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The son of Iran’s late shah said on Friday that he believed the Islamic Republic would collapse amid mass protests and called for international intervention.
“The Islamic Republic will collapse – not if, but when,” Reza Pahlavi told a news conference in Washington. “I’m going back to Iran.”
Pahlavi has lived in exile in the United States since his pro-Western father was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Massive protests spread across Iran, with many protesters chanting Pahlavi’s name, which were violently suppressed by the Tehran regime. At least 2,572 people have been killed in the crackdown, according to human rights groups, but some sources claim the death toll could reach 15,000.
Pahlavi said that despite his critics, he wanted to serve as a leading figure in the transition to secular democracy.
Pahlavi has repeatedly called for intervention from US President Donald Trump, who has failed to act despite several warnings to the Iranian government.
“The Iranian people are taking decisive action on the ground. It’s time for the international community to fully participate,” Foreign Minister Pahlavi said.
He called on the international community to “protect the Iranian people by reducing the regime’s repressive capabilities, including by targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps leadership and its command and control infrastructure.”
He also called on all countries to expel Islamic Republic diplomats.
Pahlavi called for protests on January 8, which the Iranian government has since used as a legal turning point.
Iran’s justice minister claimed this week that just being on the street after that date was now considered a criminal offense, and the situation had shifted from a “protest” to an “internal conflict.”
President Trump said on Wednesday that he had heard from “good authority” that plans for executions in Iran had been halted, but suggested the Iranian government was planning speedy trials and executions in its crackdown on protesters.
Additional sources of information • AFP