Son of Shah Says Iranian Regime Nearing End

The exiled son of Iran’s last shah said that he has “no doubt” that the current regime is on its way out.

“The gradual erosion of faith and trust in Islamist rule since the revolution has accelerated in the last decade,” Reza Pahlavi told Yisrael Hayom. “In the last three years, the change has been so drastic that only a few in Iran still believe that the young generation will long tolerate this oppressive regime from the dark ages.”

Regarding the 2015 nuclear deal, Pahlavi said it gave Tehran the funds to engage in “destructive and destabilizing actions.”

“Through its armed proxies, the Islamic Republic has vast regional superiority in low-intensity warfare. But it fears escalation to high-intensity engagement, where it has technological inferiority. That is why it wants a nuclear umbrella, to deter high-intensity escalation.”

The nuclear deal “guarantees no escalation, the regime gets what it wants and continues to achieve its regional expansionism through low-intensity operations. But the West loses what it needs: peace and stability in the region.”

Pahlavi made similar comments to the Times of London in January 2020, at the time when street protests over the economic situation suggested the ayatollahs were losing their grip.

“The cracking from within of the system is getting more and more obvious,” he said then. “When you look at the circumstances in Iran today, put yourselves in the shoes of the worst-off — how long can it possibly be sustained?”

Reza Pahlavi was 17 when he fled into exile with his family during the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the monarchy.