Iran’s exiled prince, Reza Pahlavi, has declared that reaching a reliable agreement with the Islamic Republic is impossible, pointing to its four-decade history of hostility with other countries and oppression.
Speaking to the US-based television network EWTN on Friday, Prince Reza Pahlavi said, “This regime in four decades has proven to be unreliable, dubious, untrustworthy, and I don't think it is ever possible to come to any deal with it.”
His comments follow reports that Tesla CEO and tech giant Elon Musk, now appointed to lead president-elect Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, met this week with Iran's ambassador to the United Nations—an encounter Tehran denied on Saturday.
Pahlavi described the Islamic Republic as inherently hostile to principles such as equality, human rights, and freedom, emphasizing that it operates as an extremist ideological system.
“It is an ideological radical regime that wants to export its ideology, while repressing its own people at home and trying to change the world the way they want to see it abroad.”
In a separate interview with Newsmax, Pahlavi called for a policy of maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic, paired with maximum support for the people of Iran.
He said that the Iranian people are the only ones capable of enacting meaningful change. "The solution is to make sure that the Iranian people have a better equal playing field so they internally bring pressure that will force the regime to collapse.
"That should be the foundation of the approach to the Iranian solution, which will ultimately make America breathe easier — not by deploying its fleets to maintain stability, but by depending on a nation that is freed from a regime that, unlike them, celebrates martyrdom and death."
On November 14, Pahlavi released a video message announcing his readiness to lead Iran through a transitional period and the formation of a national government. Addressing Iranians, he urged them to take advantage of the Islamic Republic’s weakened state, which he attributed to its loss of legitimacy and international setbacks.
Highlighting Iran’s wealth in natural and human resources, Pahlavi condemned Tehran’s mismanagement, saying, “Our Iran is rich in natural resources and human capital, and its people should never have to worry about lack of water and bread, medicine and healthcare, or fuel and electricity in the heat and cold.”
Concluding his message, Pahlavi said, “Now is the time to decide. Let us move towards a bright and free, prosperous and flourishing future.”
