Keith Kellogg tells Iranian dissidents the ‘window is open’ to force regime change in Tehran
Kellogg spoke at a National Council of Resistance of Iran event where French authorities banned a planned outdoor rally
Fox News June 22, 2026
As the Trump administration pushes forward with a new Iran deal, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg told a Paris gathering of the National Council of Resistance of Iran — an exiled Iranian opposition coalition aligned with the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) — that Tehran’s rulers are weaker than they have been in decades and urged dissidents to seize what he described as a historic opening.
“The window is open wider than at any moment in a generation, and windows do not stay open forever,” Kellogg said at the two-day event. “The theocratic regime in Tehran will not leave voluntarily. You must force it. The hope is here. Now must come the action.”
Kellogg, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, framed any disarmament agreement not as an endpoint, but as “the first step of something far larger,” saying it should become the foundation for Iran’s future without the current regime.
Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s president-elect, used her remarks at the conference to argue that neither war nor negotiations had solved the threat posed by Tehran’s rulers. “A peaceful, non-nuclear Iran is possible only through the overthrow of this regime by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance,” Rajavi said, adding that any international agreement to end the war should include an end to executions of political prisoners and the killing of protesters.
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Paris police arrest 20 as demonstrators defy ban on Iran opposition rally
Reuters, June 20, 2026
PARIS, June 20 (Reuters) – Protestors against political executions in Iran gathered in Paris on Saturday in defiance of a ban on the rally, at which police arrested 20 people, according to organisers.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Place Vauban near the Les Invalides monument in central Paris, butwere dispersed by police, Shahin Gobadi from the Paris-based NCRI said.
Paris police could not immediately be reached for comment.
French police banned the NCRI Iranian opposition from holding the rally on Saturday, saying there was a risk of clashes between activists holding opposing views, an argument the group described as “bogus”.
Organisers appealed the ban, but on Saturday it was upheld by a Paris court.
The ban on Thursday evening came hours after a call between France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, during which they discussed the latest developments to end the Iran war.
France’s foreign ministry rejected an allegation by the Iranian group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, that the ban was linked to the call.
The Paris-based NCRI, the political arm of the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, has held frequent rallies in the French capital over the years.They have been attended by thousands of people, including high-profile former U.S., European and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic.
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Ramesh Sepehrrad Joined @NewsNation to discuss US and Iran negotiations
The Iranian regime’s desperation was on full display when they forced a last-minute ban on the opposition rally in Paris over the weekend. A regime that cannot be at peace with its own people will never be a reliable partner in global diplomacy.
Dr. Ramesh Sepehrrad (OIAC) joined NewsNation to deliver a clear message: The West must stop legitimizing tyrants. We must lend our moral and political support to the Iranian people and the organized resistance movement (NCRI) fighting for true regime change from within.
Free Iran 2026 – Onward to a Democratic Republic
At the “Free Iran 2026” event, Maryam Rajavi honored 45 years of uninterrupted resistance against religious tyranny. Pointing to millions of Iranians suffering under a dying regime, she declared that a democratic revolution is the only path to true freedom.
Despite the mullahs’ desperate efforts to block the grand event, the regime’s fear of the NCRI and the organized resistance proves this movement remains its ultimate existential threat. The battle is clear: the people of Iran are heading onward to a democratic republic.
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