The exiled son of Iran’s last shah who was ousted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution said on Saturday he was ready to lead a transition “as soon as the Islamic Republic falls.”
In a message on his social media channels, US-based Reza Pahlavi said he had already been working to select individuals both inside and outside Iran to serve on what he called a “Transitional System.”
Pahlavi leads one of several opposition movements based outside Iran but his prominence grew after January protests against the clerical system, with some demonstrators calling for a return of the monarchy.
Longstanding supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in US-Israeli air strikes but after a fortnight of war the clerical system remains in place even if his successor, his son Mojtaba, has yet to make a public appearance.
Pahlavi said that Saeed Ghasseminejad, senior Iran and financial economics advisor at the US-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which is staunchly critical of the Islamic republic, had been leading the process to select members of a transitional body.
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“Capable individuals both inside and outside the country have been identified and evaluated to lead various sections of the Transitional System,” he said
“The Transitional System, under my leadership, will be ready to assume governance of the country as soon as the Islamic Republic falls, and in the shortest possible time, establish order, security, freedom, and the conditions for Iran’s prosperity and flourishing,” he added.
Iran’s former crown prince and now key opposition figure Reza Pahlavi attends a discussion during the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 13, 2026 in Munich, southern Germany. (Alexandra BEIER / AFP)
In a boost to Pahlavi, vast pro-monarchy rallies took place in February in Munich and several cities in North America, in the biggest yet such show of support.
But he has notably also failed to win recognition from US President Donald Trump, who has never officially met with Pahlavi and repeatedly expressed skepticism over his ability to lead Iran.
“They talk about the son of the shah, they talk about other people, but (he) hasn’t been there in many years,” Trump said this week.
Pahlavi was undergoing air force training in the US when his father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted and never returned to the country.
Protesters hold placards and images of Iranian opposition figure and son of the last shah of Iran, Reza Pahlav (pictured L) and his father (pictured C), as they gather before taking part in a march to Downing Street against Iran’s crackdown on protesters, outside the offices of the BBC in London on January 18, 2026. (Justin Tallis/AFP)
Trump has repeatedly referred to Venezuela, where in January, US forces captured president Nicolas Maduro, with Washington now working with his former deputy Delcy Rodriguez.
But it remains unclear how such a scenario could play out in Iran.
“I like the idea of internal because it works well, I think we have proven that so far in Venezuela,” Trump said.
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