Who is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince encouraging demonstrations across Iran?

Because the Islamic Republic of Iran nears two weeks of nationwide demonstrations, the federal government in Tehran has acknowledged the protests whereas persevering with with a crackdown.

The loss of life toll from clashes between protestors and authorities safety forces had reached 116 as of early Sunday, with greater than 2,600 folks detained, in response to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists Information Company (HRANA). Among the many most outstanding cheerleaders for continued motion towards the federal government is Reza Pahlavi, son of the previous Shah of Iran, who has issued frequent messages encouraging protesters.

Iran’s lawyer basic, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, introduced Saturday that members within the unrest could be thought of an “enemy of God,” A press release, carried by Iranian state tv, stated even those that “helped rioters” would face that cost, which carries the loss of life penalty.

The present wave of protests started on Dec. 28, following a collapse within the nationwide foreign money, the rial, which is at present buying and selling at over 1.4 million to the U.S. greenback and has misplaced half its worth since September. Worldwide sanctions have squeezed the financial system and the ensuing public grievances have prompted direct challenges to Iran’s theocracy.

In response, the federal government has mobilized safety forces and state-controlled media. State tv has broadcast pro-government rallies, whereas on the identical time surveillance footage launched by the federal government affiliated Fars information company depicted a protester in Isfahan allegedly firing a protracted gun as others lit fires and threw gasoline bombs at what gave the impression to be a authorities compound.One other government-affiliated information company with shut ties to Iran’s highly effective Revolutionary Guard drive, Tasnim, reported that authorities had detained practically 200 folks belonging to “operational terrorist groups,” alongside allegations these arrested had possessed weapons together with firearms, grenades, and gasoline bombs.

A divisive determine

Amid these occasions, Reza Pahlavi, the 65-year-old exiled Crown Prince and son of the late Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, has re-emerged as a number one determine within the numerous Iranian opposition actions. In messages shared on social media, Pahlavi spurred protesters onto the streets Thursday night time and Friday. He urged demonstrators to proceed public avenue protests over the weekend, carrying the nation’s previous lion-and-sun flag and different nationwide symbols used throughout the time of his father to “declare public areas as your individual.”

Regardless of being born in Iran, Pahlavi has lived in exile for practically 50 years.

Born in Tehran in 1960, he was appointed Iran’s crown prince till the overthrow of his father – who had inherited the throne from his personal father, a military officer who seized energy with help from the British. After efficiently driving rising oil costs throughout the Nineteen Seventies, financial inequality had deepened over the last Shah’s rule, and his Savak intelligence company grew to become infamous for the torture of dissidents.

That Pahlavi dynasty led to 1979 when thousands and thousands throughout the nation participated in protests towards the shah, uniting secular leftists, labor unions, professionals, college students, and Muslim clergy. Reza Pahlavi had left his homeland for flight faculty at a U.S. air base in Texas a 12 months earlier, in 1978, and subsequently noticed his father flee Iran throughout the onset of what grew to become referred to as the Islamic Revolution, throughout which period Shiite clerics established a brand new theocratic authorities. After the loss of life of his father, a royal court docket in exile introduced that Reza Pahlavi had inherited the monarchical function of Shah on Oct. 31,1980, his twentieth birthday.A pacesetter for a future Iran?

Pahlavi’s efforts to place himself as a frontrunner for a future Iran have prompted generally heated debates inside and out of doors the nation. And whereas protesters have shouted in help of the shah in some protests, it isn’t clear whether or not that’s help for Pahlavi himself or a need to return to a time earlier than the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

His public help of Israel has prompted vital criticism previously from unusual Iranians and different members of opposition teams, significantly after the 12-day struggle launched by Israel in June 2025.

He has sought to have a voice via social media movies, and Farsi-language information channels corresponding to Iran Worldwide have highlighted his requires protests. In press interviews, Pahlavi has repeatedly raised the concept of a constitutional monarchy, maybe with an elected fairly than a hereditary ruler, however has additionally said it’s as much as Iranians to decide on.