About Save Iran

The Middle East Forum

Save Iran is an initiative of the Middle East Forum (MEF), a Philadelphia-based think tank founded in 1990. MEF promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western values from Middle Eastern threats. We work through several interconnected programs combining intellectual research with on-the-ground activism.

The Middle East Forum has a long history of supporting democratic movements and human rights in the region. Our work spans policy analysis, advocacy, legal assistance for activists, and now, through Save Iran, direct operational support for the Iranian people's movement for freedom.

Why Save Iran?

For over four decades, the Islamic Republic has oppressed the Iranian people, sponsored terrorism across the Middle East, and pursued nuclear weapons that threaten regional and global security. Successive waves of protests—in 1999, 2009, 2017-2018, 2019, and 2022—have demonstrated the Iranian people's persistent desire for freedom.

The current moment is different. The regime's economic mismanagement, international isolation, and loss of legitimacy have created conditions for fundamental change. What the Iranian people lack is not courage or determination—they have shown that in abundance—but the tools, coordination, and resources to sustain their movement through the regime's violent suppression.

Save Iran was created to fill that gap. We provide the strategic support that can help transform spontaneous protests into a coordinated movement capable of achieving lasting change.

The Third Way

We reject the false binary between military intervention and passive appeasement. History has shown that sustainable political change comes from within societies, not from external imposition. At the same time, movements for freedom can benefit enormously from strategic external support—as we saw in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere during the Cold War.

Our approach focuses on three pillars:

• Connectivity: Keeping the Iranian people connected to each other and the world when the regime shuts down the internet
• Coordination: Helping diverse civil society groups—workers, students, merchants, ethnic minorities—work together toward common goals
• Sustenance: Providing humanitarian support so that workers can strike and protesters can survive the regime's economic retaliation

Our Values

Non-Violence: We support exclusively non-violent methods of resistance and democratic transition. Our work focuses on information, organization, and humanitarian support.

Iranian Agency: We believe the Iranian people themselves must lead their movement for freedom. Our role is to support, not direct. We take our cues from civil society inside Iran.

Transparency: We are committed to operating with full transparency to our donors and partners, within the bounds of operational security necessary to protect those we serve.

Compliance: All our activities operate within the bounds of U.S. law, including OFAC regulations. We maintain rigorous compliance procedures.

The Coalition

No single organization can support a movement as large and diverse as the Iranian people's struggle for freedom. That's why Save Iran is building a coalition of NGOs, diaspora organizations, philanthropists, and policy experts united by a common commitment to a free Iran.

Our partners include human rights organizations, Iranian diaspora groups, labor solidarity networks, and democracy promotion organizations. Together, we combine resources, expertise, and reach to maximize our collective impact.

If your organization shares our commitment to a free, democratic Iran achieved through non-violent means, we invite you to join the Coalition.