A meeting with Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, friend of Israel

ByJOSEPH SCUTTS

JUNE 28, 2025 14:14

I recently had the honor of meeting Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi in New York City. Reza Pahlavi is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the former shah of Iran, and his wife, Farah Diba. He was officially named crown prince of Iran in 1967 at the time of his father’s coronation. Pahlavi is the founder and leader of the National Council of Iran, an exiled opposition group that participates in the Iranian democracy movement, and is a prominent critic of Iran’s Islamic Republic government. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Pahlavi family went into exile. When the shah died in July of 1980, Reza Pahlavi declared himself to be the new king of Iran and rightful successor to the throne of the Pahlavi dynasty.

When I met the crown prince, I thanked him for his unequivocal support for Israel. Within the past year, the exiled crown prince of Iran accused the former Biden administration of appeasing the Iranian supreme leader after Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel in October (that I personally witnessed) and urged global leaders to support the Iranian people, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic regime. “From Tehran to Tel Aviv, from Hamidan to Haifa, Iranians and Israelis know that this is not the Iranian people’s war, this is Ali Khamenei, the dictator of this brutal regime’s war,” Reza Pahlavi said during an appearance on Fox News. “As we speak, today there were demonstrations in Paris, London, Berlin. Iranians together with the Israelis and Jews hand-in-hand…supporting each other and demonstrating to the whole world that we as a nation and Israel as a nation have our destiny intertwined. We cannot hope for any chance for peace and stability in the region until this regime is finally gone,” Pahlavi said. “I think it’s important for the world to realize that the only obstacle to peace and stability and a better future lies in putting an end to the regime. It’s time for the world to finally decide to endorse and back the Iranian people to topple this regime and put an end to all this madness,” he added.

Stepping up pressure on the Islamic regime

In recent days, the crown prince bashed former president Joe Biden’s reversal of President Donald Trump’s sanctions on the regime in Tehran and called on the US to step up its pressure on the Islamist leadership. Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said the Iranian people were friends of Americans, despite their regime’s funding of terror in the Middle East. Pahlavi insisted that the current Islamic Republic is weaker today than at any point in its almost five decades in power. “The Iranian people are trying to send this clear message to the outside world that if you want a true partner in peace, it is us who represent the alternative, not this regime which has taken our country hostage in the first place 46 years ago and continues to do that,” Pahlavi said. He is now calling for Trump to put the highest amount of pressure on the regime, possibly through crackdowns on its nuclear program or exporting of terrorism, and reverse the appeasement of Biden, who stymied the progress made during Trump’s first term. He went on to state, “This regime, in its DNA, is simply incompatible with the free world as we know it. Expecting them to change their behavior is a waste of time,” he said. “We’ve seen … under the first administration of President Trump, that maximum pressure did pay some dividends,” he said. “It isolated the regime more. It curtailed their means to be able to finance and fuel their war machine.”

As I parted ways with Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, we spoke about the Iran that could have been had the 1979 Revolution never happened, in which he would have been the ruling king. We discussed our hopes for the future and the rock solid relationship that he feels for Israel and the Jewish people. As we embraced, I thanked him for his deep friendship and affection for the nation of Israel and his hope that the true voice of the people of Iran will be heard one day. A truly historic day to remember.■

The writer received his undergraduate degree in business from Yeshiva University and his MBA from Long Island University. He is a financial adviser who resides in New York City and is involved in Israel-based and Jewish advocacy organizations

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is a true friend of the State of Israel - opinion

As we embraced, I thanked him for his deep friendship and affection for the nation of Israel and his hope that the true voice of the people of Iran will be heard one day.

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Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is a true friend of the State of Israel - opinion

As we embraced, I thanked him for his deep friendship and affection for the nation of Israel and his hope that the true voice of the people of Iran will be heard one day.

Stepping up pressure on the Islamic regime

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