Amid hints that Iran could be rethinking about having a confrontation with the new US administration, the exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has a message for US President Donald Trump; not to fall for Iran's "feigned pragmatism".
Pahlavi's statement comes as Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs, sought the US to begin new negotiations with Tehran over its civil nuclear programme.
Pahlavi, a self-proclaimed advocate for a secular democratic Iran, fled Iran with his family following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. His father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted during the Iranian Revolution.
At a National Press Club event in Washington DC on Tuesday, Pahlavi said: "In the coming weeks and months, you will see a different face of the Islamic Republic. It will not speak the language of jihad, hostage-taking, or chaos. It will talk of deal-making, mutual interest, and pragmatism."
He added that the US had a choice. Either use the leverage and the historic opportunity to fundamentally alter the trajectory of the Middle East or fall for the flirtations of a radical Islamic regime. He warned opting for the latter would mean the US hands the Middle East back to its radical, terrorist proxies.
The exiled prince has earlier too attacked Iran, including on the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Adding that it is fueling the regional conflicts, Pahlavi posted to X that the Iranian regime must go.
"So I say to you, our friends across the Middle East—our region deserves so much better. But in order to succeed, first, this regime, that has held us hostage for nearly half a century, must go," said Pahlavi. "The Middle East is all too familiar with turmoil and upheaval. So, I know, you might fear change will bring chaos. But fear not—we will not allow a power vacuum to follow the collapse of this regime," he posted to his 1.4 million followers.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian too had hinted that the country was open to negotiations with the new Trump administration on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, though hardliners and Iran's Supreme Leader remain publicly opposed.
Iran's change of mind is because it can't afford to antagonise Trump and risk more military conflict with Israel and even the US, according to analysts. "It is a very critical year, largely because the strategic context for Iran has changed drastically," said Vali Nasr, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies told the Financial Times. "What Iran has lost is a way of managing Israel and . . . its hand is weaker with the Europeans and the Americans," he added.
