Hundreds of Iranian war demonstrators rally near CPAC 2026 to thank Trump
A rally in support of the American and Israeli-led war against Iran was held Thursday evening near the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, where CPAC 2026 is being held.
Roughly 100 people chanted, “Thank you, Trump” with dozens of Iranian, American and Israeli flags waving over their heads and around their shoulders.
On the corner of Fairway Drive and Texas 26, a stage was set up where a slew of speakers stepped up to invigorate the crowd. Some declined to provide their full names, citing safety concerns.
One Iranian-American woman told the crowd she was at the Thursday rally outside CPAC to support Iranians stuck under Islamic Republic of Iran control.
She decried the killing of men and women whose “only crime is to want freedom, not to wear a hijab, be able to go out in the streets, have a free Democratic Republic like we do here in the States.”
She and others attending CPAC and the rally supported having exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as the leader of Iran. The woman said she doesn’t want terrorist groups to take root in America.
Pahlavi is the son of the last Shah of Iran, who was an ally of the United States. The Pahlavi Dynasty was dethroned in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution and replaced with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iranian war rally erupts outside CPAC main stage ballroom
A similar rally erupted outside the CPAC main stage around noon Thursday but was quickly broken up by security at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.
Shortly after two Iranian women left the main stage of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a few dozen CPAC attendees rallied around the ballroom doors to display their appreciation for Trump and Pahlavi.
Yasmin Azimi, a demonstrator and Iranian-American, said the participants want to see the Islamic Republic of Iran ousted and replaced with Pahlavi.
“There’s no other choice for Iran,” she said.
In the nearly 50 years the Islamic Republic has been in power, threats of “death to America” and the antagonization of the west have been prominent in Iran, said Hiva Wallace, an adviser at United Against Nuclear Iran, on stage before the rally began.
Azimi said having Pahlavi as the head of Iran would bring democracy back to the country and end the humanitarian crisis there.
“My responsibility is also to open the eyes of my fellow Americans to be more aware of what’s going on in the country and what’s happened in Iran for 47 years,” Azimi said. “It’s not going to happen here. So please open your eyes and look at what’s happened in Iran. You don’t want that in America. America is a Christian country. Keep it that way.”
The demonstration was continued in another area of the conference by about a dozen participants chanting, “Regime change for Iran,” “Thank you, Trump” and “Down with Islamic Republic.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 2:26 PM.