1980s in 1973 Reza Pahlavi came to
Cairo, Egypt, in March 1980 with his family. When his father
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ill and in the last weeks of his life, media reported that some
monarchist elements had advised the Shah to oust Reza in favor of his younger son,
Ali Reza (who was 13 at the time) and a
regency council, suggesting that Reza's background, training and interest in public affairs were too limited to become his successor. The Shah was understood to have rejected the idea and abdicated in favor of one of his two sons. When the Shah
died on 27 July 1980, Farah Pahlavi proclaimed herself as the
regent, a title in pretense. Immediately afterward a spokesman for the
United States Department of State, John Trattner, disassociated the U.S. government from Reza Pahlavi by stating that the U.S. government did not intend to support Pahlavi, and assuring that the U.S. government recognized the newly established
post-revolutionary Iranian government. In 1981, Pahlavi remained in the
Koubbeh Palace and developed close ties to pro-monarchy groups while facing rejection from other opposition groups, including left-wing dissidents. In 1982,
Yaakov Nimrodi told the
BBC in a radio interview that, along with
Adolph Schwimmer and
Adnan Khashoggi, he was involved with Pahlavi and Gen. Said Razvani to scheme a coup d'état and install Pahlavi in Iran. In May 1986, Pahlavi disclosed that he had recently formed a
government-in-exile to establish a constitutional monarchy again in Iran. In February 1989, he delivered an invited talk at
Georgetown University's
Walsh School of Foreign Service. On his website, he calls for a separation of religion and state in Iran and free and fair elections "for all freedom-loving individuals and political ideologies." He exhorts all groups dedicated to a democratic agenda to work together for a democratic and secular Iranian government. In a presentation at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy in December 2018, Pahlavi called for the non-military support of those in Iran who were trying to replace the Islamist regime with a secular democracy. According to a news report, he was "not openly calling for the restoration of the
Peacock Throne to Iran ... He casts himself more as a symbol than a politician but has called himself 'ready to serve my country'". In November 2014, Pahlavi founded his own television and radio network called Ofogh Iran. In July 2017 it was reported that the Ofogh Iran International Media telethon no longer belonged to Pahlavi. In February 2019, Reza Pahlavi launched the Phoenix Project of Iran
think tank in Washington, D.C., based on the short-lived Iran Future Association he initiated in
Toronto in 2008. According to the National Interest, this is "designed to bring the various strains of the opposition closer to a common vision for a post-clerical Iran".
Support within Iran A report published by the
Brookings Institution in 2009 said that Pahlavi lacked an organized following within Iran since there was no serious
monarchist movement in Iran itself. The report described Pahlavi as having "little in common with the intellectuals and students who make up the core of the reform movement". During the
2017–18 Iranian protests, some videos on social media showed demonstrators chanting slogans in favor of
Pahlavi's grandfather and calling for his return. On many occasions the videos indicated the royalist slogans prompted others in the crowd to shout the slogans down. In January 2023, New York-based Iranian scholar and writer Arash Azizi noted that among younger Iranians on social media and at public demonstrations, support for Pahlavi has become more visible and argued, "To any fair observer of Iran, Pahlavi has a certain degree of support in Iranian society, although it is hard to discern just how wide this support is." He also noted that a number of Iranian dissident activists and celebrities, including
Dariush Eghbali (who had been imprisoned under the Shah's rule), actress
Shohreh Aghdashloo, actor
Hamid Farrokhnezhad and Olympian
Kimia Alizadeh have come out in support of Pahlavi being a figurehead to unite anti-regime movements. The
University of Navarra, a private Spanish Catholic research university founded by
Opus Dei, published an article in 2023 in which they found there was support for Pahlavi within Iran. In 2023, an
online poll conducted by the Berlin-based Empirical Research and Forecasting Institute (ERF.I, established by Taghi Alereza, Houshang Lahooti and Noah Farhadi), with the help of
machine learning, found that among the 9,000 respondents, almost 80 percent preferred Pahlavi over the current Islamic Republic leadership. The ERF.I poll result was cited by the
conservative American think-tank
Middle East Forum as an argument against "hesitation" in American government circles over backing efforts to restore the Iranian monarchy.
Support among Iranian expatriates In 2006,
Connie Bruck of
The New Yorker wrote that Los Angeles is home to about 600,000 Iranian expatriates and said it was a monarchist stronghold. A 2013 survey of
Iranian-Americans conducted by
George Mason University's Center for Social Science Research found that 85% of respondents did not support any
Iranian opposition groups or figures. Of the remaining 15% who expressed support, 20% backed Pahlavi.
2022–23 During anti-government demonstrations in Iran in 2022 following the
Abadan building collapse, Pahlavi predicted that the Islamic regime would collapse in the near future as events such as the shooting down of
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, bans on importing foreign
COVID-19 vaccines and tests into the country, and rising food prices had led to unnecessary deaths and would provoke further anger at government mismanagement from the population. He also urged members of the Iranian armed forces who oppose the Islamic Republic but work for the government to engage in peaceful disruption and called for a coordinated front against the regime. In a February 2023 interview with
The Daily Telegraph, Pahlavi called on the British and European governments to proscribe the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), arguing such a move would be "pulling out the biggest tooth the regime has." In the interview, he also argued his belief that the Islamic Republic was more likely to fall in the near future than it had been in previous decades, as Iranian reformists had switched tactics to wanting to completely overthrow the regime as opposed to changing it. Pahlavi also predicted that the greatest challenge for a new secular, liberal democratic Iran would be the question of controlling the military and seeking justice against officials in the regime. He concluded that higher-ranking members of the Islamic regime would face trials for human rights abuses, but lower-ranking members could be pardoned to allow reintegration into society, citing the
Nuremberg trials in which top Nazi officials were prosecuted while lower-ranking members were reintegrated back into Germany, and the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in South Africa after the end of apartheid as examples to follow. On 17 April 2023, he and his wife, Yasmine, visited Israel in "an effort to rebuild the
historic relations between Iran and Israel". Upon his arrival in Israel, he visited the
Western Wall and
Yad Vashem on the occasion of
Yom HaShoah and met with
President of Israel Isaac Herzog and
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. He also paid a condolence call to the bereaved Dee family at their home in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, after the deaths of sisters Maia and Rina and their mother, Lucy, in a terror shooting during the Passover holiday.
Support during the Mahsa Amini protests In a recent attempt in 2023 to garner support for Reza Pahlavi as a representative for transition, a petition was created on the platform Change.org that has amassed over 460,000 signatures. Reza Pahlavi asked Iranians worldwide to protest against the Islamic Republic on its 44th anniversary, 11 February 2023. As a result, people rallied in multiple cities in the US, Europe, Australia, and Canada. Reza Pahlavi himself participated in a rally in Los Angeles attended by a crowd of more than 80,000 people.
2024–25 In July 2024, Pahlavi was invited to speak at the
National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C. In his speech, Pahlavi blamed the Iranian regime for the spread of radical Islam to other nations in the Middle East and the West following the revolution and promised that Iranians will take Iran back in the near future. He also argued that
Masoud Pezeshkian was not a "moderate" politician due to his friendship with
Hezbollah. He warned the United States not to launch a military campaign against the regime, arguing, "the problem that began in Iran must be ended in Iran," and concluded, "the soon to be free Iran doesn't seek your patronage. It seeks your partnership. It doesn't seek your funding. It seeks your friendship." In a subsequent essay for
The Daily Telegraph, he called for the IRGC to be designated terror group by British government for its funding of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, as well as their suppression of
Zan zendegi azadi. In November 2024, Pahlavi called on Iranians to "reclaim and save our beloved Iran," but "did not directly address" how the Islamic Republic regime might be removed. In late 2024, a series of videos circulated on social media that purported to show defections within Iran's army in response to Pahlavi's calls for military dissent against the Islamic Republic. While Pahlavi and his supporters presented the footage as evidence of growing opposition within state institutions and used it to promote his "National Cooperation" initiative, Iranian authorities, conservative media, and independent analysts disputed the claims, arguing that the videos were staged or AI-generated deepfakes. In January and February 2025, he advised U.S. President Donald Trump against entering into an agreement with the Islamic Republic that would limit Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. In February 2025, in an interview with
The Daily Telegraph, Pahlavi called on Europe and Americans to prepare for the impending collapse of the regime in Tehran. During the
Twelve-Day War in June 2025, following the Iranian blackout of the internet, Pahlavi said the blackout "is a sign of panic, not strength."At a "Munich Convergence Summit" in
Munich on 18 February, with the participation of a number of
Iranian opposition organizations, Reza Pahlavi stated, "Our goal today is solely the salvation of Iran, and in the future our mission is to hold free elections in Iran." Pahlavi denounced inequalities and energy crises in Iran. He criticized the drying up of rivers and air pollution in Iran.
2025–26 protests , Sweden against the Iranian government on 17 January 2026 Pahlavi expressed his support for the protesters and called on all Iranians, including security and law enforcement forces, to join the protests. At least some of the protesters heeded his call. Thousands of protesters were spurred onto the streets and chanted anti-government messages. According to an interview he gave to
ARD, Reza Pahlavi said that Iran's transition would have to be based on free elections and a secular democratic system, and that he does not seek political power. Some critics argued that apparent signs of prominence for Reza Pahlavi do not translate into the ability to unite or mobilize opposition forces, claiming that support for Pahlavi benefits the Iranian government by enabling it to frame the protests as foreign-backed and monarchist. In response, Pahlavi said that "millions of Iranians inside Iran and outside of Iran are calling my name." Pahlavi declared 14 February 2026 as a "
global day of action," with major
diaspora solidarity rallies that took place in
Los Angeles,
Toronto, and
Munich. Over 250,000 attended the 14 February rally in Munich, while the Toronto and Los Angeles rallies each drew 350,000 in attendance. Protesters within Iran responded to Pahlavi's calls to chant anti-government slogans from rooftops and windows during the rallies abroad.
2026 Iran war During the
2026 Iran war, Pahlavi posted a video statement in which he said that the "assistance that the President of the United States had promised to the brave people of Iran has now arrived," arguing that "the attack was a humanitarian intervention, and its target is the Islamic Republic, its apparatus of repression, and its machinery of killing, not the country and great nation of Iran." Following the
death of Ali Khamenei, Pahlavi stated in an interview on
60 Minutes that Iranians should be prepared to take to the streets and drive change when the appropriate moment arises. He said that the Iranian people were ready to "fight the fight" to end the Islamic Republic, adding that ongoing strikes against the government provided what he described as a "real opportunity" for Iranians, as they could now see the possible end of the regime. On 11 March, Pahlavi told Iranians to stay home and continue the daily rooftop chants until he gives the "final call" to overthrow the government. On 14 March, Pahlavi called for underground resistance groups to intensify their fight against the Iranian government, while advising most Iranians to continue to stay home for now. He also noted that he has been in contact with the
Trump administration. Also on 15 March, Pahlavi stated that the transition government under his leadership is ready to take control over Iran when the government falls, setting five economic goals for a post-Islamic Republic Iran. He also called for diaspora protests outside Iranian embassies worldwide. Pahlavi asked the US and Israeli leaders not to attack civilian infrastructure in Iran. Pahlavi has called for large public gatherings in solidarity with the protest movement during
Chaharshanbe Suri. In his message for the Iranian New Year, he promised a 'final victory' over the Iranian government. Pahlavi has called for Iranian people to create local groups to prevent the destruction of Iranian cultural and natural heritage after the government falls. At the 2026
CPAC conference, Pahlavi outlined his vision for a free Iran, warning the American government not to strike a deal with the Iranian government. On 3 April, Pahlavi called to expel the Iraqi militias from Iran, criticizing the Iranian government for bringing them. On 5 April, Pahlavi called on the IRGC to step down before the US targets Iranian infrastructure, saying that they are going to fall regardless, and that they should step down in order to preserve infrastructure. On 9 April, at the beginning of the
2026 Iran war ceasefire, Pahlavi advised Iranians to exercise patience, noting that the Iranian people will need to deliver the 'final blow' to the Iranian government. On 13 April, Pahlavi expressed disappointment in European countries for appeasing the Iranian government, which in his view supports terrorism and commits crimes against humanity. On 23 April, Pahlavi was splashed with
tomato juice after leaving a press conference in
Berlin, where he criticized the
American-Iranian temporary ceasefire.
Alleged American support Bob Woodward wrote in 1986 that the Reagan administration authorized the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to support and fund Iranian exiles, including Pahlavi. The agency transmitted his 11-minute speech, during which he vowed, "I will return," to Iranian television by pirating its frequency. The
Tower Commission report, published in 1987, also acknowledged that the CIA was behind this event while a group in
Paris calling itself 'Flag of Freedom' had taken responsibility for the act in September 1986.
James Mann wrote in February 1989 that when he asked the CIA about whether they helped Pahlavi, they refused to comment, and a spokesperson of the agency told him, "We would not confirm nor deny an intelligence matter." In 2006,
Connie Bruck of
The New Yorker wrote that "Pahlavi had CIA funding for several years in the eighties, but it ended after the
Iran-Contra scandal." In 2009, Pahlavi denied receiving U.S. government or foreign aid in an interview with
The New York Times. Pahlavi said, "No, no. I don't rely on any sources other than my own compatriots" and denied allegations of working with the CIA, calling the allegations "absolutely and unequivocally false."
Alleged Israeli support In June 2025, amidst the
Twelve-Day War, Pahlavi delivered a statement declaring that the Islamic Republic of Iran is "on the verge of collapse." He emphasized that internal divisions and defections within the regime signal its impending downfall. Pahlavi expressed confidence that the Iranian people, who have long resisted oppression, will soon achieve liberation. Pahlavi addressed the Iranian military and security forces, urging them to abandon the regime and join the people's movement for change. His stance during the Iran–Israel war, and especially his choice not to condemn the Israeli bombardment of Iran, was criticised by some Iranian opposition figures. Sina Toossi of the American
Center for International Policy claimed that "he was really the only opposition figure that was supportive" of the Israeli strikes. In October 2025, an investigation by
Haaretz and the
University of Toronto's
Citizen Lab alleged that an Israeli-linked digital influence campaign was promoting Reza Pahlavi among Persian-speakers. The investigation reportedly found fake social media accounts and AI-generated videos amplifying pro-monarchist messages. The Citizen Lab claimed that their activities were synchronized with Israeli military operations in Iran. A highly organized media network combining professional PR and diaspora activism reportedly promoted Pahlavi across social media. == Political views ==