Reza Pahlavi calls on the US to help Iranians searching for regime change

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FIRST ON FOX - As U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran give strategy to an historical ceasefire , opposition figures are stepping ahead with renewed urgency — calling on the US to help regime change led by the Iranian individuals.

Some of the distinguished voices is that of the exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the late Shah of Iran, who has lengthy advocated for a secular and democratic different to the Islamic Republic.

Born in Tehran in 1960, Pahlavi was formally named crown prince throughout his father’s coronation in 1967. In 1978, on the age of 17, he left Iran for army coaching with the US Air Drive in Texas. Months later, his household was compelled into exile following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the monarchy was changed by an Islamic theocratic regime that has dominated Iran ever since.

In an unique interview with Fox Information Digital, the prince mentioned the rising resistance inside Iran, his message to the army and why he believes now could be the second for President Donald Trump to behave in help of the Iranian individuals.

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Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, speaks throughout a press convention on Monday, June 23, 2025 in Paris. (Thomas Padilla/AP Photograph)

Fox Information Digital: What’s your message to President Trump and the American individuals?

Reza Pahlavi: President Trump is searching for peace within the Center East and an finish to chaos. He needs to maintain American troops protected and eventually deliver them dwelling. I would like the very same factor. However the present regime in Iran doesn't need this. It thrives on chaos and bloodshed. So true peace can solely occur when the Islamic Republic is gone.

President Donald Trump speaks throughout a media convention on the finish of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photograph/Alex Brandon)

So my message to President Trump is that this: the best way to finish the chaos and destruction is to assist the individuals of Iran to finish this regime and take their nation again. He can depart a long-lasting legacy and be one in all historical past’s nice peacemakers if this occurs. I'm able to be his companion on this course of and this mission and lead our nation right into a peaceable, democratic future as soon as once more aligned with regional stability and American pursuits. Working with President Trump, we are able to deliver down the world’s most harmful regime—and fill the void not with chaos, however with power, order, and freedom.

Iranian worshipers pray beneath a banner that includes an enormous portrait of Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei throughout a ceremony commemorating assassinated Hamas Chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, on Aug. 9, 2024. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto by way of Getty Photographs)

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FND: You said "a broad coalition of Iranians" is already working to construct a post-regime future. Who're the important thing gamers in that coalition, and the way are they coordinating inside and outdoors the nation?

RP: This coalition spans throughout sectors and ideologies—former officers, dissidents, technocrats, activists, girls’s rights leaders, employees, college students and members of the diaspora. Inside Iran, they’re organizing resistance and getting ready for a democratic transition. Exterior, we’re constructing the institutional groundwork for the day after: from transitional justice to financial restoration. Most significantly, to make sure chaos doesn't ensue and we are able to safe a peaceable transition. What unites us is just not a political occasion, however a single objective—releasing Iran from tyranny and rebuilding it as a sovereign, democratic nation.

Folks mild a hearth throughout a protest over the loss of life of Mahsa Amini, a girl who died after being arrested by the Islamic Republic's "morality police," in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 21, 2022. (West Asia Information Company)

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FND: You stress that the Iranian army and safety forces ought to defect and be part of the individuals. Have you ever been in contact with any present or former parts of the armed forces, and do you see indicators of that occuring?

RP : Sure—quietly, however clearly. I’ve had conversations with each former and present members of the armed forces. A lot of them love their nation however despise what the regime has turned it into. We're seeing rising cracks — hesitation to comply with orders, defections, and indicators of passive resistance. In latest days, I've launched a proper channel for these communications to extend. My message to them is straightforward: historical past is being written now. Stand along with your nation, not the criminals. You can be remembered to your alternative.

Iranian opposition chief and son of the final shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, holds a press convention in Paris on June 23, 2025. (JOEL SAGET/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)

FND: As a educated fighter pilot, what’s your opinion in regards to the U.S. and Israeli air marketing campaign in Iran that has shaken the foundations of Iran’s army infrastructure?

RP: I used to be proud to put on my nation's uniform, and I've flown many of those fighter jets. To see the state of disrepair and disgrace the Islamic Republic has dragged our armed forces into pains me deeply. The members of the armed forces I converse to share this ache. They hate to see our as soon as proud army used to abuse our individuals at dwelling and sow chaos and terror overseas. The brand new Iran I search may have a once-again proud armed forces that defends our nation and helps set up peace and stability within the Center East.

FND: You’ve been criticized — additionally by Iranian dissident chief Maryam Rajavi — for allegedly searching for to revive the monarchy and missing broad help amongst Iranians. What do you say to those that declare you haven't any reputable mandate and are out of contact with the individuals inside Iran?

RP: Maryam Rajavi leads a radical cult that fuses Marxist and Islamist ideologies—a gaggle that has killed American troopers and is totally rejected by Iranians. I don’t reply to assaults from terrorists, particularly these with no help on the bottom.

Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. (Iranian Chief's Press Workplace - Handout/Anadolu Company/Getty Photographs)

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I'm centered on main this motion and this modification, I'm not advocating for a specific type of authorities. Iranians will select their future type of authorities in free and truthful elections and anybody who needs to disclaim them this proper is just not a part of the democratic opposition.

My mandate is the belief of my compatriots who chant my identify not as a result of I ask for it, however as a result of I've stepped ahead to serve them and never myself. When Iran is free, the individuals—not cults or clerics—will determine our future in a nationwide referendum.

Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and conflict correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 international locations, together with Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter will be adopted on X @efratlachter.