Reza Pahlavi calls for dismantling Iran’s leadership with 'US and Israel support'
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, called for the government in Tehran to "be dismantled" and for "President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu to continue targeting the regime."
"Iran’s civilian infrastructure belongs to the Iranian people and to the future of a free Iran," Pahlavi said in a post on X and called upon Trump and Netanyahu to "spare the civilian infrastructure Iranians will need to rebuild our country."
"With the support of the US and Israel, and above all the sacrifice of Iranian patriots, the hour of Iran’s freedom is at hand," Pahlavi added.
Iran is not the Islamic Republic.
— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) March 22, 2026
Iran’s civilian infrastructure belongs to the Iranian people and to the future of a free Iran. The Islamic Republic’s infrastructure is the machinery of repression and terror used to keep that future from becoming reality.
Iran must be…
Pahlavi's call comes amid an increasingly lethal phase of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has now entered its fourth week.
Over 81,000 civilian units have been damaged in attacks across Iran, including medical centres, schools, ambulances and aid workers, the Iranian Red Crescent reported on Sunday.
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More than 1,400 people have been killed across Iran since the start of the war, with attacks reported in over 200 cities, according to reports from Tehran.
Reza Pahlavi's father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, ruled Iran from 1941 and was forced to flee the country after violent protests and a mutiny in the Iranian armed forces in 1979.
Pahlavi echoes Netanyahu rhetoric
Before the war, Pahlavi, who lives in the United States, was seen by a number of Iranians as an opposition figure and an alternative to the ruling establishment.
During the mass anti-government protests in Iran in January, Pahlavi repeatedly encouraged the Iranian people to "continue the fight" and joined President Trump in telling Iranians that "help is on its way".
Two weeks after the war began, a growing number of Iranians, however, expressed a loss of faith in the exiled opposition figure who continued to urge Iranians to rise against the Iranian government despite the dangers of a ferocious crackdown.
Pahlavi's calls echo similar appeals made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has also repeatedly urged the Iranian people to rise against their rulers.
On 10 March, Netanyahu addressed the people of Iran in a long post on X, telling citizens that they "must act" and that Israel and the US "are creating the conditions for you to do so."
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you to remove the Ayatollah regime and gain your freedom," Netanyahu said.
President Trump's support for the crown prince has been limited. In an interview with Reuters on 15 January, President Trump called Reza Pahlavi “very nice,” but expressed uncertainty over whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over.
Early March, Trump called Pahlavi "an option" but expressed that "somebody from within, maybe, would be more appropriate."
Since the war started, Iranians have not taken to the streets in protests against the government.
The death toll from the bloody crackdown on protestors months prior ranges between 5,000, as confirmed by an Iranian official, and 22,000, a figure by the US-based organisation Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
HRANA says it has verified more than 6,000 dead and is investigating some 17,000 more recorded deaths, giving a possible total of about 22,000.
Since the war started on 28 February, there have been mass rallies condemning the US-Israeli aggression that killed over 165 schoolgirls and staff at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab in the initial strikes.
US and Israeli air strikes on the first day killed Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several family members.
His son, Mojtaba, has been named as the successor but has not yet appeared in public.
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