Exiled crown prince says he’s ready to lead Iran’s transition ‘as soon as the Islamic Republic falls’
The exiled crown prince of Iran said he is ready to lead a transition in Tehran “as soon as the Islamic Republic falls.”
Reza Pahlavi — who has lived in exile in the US since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted his father, Iran’s last shah — said he has already been working to select people both inside and outside Iran to serve on what he called a “transitional system.”
The joint US-Israel war with Iran entered its 15th day on Saturday.
“The transitional system, under my leadership, will be ready to assume governance of the country as soon as the Islamic Republic falls, and in the shortest possible time, establish order, security, freedom, and the conditions for Iran’s prosperity and flourishing,” Pahlavi wrote on social media Saturday, in an address to his “compatriots.”
Pahlavi, he has recently met with several European leaders, has emerged as one of the leading opposition figures since the protests against the theocratic regime kicked off in late December, but the crown prince has yet to win the backing of President Trump, who has questioned whether he has enough sway inside Iran to lead its people.
His plans transition government, dubbed the “Iran Prosperity Project,” Pahlavi’s transition government plans establishes as a blueprint for the first 180 days after the fall of the Islamic Republic. It includes a referendum to determine the system of government, followed by an election.
Saeed Ghasseminejad, Iran advisor at the DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, had been leading the process to select members of a transitional body, Pahlavi said.
