Reuters: Reza Pahlavi seeks to establish himself as protest leader, his popularity in Iran remains difficult to assess

From his exile in the United States, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, who was overthrown in 1979, is seeking to establish himself as a leader of the ongoing protests in Iran, although his popularity in the country remains difficult to assess, the British agency Reuters reported today on its website.

Since the demonstrations began two weeks ago, Pahlavi has repeatedly called for the overthrow of the theocratic regime, as he did during the Green Movement wave of protests in 2009 and the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement in 2022.

Reza Pahlavi, who is 65 years old, is urging Iranians to fight oppression and vowing to return to the Islamic Republic soon to oversee the transition to a democratic regime.

Married, father of three, he was proclaimed Shah of Iran in 1980 by the royal court in exile after the death of his father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in a hospital in Cairo.

His name, or the slogan "Long live the Shah" is regularly chanted at rallies that have sprung up across the country since December 28. But slogans of "Death to the dictator," referring to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are also heard calling for a change of government.

The Iranian opposition is deeply divided today, whereas in 1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini managed to carry out a revolution, even uniting behind his name those Iranians who advocated the establishment of a secular regime, in opposition to the monarchy unpopular because of its wealth and the repression carried out by the regime's security and intelligence apparatus.

Reza Pahlavi, born in 1960, left Iran before his father's downfall to train as a fighter pilot in the U.S. He studied political science.

He gained popularity among the diaspora, especially among Iranians living in the US, tirelessly denouncing the theocratic regime and calling for change.

He visited Israel, a close ally of his late father, in 2023, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and supported Israeli and American attacks last June on the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities.

But he has not yet secured strong support from Washington and the European Union.

US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened American intervention in recent days if there is a brutal crackdown on protesters, said on Friday that he was "not sure it's appropriate" to meet with the son of Iran's last shah.