{"id":438646,"date":"2026-05-12T23:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/438646\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T23:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T23:00:10","slug":"crown-prince-reza-pahlavi-urges-us-to-back-regime-change-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/438646\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urges US to back regime change in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi<\/a> called on the United States to abandon attempts to negotiate with the Islamic Republic and instead fully support regime change on Tuesday, arguing that Tehran is incapable of reform and that the current moment presents a historic opportunity to topple the regime.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the POLITICO Security Summit in Washington DC,<\/a> Pahlavi said Western governments had spent years pursuing a failed strategy of appeasement that ultimately emboldened Tehran and strengthened its regional proxy network.<\/p>\n

\u201cAppeasement has failed,\u201d Pahlavi told host Dasha Burns. \u201cThe regime was to some extent emboldened. Previous administrations allowed the regime to have access to billions of dollars that they obviously did not spend on the people of Iran and their needs, but to further strengthen their proxies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pahlavi argued that the Islamic Republic was \u201cinherently incapable\u201d of coexistence with the democratic world and warned that its activities extend far beyond the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about Hamas or Hezbollah or the Houthis,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have networks and sleeper cells operating on European and Western Hemisphere soil, including the United States\u201d – something recently documented in a report by the National Union for Democracy in Iran.<\/p>\n

\"RezaReza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and an Iranian opposition figure, stained with red substance, leaves after a press conference at the House of the Bundespressekonferenz in Berlin, Germany, April 23, 2026. (credit: REUTERS\/Liesa Johannssen)<\/p>\n

The royal also repeatedly stressed that he believes negotiations with Tehran will fail because the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) effectively controls the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regime has been weakened, but it\u2019s the radical elements that are the most in charge,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the IRGC that controls everything ultimately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he supported US boots on the ground in Iran, Pahlavi rejected the idea, saying \u201cthe boots on the ground in Iran are the Iranian people themselves.\u201d However, he argued that outside powers must continue to provide support and protection to enable Iranians to rise up against the regime.<\/p>\n

Over the course of two days in January, some 40,000 Iranian protesters were likely killed by the regime, although the total number is difficult to verify due to stringent restrictions placed on the internet<\/a> in the country. Since US and Israeli military action began against Iran on February 28, a renewed internet blackout has left the country over 70 days without internet, leaving many in the diaspora to wonder about the fate of their friends and family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On stage, Pahlavi also criticized what he described as mixed messaging from Washington, saying the US administration could not simultaneously encourage popular resistance while pursuing negotiations with Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot have it both ways,\u201d he told those gathered. \u201cYou cannot say, \u2018people, we\u2019ll keep you on ice, and we\u2019ll tell you when we\u2019re ready. In the meantime, we are attempting to figure out something else.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re really serious about it, people have already proven that they\u2019re willing to sacrifice their lives for their liberation,\u201d he added. \u201cThey just hope that this time they\u2019re not alone, that they\u2019re not going to be thrown under the bus yet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strikes against Iran were part of a ‘liberation campaign,’ not an attack against Iranians<\/p>\n

Throughout the discussion, Pahlavi strove to highlight that the Israeli and American strikes against Iranian targets were part of what he called a \u201cliberation campaign\u201d rather than an attack on the Iranian nation itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign that was led both by the Israelis and the Americans was to that extent successful, to at least hurt the regime and diminish its capability to counteract against the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrative is controlled completely by the regime,\u201d he said. \u201cThe majority of Iranian people look at this as a liberation campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pahlavi also commented that Tehran was attempting to \u201cride the storm\u201d in the hope that political leadership changes in Israel and the United States would ease pressure on the regime, with leaders in Iran \u201ctrying to buy time so there\u2019s no longer a Bibi Netanyahu<\/a> in Jerusalem or a Donald Trump<\/a> in the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pahlavi also said his movement was planning for what he described as a \u201csmooth and stable transition\u201d toward a secular democratic system, which has been well documented in the Iran Prosperity Project, including efforts to encourage defections from the regime\u2019s military and security apparatus. He claimed thousands of people within Iran\u2019s system had already made contact with his network but were waiting for clearer signals from the international community before openly defecting.<\/p>\n

He also dismissed criticism over his legitimacy and exile from Iran, saying millions of Iranians continued to support him despite nearly five decades outside the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it is for any foreign government to designate who and what should be the alternative,\u201d the exiled royal stated. \u201cIt should be for the Iranian people to decide that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called on the United States to abandon attempts to negotiate with the Islamic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,87,46,43,157282,17468,21454],"class_list":["post-438646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-operation-epic-fury","tag-operation-rising-lion","tag-reza-pahlavi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}