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Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said Saturday he is ready to lead Iran’s transition “as soon as the Islamic Republic falls.”
As the war in Iran entered its third week, Pahlavi — the son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi — said he has been working in recent months to develop a transition plan should the Iranian regime collapse to ensure the country does not experience a disruption in governance.
Pahlavi said in a social media post that “capable individuals” have been identified both inside and outside Iran to lead what he called a “transitional system.”
“The transitional system, under my leadership, will be ready to assume governance of the country as soon as the Islamic Republic falls and, in the shortest possible time, establish order, security, freedom and the conditions for Iran’s prosperity and flourishing,” he said.
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Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said on March 14 that he is ready to lead Iran’s transition should the current regime collapse. (JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)
Pahlavi has lived in exile since the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled Iran’s monarchy and established the Islamic Republic.
He has in recent years sought to position himself as a unifying opposition figure and has said he would help guide a transition of power from theocracy to democracy in Iran.
In a message addressed to his “compatriots,” Pahlavi said his plan for governing the country would fall within the framework of the “Iran Prosperity Project.”
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In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, looks on in Tehran on October 13, 2024. (Hamed JAFARNEJAD / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images)
He said that many compatriots with valuable experience and expertise have declared “their readiness to participate in the rebuilding of the country and to serve the homeland.”
Since joint operations between the U.S. and Israel began, nearly 50 regime figures have been killed, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was elected this week by Iran’s Assembly of Experts as the country’s new supreme leader.
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Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran, said the Islamic Republic is “crumbling” and called for a democratic transition following recent U.S. and Israeli military strikes. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
In an appearance last week on Fox News’ “My View” with Lara Trump, Pahlavi said the Iranian people would not accept any outcome moving forward tied to the current regime.
“Only a clean break will ensure that not only we achieve a democratic solution and alternative to this regime, but there will be people who are not in any form or shape directly associated with this regime,” he said.
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Pahlavi said the Iranian people must decide their country’s leadership and that “only the ballot box should determine the outcome and who will be responsible for our country in the future.”
“I think what we will expect any government, including, of course, the current Trump administration to recognize that indeed the best way to help the Iranian people is to allow them to make that choice freely and to support that choice as a Western democracy, as the leading democracy in the world,” he said.