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The prince in exile of Iran proposed to direct the democratic transition of the country to put an end to the Islamic Republic in a new speech on Monday.
“Today is clearer than ever: the Islamic Republic collapses,” said Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the late Iran Shah, said Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. “Credible reports indicate that Ali Khamenei’s family – and the families of the senior regime officials – were preparing to flee Iran. The regime is on its last legs, in cities across the country. The military is fractured. People are united. The foundations of this 46 -year -old tyranny tremble.”
“It is our wall moment in Berlin,” said Pahlavi at a press conference he called in Paris.
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The Iranian opposition chief and son of the last Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, held a press conference in Paris on June 23, 2025. (Joel Saget / AFP via Getty Images)
The supreme Iranian chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would have hidden in a bunker while the American army was pounding three Iranian nuclear sites during the weekend. In the midst of what he could be murdered, Khamenei cut all electronic communications to his commanders, based on a trusted assistant to relay orders, reported the New York Times.
Pahlavi, whose father was the last monarch overturned during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, said on Monday that Iran was currently standing at a crossroads, warning that the West by putting the current regime, a lifeline would only cause more blood out.
“The difference in these two roads depends on a factor and a single factor: if the current diet in Iran is authorized to survive,” he said. “If the West throws the diet a lifeline, there will be more effusions of blood and chaos – because this diet does not submit or will not go after being humiliated. It attacks power.
He pleaded for a “peaceful and democratic transition” and said that the only way to achieve peace was “a secular democratic Iran”.
“I am here today to submit to my compatriots to lead them on this path of peace and a democratic transition,” said Pahlavi. “I do not seek political power, but rather to help our great nation to sail through this critical hour towards stability, freedom and justice.”
Pahlavi accused Khamenei of using the Iranian people as “human shields” by hiding in their bunker.
“Seeing the images of the inhabitants of Tehran forced to flee our beautiful capital, the explosions in Isfahan, the fires along the Persian Gulf, all fill me with pain. But more than the pain, I am filled with anger because this war is the result of the selfishness, hatred and terrorism of a man: Ali Khamenei,” he said. “Although he directs this security war of his hidden bunker, he uses our people as human shields. It is time to end suffering.”
In a direct message to Khamenei, Pahlavi said: “Spend. And if you do, you will receive a fair trial and regular procedure. What is more than you have ever given to an Iranian.”
The Iranians hold hands as signs of unity with the Iranian supreme chief of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during an anti-Israeli rally to condemn Israel’s attacks against Iran, downtown Tehran, Iran, June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl / Nurphoto via Getty Images)
He said other senior regime officials should face justice, but have promised not to “repeat the mistakes made in other failed transitions”.
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“To those of you who are faithful to the Iranian nation, and not to the Islamic Republic: there is a future for you in an Iran Democrat, if you join the people now,” said Pahlavi. “The choice belongs to you. I know these officers, these soldiers, these courageous men exist because they contacted me and tell me that they want to be part of this national salvation. But now, greater coordination is necessary.”
Pahlavi announced that he is establishing “an official channel for soldiers, security and police staff to contact me directly, my team and our expanding operation”. He promised that it was a “secure platform to effectively manage the growing volume of incoming communications and requests from those who break with the diet and seeking to join our movement”.
He said that the international community was right to worry about stopping nuclear weapons and the regional stability guarantee. Although the destruction of the three nuclear sites of Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow has “reduced domestic domestic nuclear enrichment”, Pahlavi warned that American strikes “did not decrease the regime to acquire and use nuclear weapons”.
“The regime, enraged and enhargeable, will seek revenge and will be able to acquire nuclear weapons from other thug diets like North Korea,” he said. “The destruction of nuclear installations of the regime will not provide peace.”
Reza Pahlavi held a press conference in Paris on June 23, 2025. (Joel Saget / AFP via Getty Images)
Pahlavi said he “advanced to direct this national transition – not out of personal interest but as a servant of the Iranian people”. He said that he had a “clear national transition plan and renewal” on the basis of three basic principles: the territorial integrity of Iran; individual freedoms and equality of all citizens; and separation of religion and state. Pahlavi proposed to convene a “national summit of unity” of activists, dissidents, business leaders, professionals, experts and other groups outside of politics.
The objective would be to develop together a roadmap towards the democratic transition, and he declared that the “final form of this future democracy that we are looking for will be for the Iranian people to decide in a national referendum”.
Pahlavi also said that he had developed a full three -phase plan for the country’s “economic reconstruction and social stabilization”. He promised that his team of experts “will publish the plans for the first 100 days after the collapse of the Islamic Republic on the basis of this work”.
“We bring together some of the largest investors, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and experts in the world in the world who care about Iran and see its immense potential,” he said.
Before opting for American military intervention, President Donald Trump would have worked with Turkey to coordinate diplomatic resolution at the Israeli-Iranian conflict and conclude a nuclear agreement, but Ayatollah did not commit. According to Axios, sources said Trump had proposed to send the vice-president JD Vance and the envoy of the White House Steve Witkoff for negotiations, and Trump proposed to come to Turkey himself if it meant meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
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Turkey has relayed the proposal to its Iranian counterparts, who could not have reached Khamenei for hours. Without the signing of the Ayatollah, the proposed meeting was canceled.
