Reza Pahlavi Appeals to Iranian Officials to Break with the Islamic Republic

Reza Pahlavi is the son of the late Shah, who has been living in exile in the United States ever since Ayatollah Khomeini replaced his father as the ruler of Iran. He has been appealing to Iranian officials, including military leaders, to break with the Islamic Republic, now that it has been dealt blow after blow by Israel, severely weakening the hold of the regime on its people. More about his latest appeal to his fellow countrymen, especially about the maleficent power of the IRGC, and his own possible role in a future Iranian government, can be found here.

The ceasefire announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning could bring some much-needed respite after 12 days of Israel bombing Iran, Iranian missiles killing Israelis, and the US finally entering the fray.

But while missiles may no longer be flying, a crucial question still hangs in the balance: the future of the Islamic Republic.

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At a Monday press conference in Paris, Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi presented his plan for a viable future for Iranians outside of the Islamic regime, which has held the country in its grip for 46 years.

“I have a direct message for [Iranian Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei,” Pahlavi stated. “Step down. And if you do, you will receive a fair trial and due process of law, which is more than you have ever given any Iranian.

“To other senior regime officials: Those of you whose hands are soiled with the blood of the Iranian people, you too will have to face justice. But we will not repeat the mistakes made in other failed transitions. To those of you who are loyal to the Iranian nation and not the Islamic Republic, there is a future for you in a democratic Iran if you join the people now. The choice is yours to make.”

Pahlavi was directing his message at the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the regime’s feared enforcer.

“To that end, today, I am announcing that I am establishing a formal channel for military, security, and police personnel to reach out directly to me, my team, and our expanding operation. This is a secure platform to efficiently manage the growing volume of inbound communications and requests from those breaking with the regime and seeking to join our movement.”…

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Israel has killed several high-ranking Iranian officials, including Hossein Salami, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces and, more importantly, commander-in-chief of the IRGC; Gholam Ali Rashid, deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces and head of the IRGC’s Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters; and Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force, the IRGC’s special forces.

In fact, the IDF has killed not “several high-ranking Iranian officials,” but more than two dozen of its generals and senior commanders in both the IRGC and the regular army.

Reza Pahlavi appeals in his address not only to the people of Iran, three-quarters of whom have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Islamic Republic and the corrupt and cruel rulers they have had to endure. His appeal is mainly to the leaders, both military and civilian, who hold power, but may finally realize that for the regime, so weakened by Israel’s onslaught, the end is nigh. They have seen dozens of their generals and commanders killed, fifteen of Iran’s senior nuclear scientists assassinated, the nuclear facilities built around the country, including the three most important ones at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, largely destroyed. The Islamic Republic is believed to have spent more than one hundred billion dollars on its nuclear program that has now been reduced to dust and ashes. Ten of Iran’s airbases have been destroyed, as have the planes — F-4s, F-14s, AH-1s — that were sitting ducks on the tarmac or in bunkers. Iran’s store of ballistic missiles has been greatly reduced, its ballistic missile factories flattened. Surely this has caused some of those Iranian leaders, not all of whom are fanatical Muslims in the vein of the Supreme Leader, to consider both the future wellbeing of their country, and their own wellbeing in the face of ever greater public disaffection.

Reza Pahlavi offers himself as a possible constitutional monarch with purely symbolic powers in the Iran that is to come after the Islamic Republic crumbles. He sees himself in the vein of the Scandinavian kings, fulfilling purely ceremonial roles, not as an absolute monarch as was his father. He’s worth heeding, both in Iran, among the members of the ruling class whose loyalty to the regime is wavering or gone, and in the chanceries of the West.