Iran Opposition Group Rallies in Washington for Regime Change

Supporters of Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq at a rally in Washington in 2013. (Reuters)
Supporters of Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq at a rally in Washington in 2013. (Reuters)
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Iran Opposition Group Rallies in Washington for Regime Change

Supporters of Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq at a rally in Washington in 2013. (Reuters)
Supporters of Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq at a rally in Washington in 2013. (Reuters)

Members of the Iranian Mujahedeen-e-Khalq opposition group rallied in Washington on Friday for regime change in Tehran.

Clad in yellow vests emblazoned with the words "Free Iran," more than 1,000 members of the group gathered outside the State Department to demand an end to Iran's theocratic government.

After the rally, the demonstrators were to march to the White House to press their case.

"We have and will continue to declare that what we seek is the regime's overthrow, overthrow, overthrow," the group's Paris-based leader Maryam Rajavi said in a video message to the crowd, which also included current and former US lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Known as the MEK, the group has hosted Trump's hawkish national security adviser John Bolton at previous events and the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is a supporter.

Iran views the group as a threat, and last year its annual rally in Paris that Giuliani attended was the target of a Tehran-backed bomb plot that was thwarted by arrests.

An Austrian-based Iranian diplomat is being held in Belgium, where police found bomb material in the car of a couple of Iranian origin.

Friday’s demonstration comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran.

Trump said Friday that he had approved but then called off military strikes against Iran to retaliate for Iran's downing of a US drone in the Gulf.

The destruction of the drone was the latest in an escalating series of incidents in the Gulf region, a critical artery for global oil supplies, since mid-May, including explosive strikes on six oil tankers.



US Moving Fighter Jets to Middle East as Israel-Iran War Rages

This handout grab taken from footage released by the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) on June 11, 2025 shows the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) conducting flight operations in the South China Sea, on May 28, 2025. (AFP Photo / DVIDS / Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Edward Jacome - Handout)
This handout grab taken from footage released by the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) on June 11, 2025 shows the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) conducting flight operations in the South China Sea, on May 28, 2025. (AFP Photo / DVIDS / Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Edward Jacome - Handout)
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US Moving Fighter Jets to Middle East as Israel-Iran War Rages

This handout grab taken from footage released by the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) on June 11, 2025 shows the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) conducting flight operations in the South China Sea, on May 28, 2025. (AFP Photo / DVIDS / Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Edward Jacome - Handout)
This handout grab taken from footage released by the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) on June 11, 2025 shows the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) conducting flight operations in the South China Sea, on May 28, 2025. (AFP Photo / DVIDS / Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Edward Jacome - Handout)

The US military is deploying more fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other warplanes, bolstering US military forces in the region as the war between Israel and Iran rages, three US officials said.

One of the officials said the deployments include F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter aircraft.

Two of the officials stressed the defensive nature of the deployment of fighter aircraft, which have been used to shoot down drones and projectiles.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters was first to report on Monday the movement of a large number of tanker aircraft to Europe as well as the deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Middle East, providing options to President Donald Trump as Middle East tensions soar.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the deployments as defensive in nature, as Washington looks to safeguard forces in the Middle East from potential blowback from Iran and Iran-aligned forces in the region.

A fourth US defense official on Tuesday raised the possibility of the deployment to the Eastern Mediterranean of additional US Navy warships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.

The United States already has a sizeable force in the Middle East, with nearly 40,000 troops in the region, including air defense systems, fighter aircraft and warships that can detect and shoot down enemy missiles.

Israel launched its air war, its largest ever on Iran, on Friday after saying it concluded Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.