ByREUTERS

JULY 28, 2026 14:08

As the United States and Israel launched military action against Iran this year, a pivotal chance appeared to open for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah toppled in 1979.

Although he has not returned to Iran in nearly five decades, Pahlavi has traveled across the US and Europe to deliver addresses on a hopeful future for his country, gather funds, and consult with elected leaders.

"The Iranian people have urged me to guide the transition once the regime ends," he stated on X shortly after fighting erupted in late February. "I have taken on that duty."

At a Texas gathering in March, Pahlavi drew one of the warmest welcomes at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Supporters of President Donald Trump and many Iranian Americans, some wrapped in the pre-1979 flag, gave him a 45-second ovation as he stepped forward.

Four days later, Trump stunned Iranian exiles with a social-media message declaring the US would blast Iran into oblivion or back to the Stone Ages.

Some of Pahlavi's Iranian-American donors, who had contributed over $3 million expecting him to head a transitional government, were taken aback when he did not quickly denounce the remarks.

His strong showing at CPAC now looks like the high point of his visibility as the main candidate for any post-regime role. Though he keeps campaigning, momentum has slowed.

In mid-January, Trump told Reuters that Pahlavi seems pleasant yet questioned how he would fare inside Iran. Behind the scenes, the administration kept the prince at a distance. When activist Ahmad Batebi prepared to speak at a UN Security Council session on January 15 about Tehran's crackdown on protests, US Ambassador Mike Waltz advised him against naming Pahlavi, according to two people close to the discussion. Batebi, who backs Pahlavi, followed the advice.

Waltz later said he recommended focusing on Batebi's own prison experience and the regime's brutality to maximize impact rather than opposition politics.

In June, the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran omitted any reference to regime change. The US instead pledged to honor Iran's sovereignty and avoid meddling in its affairs, while again setting Pahlavi aside.

"The President never stated that his aim was to place Reza Pahlavi in charge of Iran," Vice President JD Vance told podcaster Megyn Kelly after the June memorandum. Pahlavi and his aides responded by criticizing the deal online.

Some financial backers in a private WhatsApp group have grown frustrated not only by Pahlavi's soft response to Trump's wartime rhetoric. In private discussions, according to three people familiar with the talks, Pahlavi heard but did not follow advice to work harder at uniting the opposition and to denounce violence or harassment by some radical supporters against other dissidents. No evidence links Pahlavi to those acts.

Pahlavi's stalled effort underscores a key shortcoming in the US-Israeli campaign: the absence of a clear successor to the Islamic Republic. After strikes began in late February, Trump urged Iranians to rise up. Despite an attack that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the government endured and, in the eyes of many observers, strengthened its grip.

Pahlavi Tells Reuters in Paris That the Islamic Regime Is Near Collapse

In two Reuters interviews this month, including a long session in Paris, Pahlavi maintained that Iran's government is very close to falling. "This effort began 46 years ago as a lifelong mission to free Iran," he said. "It has never centered on me but on the Iranian people's right to choose their path."

His part, he explained, is to steer a shift to democracy: "I am not the end goal; I am a bridge to it."

The Iranian mission to the UN in New York did not reply to requests for comment.

While backers see Pahlavi as a unifying figure, several unity efforts he joined have failed. In one 2023 case, three people said his wife insulted other opposition figures, a claim she rejects.

Two activists also described him as offering words but little action in a drive to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group.

For this report, Reuters spoke with more than 50 individuals, including eight current and former Pahlavi associates, examined hundreds of pages of documents, and reviewed extensive video, photo, and social-media records.

Pahlavi's chief qualification remains his lineage as the son of Iran's last shah. Unlike figures such as Nelson Mandela or Lech Walesa, he lacks a large organized base inside Iran ready to assume power.

Iran's government has also removed many potential rivals by jailing or killing thousands of dissidents and reportedly targeting critics overseas.

Pahlavi rejected the notion of a faltering campaign and described an active "mobilization to overcome this regime." He called claims that he has not built broad support untrue, noting large protests on January 8 and 9 that drew government fire.

He said he stays in touch with cell leaders from over a thousand groups spanning labor, academia, religion, and ethnic networks to act when an opening appears. Reuters could not verify the exact number of groups involved.

The January deaths of protesters, which an Iranian official put at least at 5,000 and Pahlavi at 40,000, shifted his stance on outside intervention.

"This regime shows no mercy," he said. "It is ready to kill thousands of its own people, so views on intervention must adjust." Iranians remain the boots on the ground, he added, but need foreign military support to level the field.

He stressed he has not sought any government's endorsement: "It is not for a foreign power to pick Iran's alternative. That choice belongs to the Iranian people."

Pahlavi Avoids Direct Comment on Trump's Stone Ages Remark During Operation Epic Fury

In the interviews, Pahlavi did not directly address Trump's post about blasting Iran back to the Stone Ages. He repeated that strikes should target the regime hard while avoiding civilian infrastructure.

On his movement, Pahlavi firmly rejected violence by radical supporters and said he has long worked to unite the opposition by bringing together people from all backgrounds, including some once seen as his father's enemies.

Critics are free to hold their views, he said, but he believes he enjoys broad support inside and outside Iran.

Some of that backing stems from his family name, he noted: "I carry the Pahlavi name, and that is a positive. People chant it in the streets."

A recent online survey of 31,450 Iranians found roughly 48 percent view him favorably, according to Gamaan Research Institute director Ammar Maleki.

Pahlavi Has Lived in a Royalist Circle Abroad

Forty-eight years have passed since Pahlavi last stood in Iran. An aviation fan, he moved to Texas in 1978 at age 17 for jet training at Reese Air Force Base. After the 1979 revolution, he stayed overseas, earning a degree from the University of Southern California in social sciences and communication.

His years in exile have included personal losses. His father died in 1980 from lymphoma complications. His sister Leila died in London in 2001 from a drug overdose. His brother Alireza died by suicide in 2011 while studying at Harvard.

At 65, Pahlavi has never held a standard paid job, according to three longtime acquaintances. He has focused on political activism, presenting himself as opposition leader alongside shifting groups of supporters, some of whom later turned away.

"If a lawyer takes a case without pay, does that mean he has no job?" Pahlavi asked Reuters. "I have done this work voluntarily for four decades as my contribution to my country."

US Representative Derrick Van Orden, who met Pahlavi in May, described him as articulate and modest. "He is tall and looks presidential," Van Orden said, adding that he raised the harsh record of the shah's secret police and Pahlavi acknowledged past criticisms.

Others remain unconvinced. Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group said after meeting Pahlavi 15 years ago that he lacked the drive for Iran's political battles.

"He seems more passionate about football, food, and photography than politics," Vaez said. "It remains clear he does not have what it takes to lead."

Author Scott Anderson called Pahlavi's life a "royalist bubble" and said many in the diaspora view him as a lightweight.

Pahlavi responded that he could have walked away after his father's death in Cairo but chose to stay engaged for his country.

Anderson and other experts agree that Pahlavi remains the best-known opposition figure.