Exclusive interview: The exiled Crown Prince of Iran
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the former Shah of Iran, is fast emerging as a potentially pivotal figure in Middle Eastern politics. As the only major Iranian opposition leader to openly advocate for a pro-West and pro-Israel position, Pahlavi’s vision for a post-theocratic Iran is not just a matter of internal reform, but a potential sea change for regional stability and global security.
This was underscored by his high-profile visit in April 2023 to Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and by his adopting of the Cyrus Accords, which seek to revive the ancient Persian-Judean tradition of peaceful cooperation.
Pahlavi’s willingness to restore ties with Israel, bring Israeli technology to address Iran’s water crisis, and re-establish economic partnerships reminiscent of the Shah’s era, would signal a dramatic break from the Islamic Republic’s longstanding hostility toward the Jewish state.
Pahlavi calls for a coordinated campaign to dismantle the Iranian regime and foster a secular democracy in Iran. He insists that any negotiations with Tehran merely buy time for the regime, and he urges the West — particularly the United States — to support the Iranian people through sustained economic and diplomatic pressure, not appeasement.
He says he envisions himself not as a returning monarch, but as a transitional leader who would ensure law and order, and oversee a referendum to let Iranians determine their future.
For Canadians and the wider West, Pahlavi’s rise matters. A democratic Iran, aligned with the West, could reshape the region’s security architecture, curb extremism, and unlock new economic opportunities.
This week, Pahlavi returned to Toronto in the first talk coordinated by a Jewish Canadian organization, Tafsik. Dave Gordon interviews the Crown Prince, in this exclusive Canadian interview.
What is the first step to forging change in Iran?
We have to bring as much coordination, in a strategy of maximum pressure on the (regime), and combine it with maximum support for the Iranian people. It’s really diplomatic efforts at the international level. Invite the G20 countries to be more in line with the aspiration of the people of Iran, and consider that their best course of action would be to be supportive of that change, as opposed to a politics of containment, or, if you will, appeasement, which has failed all this time.
Iran should be a South Korea, not a North Korea, with a national government that cares for its people, as opposed to using our national resources to finance its ideological exportation across the world at the expense of the Iranian people.
We don’t need to have an army come and invade Iran. We have the boots on the ground already — the army of the people who are there. Don’t drag us into another Afghanistan or Iraq. What we know it doesn’t have to be bloody. All it takes is for refocusing and resetting your overall foreign policy, to say: this regime has been given far too many opportunities.
How you would characterize the vision for the new Iran?
Iranians know how the country was prospering before the revolution. And all of a sudden, everything came to stop, and completely reversed back in the dark ages. If you look at right now, across from the Persian Gulf, what’s happening in Saudi Arabia, in the Emirates — where were they 40 years ago and where they are today? That’s right, we can imagine where Iran could have been, as opposed to where we are now.
Iran is not where it should be (because) it’s just utter corruption and mismanagement by a regime that is there only for its own survival, when they don’t have the slightest interest in improving the lives of our fellow citizens.
Iran is not just simply an oil rich or gas rich country. It has so many other resources. Imagine tourism just as an industry, and everything that can open up. All of this is hinging upon us, bringing that change.
The prospect for that change is not just realizable, but an absolute necessity to redress the situation, because people are paying a very heavy price right now. The economic situation in Iran is at the worst possible level it could ever be, with the devaluation of our currency, the rate of inflation, the poverty level. Today, we’re talking about truck drivers going on strike. We’re having bakers who simply cannot produce bread because there are electrical blackouts.
There’s so many infrastructural issues, all easily remedied, provided that we can have that change.
Next month, Canada hosts the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. What can these nations do to help, and specifically, Canada?
I use the allegory of Star Wars and the evil empire having its storm troopers. That’s the IRGC. So since America and Canada have outlawed the IRGC, why doesn’t the rest of the G7 follow suit? It is one of the quickest ways to cut off a regime that is extremely repressive. It has a dedicated organ that doesn’t even have the name of “Iran” in its name. It’s called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, with the sole mission to support the process of exporting this ideology around the world.
Canada has cut off its diplomatic relations for a long time, and I think Europe has to understand that the policy of containment, or appeasement; after 40 years of this, how much more proof do you need that it doesn’t work?
We can curtail the means that the regime has had, in terms of its repression at home and terrorism abroad, and severely sanction them, and it means prescribing the IRGC as a terrorist organization, even with the G20.
The world has to think that there should be an alternative to this regime. For years, we’ve always been in the mindset of status quo. I want to give you the example, of what happened when, under the Biden administration, the Islamic regime had access to over $200 billion worth of oil revenue they shouldn’t have had in the first place, which led to funding more of their proxies.
That kind of approach has only led to the regime with more ability to sustain itself and increase its machinery of oppression and terrorism. I don’t think October 7 is inconsequential, in terms of being related to the fact that they had the means to do that.
The Iranian people aren’t antagonistic to other nations. They want to have a great relationship with Israel, with the Arabs, with our neighbourhood, as opposed to a regime that, from day one, has called death to America and death to Israel as a mission. It’s not a slogan. It’s actually a conviction. You cannot think that you can ever come to terms, or even negotiate in good faith, with someone who wants to kill you.
Is there any deal with Iran that could be a good deal? What would it be?
This regime discriminates against women, discriminates against religious minorities. A regime that has been, time and again, funding organizations that are hateful. How could you possibly come to terms with this kind of mentality? They will, of course, buy time. That’s a tactic they’ve used successfully.
I don’t think the nuclear issue can ever be resolved, so long as this regime has their finger on the trigger. I know people in the Israeli government understand that. Even in the Arab countries, they understand that this regime cannot be trusted.
The regime cannot change their behaviour. In fact, if they were to change their behaviour, they no longer have any reason to exist. That’s why they won’t change, because that means the end of their own existence.
How many Iranians align with Western values?
I think the great majority of them. Western values actually originated in Persia centuries ago. Thomas Jefferson was inspired by Cyrus the Great. Many values that exist right now in the American Bill of Rights and Constitution, comes back to 25 centuries ago, and it originated in Persia when Cyrus the Great liberated the Jews in Babylon as slaves, and helped rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.
Can you add perspective to Israel’s role as an ally?
You see most of the demonstrations outside of Iran and sometimes even in Iran, you will often see that the Israeli flag is flying right next to the Lion and the Sun, the (pre-revolutionary) Iranian flag. That’s such a blessing.
I don’t think any nation’s salvation depends on others. Israelis understand this better than anybody else. You only can count on yourselves and nothing else, but life becomes easier when you’re not alone, that you have more help.
I’m sure this is something that Lech Walesa had to face, Gandhi had to face, Nelson Mandela had to face. And eventually the world catches up. It is critical for people to tell us we’re not alone in the fight.
What is that strong leadership that could change the face of history? Trump? Depending on how he looks at it. Is he seeing this as a legacy that can change the face of the region? But this is not a real estate deal that he can cut with a regime that is very corrupt, right?
So then we can divest from the region, putting America first, which is his slogan, but you cannot say America first and leave a mess behind. You want to have lasting stability, so that people in Riyadh or people in Jerusalem don’t have to worry any longer about what Tehran is about to do or not.
What do you see as Canada’s role?
It can take the moral approach of saying, they are on the side of the dissidents and the freedom-seeking people, and will not bow and bend to their oppressors. You are not facilitating our struggle for freedom by trying to approach a policy of appeasement and isolation, which hasn’t worked.
I think it’s a message that Canada can loudly send to Iranians back home. Canada should ask the G20: Why aren’t you listing the IRGC as a terrorist entity?
Right now you have every time there’s a fire, this or that government is dispatching a fire truck to go and put out the fire. But how many times has anyone bothered to go after the arsonist?
What do you see as your role for a free Iran?
I’m not running for any office or position, but I think that the trust that Iranians have in me puts me in a position that I can play that role for them, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.
They know my commitments to these democratic values. They actually asked me to intervene, because they think that I’m probably the best person playing that role for them right now. I’m not saying I’m the only one, and I’d like to work with everybody, but that puts me in a prime position to play that role.
National Post
This interview has been edited for brevity
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