macron.
I'm not too happy with Starmer.
I'm not too happy with Spain.
I'm not too happy with a lot of countries.
I will give a tip of the hat to the Australians and even the Canadians understand the need for this regime change.
Yes, I also share your frustration.
But of course, Paris is where the NCRI headquarters is located.
And I share your point that history is in the making.
In fact, today, our president-elect Maryam Rajabi said that Khomeini's death is the death of religious tyranny in Iran.
And now is the time to establish freedom and sovereignty for the people of Iran.
And based on her 10-point plan to transfer sovereignty to the people of Iran, the NCRI announced the formation of a provisional government that would lead Iran into free and fair elections within six months of the regime's overthrow and for the election of a constitutional assembly that will draft the constitution of the new republic and lead Iran to a bright,
bright future that it so, well, it deserves.
I think for me, Sean, really, this is, it seems to me, is like a 54-year odyssey coming to a successful end.
Because when I was 19, I was in Los Angeles studying at UCLA.
I was involved in the Ati Shah movement, and we went through so much torment and suffering, and of course, only to see that it posted like Khomeini hijack a revolution.
And then when Khomeini came, my own brother, with whom we were opposed to the Shah, went to Iran, a bright young man, educated in the U.S. as an aerospace engineer, only to be arrested and executed at the age of 29.
And of course, in all these 47 years, I have seen so many, so many friends, so many families perish at the hands of this criminal regime.
100,000 members and supporters of the MEK, including 30,000 just in 1988.
So for me, in a sense, it's a bittersweet moment in that all of those who gave their lives will not be with us.
By the way, like your brother.
I mean, your brother was executed by the current Iranian regime, well, now the now dead regime in 1981 for his opposition to their repressive policies.
He was only 29 years old.
Yes, but I feel they did not die in vain.
I'm reminded of what Thomas Jefferson said, that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots and patriots they were.
And you also mentioned you hope that the Western governments provide arms to the Iranians.
It's somewhat ironic because MEK had a standing army just across the border back in 2003.
And of course, some bureaucrats in the State Department to appease Iran demanded that it be disarmed.
Now imagine if that standing army was present just across the border, how the situation would have been different.
But that's past.
Let's look to the future.
Today, there's a very vibrant, potent, structured opposition within Iran itself.
A new generation of MEK have sprung up from the blood of those who gave their lives.
And just last Monday, a week ago, 250 of them took on a daring assault, attacked Khomeini's compound last Monday.
Unfortunately, 100 of them were killed.
Some were arrested, but 150 withdrew safely.
And as we speak, they are busy attacking some garrisons, some government institutions in Iran to try to liberate them.
And of course, take whatever weapons there is to fight the IRGC.
And I absolutely agree with you that now it is time for the world to stand with the Iranian people after so many years of appeasing them, so many years of looking the other way in search of some petty economic interest, not realizing that this regime is a danger to the whole world.
Look what they've done in the region right now in the past two days, wreaking havoc in all of these capitals as far as Cyprus.
And so in this sense, I think the moment is coming for us.
And I think the people of Iran are ready to go after 120 years of tyranny, first under Reza Shah, then Mohammad Reza, and then Khomeini and Khamenei.
I think the road to a devil...
Well, Ali, let me ask you, because we're just limited on time, and I really want to get to this point.
What is likely to emerge as the next generation of leaders in Iran?
Well, I think that, first of all, as the president has correctly said, it is the people of Iran who will decide who will lead them to the future.
And we are talking about the future, not relics of the past.
I know that Reza Pahlavi has gotten a lot of headlines, has gotten a lot of soundbites, but Reza Pahlavi represents the past.
Deza Pahlavi has not distanced himself from the crimes of his father.
I've interviewed Reza Pavlavi, and he was very clear.
He said it doesn't have to be me.
He just wants to be of assistance in the transition.
He was very clear to me about that.
But you know, just last week he issued a statement basically lashing out at 35% of the Iranian population, the Kurds, the Baluchis, the Arabs, saying that they have no right to autonomy within the territorial integrity of Iran.
But our point is, really, we do not need to stick with people who represent the past.
We have to look at the future.
And what is that future?
We want a republic in Iran like the United States is.
All right, quick break.
More with Ali Safavi, a member of Iran's Parliament in Exile, National Council of Resistance, and President of Near East Policy Research.
Anyway, more with him on the other side.
What does the future now hold for Iran as they have this once-in-a-generation opportunity to actually fix their country?
Then we'll get your calls in on the other side, 800-941-Sean, this Monday as we continue.
All right, we continue with Ali Safavi.
He is a member of Iran's Parliament in Exile, National Council of Resistance of Iran.
The President, I think, is dead right.
You've asked for this help.
You've asked for this freedom.
You've asked for this opportunity, likely, you know, a chance for, you know, only one chance in a generation.
What are you going to do with it?
And what is the plan of Iranians to get control of their government and have free and fair elections and hopefully a democratic republic emerge?
Ideally, the people of Iran will get an opportunity, hopefully sooner than later, to vote.
I'm not going to get involved in your domestic political arguments or debates.
But I will tell you, I don't think the president is wrong.
I think this is likely one chance that'll last for a generation.
And the hour of your freedom's at hand, and you've been asking for American help.
You've got it.
And if you don't join together and seize this moment and you let it pass, it's going to be a mistake.
So everybody better put aside whatever disagreements they have, work together, and give the Iranian people a chance to rebuild their once great society.
No, I absolutely agree with you.
In fact, that's what Mrs. Rajabi also underscored, that all Iranians must come together and work toward having a free and democratic republic in the future where the rights of all citizens, regardless of creed, regardless of religion, regardless of gender, are respected and that there's gender equality.
So it is, as you said, is a momentous occasion.
And I do not believe after 120 years, the people of Iran are going to let this opportunity go by.
Certainly, we're not going to do that.
I do want to return to Iran after being in exile for 54 years.
I think it is time, and we will definitely do that and make Iran.
Iranian people need to have elections and they need to get armed and they need to be able to fight back against remnants of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, whatever Quds forces remains.
Ronald Reagan's Vision for Iran00:02:39
And everybody had better understand that you better move expeditiously.
America is not doing this again.
You know, America, you know, there's only so many windows of opportunity you can get to be a master of your own destiny, and it's very important, I think.
Ali Safavi, we appreciate you being with us.
Thank you, sir.
You know, there are some people that get it, and then there are people that don't get it.
Let's start with then President Ronald Reagan talking about Iran and what a blot it was on our record.
Now, remember, 1979, the Iranian Revolution.
Remember, Jimmy Carter, 440 days Americans held hostage.
Ronald Reagan gets sworn in January 20th, 1981.
And as he's being sworn in, those hostages get released.
Why?
Because they feared Ronald Reagan, just like they fear Donald Trump.
Maybe they didn't fear him enough to their own detriment.
And here's what Reagan said about Iran back in the day.
I did criticize the president because of our undercutting of what was a stalwart ally, the Shah of Iran.
And I am not at all convinced that he was that far out of line with his people or that they wanted that to happen.
The Shah had done our bidding and carried our load in the Middle East for quite some time.
And I did think that it was a blot on our record that we let him down.
Have things gotten better?
The Shah, whatever he might have done, was building low-cost housing, had taken land away from the mullahs and was distributing it to the peasants so they could be landowners, things of that kind.
But we turned it over to a maniacal fanatic who has slaughtered thousands and thousands of people, calling it executions.
Now, he made those comments in October of 84.
I want to take you back 11 years, though, 2015.
And this is Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
I mean, he's had this moral clarity, understanding.
Frankly, it's born in genius.
He's so smart, warning about the threat of Iran.
This is 11 years ago.
Listen.
I think everything that needs to be said about the details of this deal has already been said.
I do want to be recorded for history's purposes before I know what was going to happen in regards to this if it goes through.
Iran will immediately use the money that it's receiving in sanctions relief to begin to build up its conventional capabilities.
Iran's Nuclear Ambitions00:02:58
It will establish the most dominant military power in the region outside of the United States, and it will raise the price of us operating in the region.
They're going to build anti-access capabilities, rockets capable of destroying our aircraft carriers and ships.
Continue to build these swift boats that are able to come on us, these fast boats that are able to swarm our naval assets.
And it'll make it harder and harder for U.S. troops to be in the region.
They'll also work with other terrorist groups in the region to target American servicemen and women.
And they may or may not deny that they're involved, but they will target us and raise the price of our presence in the Middle East until they hope to completely pull us out of that region.
They'll also continue to build long-range missiles, missiles capable of reaching the United States.
Those are not affected by this deal, and they'll continue to build them as they've been doing.
And then at some point in the near future, when the time is right, they will build a nuclear weapon.
And they will do so because at that point, they will know that they have become immune, that we will no longer be able to strike their nuclear program because the price of doing so will be too high.
This is not just a work of imagination.
It exists in the world today.
It's called North Korea, where a lunatic possesses dozens of nuclear weapons and a long-range rocket that can already reach the United States.
And we cannot do anything about it.
An attack on North Korea today would result in an attack on Tokyo or Seoul or Guam or Hawaii or California.
And so the world must now live with a lunatic in possession of nuclear weapons.
And this is the goal Iran has as well: to reach a point where they become immune to any sort of credible military threat because the price of a military strike would be too high.
All right, let's get to our busy, busy phones.
Let's say hi to Kevin.
He's in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. Kevin.
Hi, how are you?
Glad you called.
How are you doing, Sean?
Let me put it to you like this.
And you summed it up eloquently.
Most people have forgotten that the U.S. Navy transits a straight to our moves.
I have three awards for transiting these straight of our moves.
The Iranians have Silkwar missiles, 105 howitzers.
At least once a month, they take a crew.
How should it take detain the crew of oil tankers because they say they pass through their territorial waters?
They literally have jammers on that point where they can jam GPS.
So sometimes those ships wander into Iranian territorial waters.
The insurance companies pay to have them released.
Then on top of that, most people forgot that they took one of our naval reveal crews hostage in 2014, basically saying they had wandered into Iranian waters.
These moves have been at war with us for 49 years.
You also forgot, Sean, the Navy launched Operation Pray Manets in 1987.
Probably Part Of The Plan00:05:40
The largest military, one-day military operation since World War II, because the Iranians were out there mining the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf itself.
We caught them red-handed.
What does it take, Sean, for the Democrats to understand that this theocracy has to go?
The Persian people are oppressed.
They're crying out for freedom.
Where are the protests in the streets from the other side?
I saw Iranians out in the street here in Washington, D.C., celebrating the death of Khomeini.
Where are they, Sean?
Well, where are all these kids on college campuses that, you know, Israel loses the equivalent of 40,000 Americans in a day?
And if that happened to this country, I'm pretty sure every American would stand up and demand its government obliterate the country responsible.
And yet all these people on college campuses around the world, in the halls of Congress, on airwaves, I mean, just blasting Israel for defending its sovereignty.
I mean, and not a peep.
We've had a mass slaughter in the lead up to the actions this weekend.
Mass slaughter of students and people taking to the streets tired of living under this, you know, radical, extreme, Islamo-fascist theocracy.
And they wanted freedom.
And by doing so, they did it at great risk.
And tens of thousands were slaughtered as a result.
You don't win revolutions with slingshots.
I've said this my entire career.
That's why I'm hoping that the students, the people in Iran, I'm hoping that they get the arms for any remaining revolutionary guard forces that won't lay down their weaponry.
And if this regime, you know, whatever remnants are there, that they get toppled.
Whoever's making these decisions to continue to bomb neighboring countries and attack Israel, they need to go.
And then the people must take control of their own destiny.
The Trump doctrine is clear.
We're not going to be the ones responsible for that.
They've been asking for help.
President Trump promised them help is on the way.
Now help came and arrived in a more spectacular fashion than anybody predicted.
Now is their moment of truth.
And I do believe it is the natural calling or state of mankind to be free that we're endowed by our creator.
And people have had it with this rigid and oppressive theocracy that has created nothing but poverty, misery, dying, and death.
It's been a death cult.
And now's their chance.
I hope they take advantage of it.
I do too.
And I want to say to our brave soldiers and airmen and all our military personnel: God be with you.
Be safe.
Okay.
You're carrying out a righteous mission.
Okay.
And we have a commander-in-chief who knows that once the mission is finished, we're out of there.
They will be able to set up the government they want.
If they want to go back to a theocracy, that may happen.
If they want freedom, it may happen.
But we let the Iranian people decide.
The one thing any new leader in the region, in that country, will know what their fate is if, in fact, they try to reconstitute their ballistic missile or nuclear weapons systems.
They're not going to be able to get away with it.
Anyway, appreciate the call, my friend, 800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
John, live-free or die, New Hampshire, sir.
How are you?
Glad you called.
Hello.
How are you?
Hello.
I'm fine.
How are you?
Glad you called.
Sorry for that.
Hey, Sean.
I wanted to say thank you for what you do.
Jesus has really come down from the heavens on this last election.
Charlie Kirk has been right about a lot of stuff about Donald Trump being a very rare breed of president.
We're probably never going to see, there's nothing like him for the next 150 years, probably.
And he said that.
He also mentioned Iran being the ways that they do things here.
But I wanted to ask your opinion, sir, Sean, and your listeners.
I want to see what would happen if we gave the Iranian people weapons, small arms.
I know you're a big small arms guy.
I am too.
And had them fight their own government to level that out so we don't have to bring any soldiers in.
We're not going to bring any soldiers in.
I can tell you that's not part of the Trump doctrine.
I don't see any scenario under which that's going to happen.
That will be the only way to ultimately finish the job.
And if you have millions of Iranians that, in fact, do have weapons and they rise up against the remnants of this regime and there's not a lot, or if for those revolutionary guard forces that will not put their weapons down, there's only one way to get rid of them.
And you just described perfectly what that method is.
I've got to believe that's probably part of the plan.
Why Defend Texas?00:02:55
As a matter of fact, I already know it's part of the plan.
Okay.
Awesome.
And I'm a big believer in Burna.
I have one myself.
I absolutely.
It's great technology.
I love it.
You're not taking life.
You're stopping a threat.
And it's a very quick way to disarm a person in New Hampshire.
We do have a standard ground state.
And in Massachusetts, they don't have a standard ground.
You have a duty retreat, and you need an LTC.
And I have no interest in carrying in mass because of the law.
So I do recommend a burnout, but I do have firearms myself.
But 0.0001%.
It is a great option for the majority of cases where you may find a need to defend yourself or your family.
And the lethal option brings with it a lot of consequences.
That's not my first choice.
That's why I have both every day.
Part of my overall security strategies.
Appreciate you, man.
Thank you.
All right.
Quick break right back to our busy phones.
It's toll-free, 800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program as we continue.
All right, let's get back to our busy phones.
800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
I think we have a minute left.
Let's say hi to Jeff in Texas.
Jeff, how are you?
God bless Texas, sir.
Hey, Sean, great to talk with you.
Two points I want to bring up, and I'll try to be quick.
My first one is people being hesitant about this new conflict with regards to regime change with the big, nasty word or set of words.
I actually got the regime has been changed, whether we want to acknowledge it or not.
But yes, I know what you're saying.
Yeah, and I had the pleasure of serving in the Army as an officer.
And in preparation for my unit going to Afghanistan, we had a soldier show up straight from basic training, 18 years old, double-checked his birthday.
Sure enough, he had been born after September 11th, 2001.
So he was going to go fight for a war that started before he was born.
But when you look at Afghanistan, there were hundreds of tribes all scattered around, all isolated.
And we tried to go in there and make democracy happen in a seventh century culture.
It just wasn't going to happen.
But Iran is completely different.
They're much more civilized.
They were very civilized before the Islamic Revolution.
And I think there's a real chance to make real change there that wasn't possible in Afghanistan.
I totally agree with you.
I mean, the Persian culture was once a great, incredible culture, and it can be again.
And I believe the people now have been crying out for it.
Now their moment of truth is at hand.
Anyway, my friend, appreciate you.
God bless Texas.
800-941-Sean, you want to be a part of the program?