Who is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince encouraging demonstrations in Iran? : NPR

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, overthrown in Iran, speaks during a press conference, Monday June 23, 2025 in Paris.

Thomas Padilla/AP

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Thomas Padilla/AP

As the Islamic Republic of Iran approaches two weeks of nationwide protests, the government in Tehran has acknowledged the protests while continuing a crackdown.

The death toll from clashes between protesters and government security forces reached 116 as of Sunday morning, with more than 2,600 people arrested. according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Among the most prominent supporters of continued action against the government is Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah of Iran, who has posted frequent messages encouraging the protesters.

Iran’s Attorney General, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, announced on Saturday that participants in the unrest would be considered “enemies of God.” A statement broadcast by Iranian state television said even those who “helped the rioters” would be charged with the charge, which carries the death penalty.

The current wave of protests began on December 28, following the collapse of the national currency, the rial, which currently trades at more than 1.4 million to the US dollar and has lost half its value since September. International sanctions have strained the economy, and the resulting public grievances have sparked direct challenges to Iran’s theocracy.

In response, the government mobilized security forces and state-controlled media. State television broadcast pro-government rallies, while at the same time surveillance footage published by the government-affiliated Fars News Agency showed a protester in Isfahan firing a long gun while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound. Another government-affiliated news agency with close ties to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard force, Tasnim, reported that authorities had arrested nearly 200 people from “operational terrorist teams,” alongside allegations that those arrested had been arrested. possessed weapons including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.

A number that divides

Amid these events, Reza Pahlavi, the 65-year-old exiled crown prince and son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, has re-emerged as a leading figure in Iran’s various opposition movements. In messages shared on social media, Pahlavi urged protesters to take to the streets Thursday evening and Friday. He urged protesters to continue their street demonstrations throughout the weekend, waving the country’s old flag, the lion and the sun, and other national symbols used during his father’s era to “take over public spaces.”

Although he was born in Iran, Pahlavi has lived in exile for almost 50 years.

Born in Tehran in 1960, he was named crown prince of Iran until the overthrow of his father, who had inherited the throne from his own father, an army officer who had seized power with British support. After successfully overcoming rising oil prices in the 1970s, economic inequality widened during the Shah’s final reign, and his Savak intelligence agency became notorious for the torture of dissidents.

This Pahlavi dynasty ended in 1979 when millions of people across the country participated in protests against the Shah, uniting left-wing secularists, trade unions, professionals, students and Muslim clergy. Reza Pahlavi had left his homeland to attend flight school at a U.S. air base in Texas a year earlier, in 1978, and then watched his father flee Iran at the start of what became known as the Islamic Revolution, in which Shiite clerics established a new theocratic government. After his father’s death, a royal court in exile announced that Reza Pahlavi had inherited the monarchical role from Shah on October 31, 1980, his 20th birthday.A leader for a future Iran?

Pahlavi’s efforts to position himself as a leader of the future Iran have sparked sometimes heated debates inside and outside the country. And although demonstrators have shouted in support of the Shah during some demonstrations, it is unclear whether this is in support of Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

His public support for Israel has drawn significant criticism in the past from ordinary Iranians and other members of opposition groups, particularly after the 12-day war Israel launched in June 2025.

He has sought to make his voice heard through videos on social media, and Farsi-language news channels such as Iran International have highlighted his calls for protests. In press interviews, Pahlavi repeatedly raised the idea of ​​a constitutional monarchy, perhaps with an elected rather than hereditary ruler, but also said it was up to Iranians to choose.