Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah, praised U.S. President Donald Trump for helping free Iran.
GRAPEVINE, Texas—A packed crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) roared their approval as Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged President Donald Trump to reject leaving any faction of the Islamic regime in power.
Pahlavi praised Trump during a March 28 speech as the only president in nearly 50 years with the courage and character to give Iranians a chance at freedom.
Iranians want a clean break from the mullahs, he said. He asked America to stay the course rather than give the regime a chance to remain in control.
“We prefer to die standing than to live kneeling,” he said.
Pahlavi said keeping any regime faction in power would let the mullahs rebuild and resume hostilities against America.
“The Islamic Republic cannot reform itself,” he said. “You cannot reform a snake. Venom is in its DNA.”
With regime change, the United States, Iran, Israel, and its Arab neighbors would usher in a new era of “peace and prosperity,” he said.
He said millions of Iranians have asked him to lead the transition to democracy after the war. “I have accepted that call,” he added.
“President Trump is making America great again. I intend to make Iran great again,” he said.
However, Trump has expressed skepticism about Pahlavi taking the helm in a post-war Iran. Trump called him a“very nice person,” but said that it would be ”more appropriate” for a moderate already within Iran to lead the country forward.
Pahlavi said 2026 will mark the rebirth of a 2,500-year-old civilization dating back to the ancient Persian Empire.
The son of Iran’s last shah, who has been exiled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Pahlavi said there are factions within Iran that have signaled their willingness to work with him, which would help prevent a power vacuum and chaos during a regime change.
Pahlavi, as the crowd chanted his name and “USA,” urged the audience to imagine a free, stable Middle East rather than one plagued by terrorism and conflict.
“Can you imagine Iran going from ‘Death to America’ to ‘God bless America?’” he asked. “A free Iran is within reach right now.”
Pahlavi said that after the bombing ends, he will call on Iranians to rise up as they did in January.
He said more than 40,000 Iranians were killed by the Islamic regime as thousands of protestors hit the streets in January. Families of those killed searched unmarked body bags for loved ones. The regime forced them to pay for the bullets used to shoot their family members, he said.
Survivors seeking hospital treatment were hunted and killed, he said. Medical workers were raped and killed for helping victims, he added.
“There’s a sea of blood between the people and the regime,” he said. “They will never agree to swap one tyrant for another.”
Pahlavi’s comments come as the conflict with Iran enters its second month, with 3,500 U.S. marines aboard the USS Tripoli arriving in the Middle East on Saturday, according to the U.S. Central Command.
On March 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States could accomplish its mission “without any ground troops.”
However, he also said American forces are ready for different scenarios to give the president maximum flexibility and to respond to new contingencies.
