On April 8, 2026, the United States, Israel, and the Iranian regime agreed to a two-week ceasefire, temporarily halting a devastating regionwide war that erupted on February 28. The eleventh-hour agreement, brokered with the help of Pakistan as a key mediator, brings a brief pause to a conflict that has engulfed the Middle East.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), welcomed the halt to attacks on civilian infrastructure and laid out the Resistance’s perspective on the path to true regional stability.

The human toll of the war has been catastrophic. By late March, more than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran alone. Regionally, the conflict has displaced one million people in Lebanon—where more than 1,500 have died—and resulted in civilian and military casualties across Gulf Arab states, Israel, and the loss of 13 U.S. service members.

The 15-day pause involves a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz—a vital waterway through which 20% of all global oil and natural gas passes. However, the ceasefire leaves critical issues unresolved, including the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles, and the regional proxies that the U.S. and Israel originally cited as justifications for launching the war.

In a statement, Mrs. Rajavi welcomed the ceasefire as a vital relief for civilians. She described the pause as “the most appropriate decision at the most sensitive moment by the United States.” Reiterating the core values of the movement, she emphasized that “the slogan of the Resistance and the provisional government has always been, and continues to be, peace and freedom.” Mrs. Rajavi expressed her hope that the 15-day ceasefire would ultimately pave the way for a definitive end to the war, a peaceful outcome she noted is strictly “contrary to what the remnants of the mullahs and the Shah seek.”

While international attention remains fixated on shipping routes and missile alerts across the region, the Iranian regime has exploited the fog of war to quietly accelerate its brutal crackdown on domestic dissent.

In just the past week, the regime has executed 10 political prisoners, including six members of the PMOI. Pointing to this immediate and severe human rights crisis, Mrs. Rajavi strongly asserted a necessary condition for the global community moving forward. “The stopping of executions in Iran, as a demand of all the people of Iran, should be included in any international agreement,” she added.

Temporary pauses and shipping agreements cannot cure the fundamental instability emanating from Tehran. The unresolved issues of the regime’s nuclear ambitions and regional terrorism demonstrate that diplomacy without addressing the root cause is inherently flawed.

As Mrs. Rajavi underscored, lasting peace—a principle the Iranian Resistance has championed for the past 45 years—”can only be achieved through the overthrow of the terrorist and warmongering dictatorship of the absolute clerical rule (Velayat-e-Fagih) by the Iranian people and the organized resistance, and the establishment of a democratic republic.”

© Eurasia Review