Mike Pence: Iranian Regime Has Never Been Weaker Than it is Today

Rajavi hosted Pence in Albania last year. Gent SHKULLAKU / AFP
Rajavi hosted Pence in Albania last year. Gent SHKULLAKU / AFP
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Mike Pence: Iranian Regime Has Never Been Weaker Than it is Today

Rajavi hosted Pence in Albania last year. Gent SHKULLAKU / AFP
Rajavi hosted Pence in Albania last year. Gent SHKULLAKU / AFP

Former US vice president Mike Pence has said the "Iranian regime has never been weaker than it is today" in the wake of the protest movement that erupted in September.

"This is not just another protest but the beginning of a revolution for freedom," Pence, vice president under Donald Trump who is now seeking to challenge his former boss for the Republican nomination, told a conference in Auvers-sur-Oise outside Paris.

"One of the biggest lies the ruling regime has sold to the world is that there is no alternative,” he added.

Saturday’s conference was organized by the People's Mujahedin (MEK) group outlawed by Tehran, as thousands of supporters of the group staged a rally in the center of the French capital that had initially been banned by the police.

"No oppressive regime can last forever," said Pence who addressed the meeting in person and last year met MEK's leader Maryam Rajavi at its headquarters in Albania.

"Appeasement towards the mullahs' regime may lead to more bloodshed among our people," Rajavi told the meeting, while adding it would "be futile in protecting" supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "from his inevitable downfall."



Death Toll in Pakistan Building Collapse Rises to 27

Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)
Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)
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Death Toll in Pakistan Building Collapse Rises to 27

Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)
Rescue workers recover a victim's body during a search operation amidst the debris of a collapsed building in Karachi on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP)

Rescue teams were in the final stages of clearing the wreckage of a five-story building that collapsed in Pakistan's mega city of Karachi killing 27 people, officials said Sunday.

Residents reported hearing cracking sounds shortly before the apartment block crumbled around 10:00 am on Friday in Karachi's impoverished Lyari neighborhood, which was once plagued by gang violence and considered one of the most dangerous areas in Pakistan.

"Most of the debris has been removed," Hassaan Khan, a spokesman for government rescue service 1122 told AFP, adding that the death toll stood at 27 on Sunday morning.

He expected the operation to finish by the afternoon.

Authorities said the building had been declared unsafe and eviction notices were sent to occupants between 2022 and 2024, but landlords and some residents told AFP they had not received them.

"My daughter is under the rubble," 54-year-old Dev Raj told AFP at the scene on Saturday.

"She was my beloved daughter. She was so sensitive but is under the burden of debris. She got married just six months ago."

Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and shoddy construction materials in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.

But Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, ageing infrastructure, overcrowding, and lax enforcement of building regulations.