The exiled son of Iran’s last shah called on US President Donald Trump on Saturday to help the Iranian people, a day after the American leader said a change of power would be the “best thing”.
US-based Reza Pahlavi, who has not returned to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the monarchy, added it was “time to end the Islamic republic” while speaking to reporters at the Munich Security Conference.
Outside, around 200,000 of his supporters thronged the streets near the gathering of world leaders, calling on them to ramp up pressure against the Islamic republic after the deadly repression of nationwide protests in January.
“Javid shah” (long live the shah),” the crowd chanted as they waved green-white-and-red flags with a lion and a sun — the emblem of the toppled monarchy.
“The Iranian regime is a dead regime,” a 62-year-old protester originally from Iran who gave his name only as Said told AFP. “It must be game over.”
Pahlavi has urged Iranians at home and abroad to continue demonstrations against the authorities, calling on them to chant slogans from their homes and rooftops at 8:00 pm (1630 GMT) Saturday and Sunday, to coincide with protests in Germany and elsewhere.
Trump had said on Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the “best thing that could happen”, as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure on Tehran.
He had earlier threatened military intervention to support a wave of street protests in Iran that peaked in January and were met by a violent crackdown that rights groups say killed thousands.
“To President Trump… The Iranian people heard you say help is on the way, and they have faith in you. Help them,” Pahlavi told reporters in Munich.
“It is time to end the Islamic republic. This is the demand echoing from the bloodshed of my compatriots who are not asking us to fix the regime but to help them bury it,” he added.
– Iranian opposition divided –
When Iran began its crackdown on protests, Trump initially said the United States was “locked and loaded” to help demonstrators.
But he has recently focused his military threats on Tehran’s nuclear programme, which US forces struck last July during Israel’s unprecedented 12-day war with Iran.
Representatives of Iran and the United States, who have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after the 1979 revolution, held talks on the nuclear programme last week in Oman.
According to the Axios news outlet, the two sides are due to hold another round of negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday.
Videos verified by AFP showed people in Iran this week chanting anti-government slogans despite the ongoing crackdown, as the clerical leadership celebrated the anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
According to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 7,008 people, mostly protesters, were killed in the crackdown, though they and other rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher.
More than 53,000 people have been arrested, it added.
Pahlavi had encouraged Iranians to join the wave of protests, which Iranian authorities have said were hijacked by “terrorists” fuelled by their sworn enemies the United States and Israel.
Many protest chants had called for the monarchy’s return, and Pahlavi, 65, has said he is ready to lead a democratic transition.
The Iranian opposition remains divided and Pahlavi has faced criticism for his support for Israel, making a highly publicised visit in 2023 that fractured an attempt to unify opposition camps. He has also never distanced himself from his father’s autocratic rule.
Trump declined on Friday to say who he would want to take over in Iran from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but he added that “there are people”.
