BERLIN – Mr Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s ousted shah, argued on April 23 that any negotiations with the clerical leadership in Tehran amount to “appeasement” and voiced hope that renewed street protests will topple it.
Mr Pahlavi, 65, was speaking on a visit to Berlin, where he was greeted by some supporters but also bitter opponents – with one activist splashing a red liquid on him before being detained by police.
Mr Pahlavi, addressing journalists, called on European governments that have stayed out of the US-Israeli war against Iran to take other steps, from expelling Iranian ambassadors to helping Iranian citizens access the blockaded internet.
“The whole narrative of ceasefire and negotiation is still based on thinking that … you’re going to deal with people who all of a sudden have become pragmatists,” said Mr Pahlavi, who was visiting Germany after stops in Sweden and Italy.
“I don’t see that happening,” he said, condemning Iran’s new leaders after the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other senior figures as “different faces of the same machine”.
Mr Pahlavi said Iran had “slaughtered innocent citizens by the thousands” and threatens Europe with long-range missiles. “No deal will solve this. No negotiations will solve this. It is in their DNA.”
Mr Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza was brought down by the 1979 Islamic revolution, has repeatedly said he was ready to lead a transition if the Islamic republic fell in the war that erupted in late February.
He, however, represents just one of several Iranian diaspora groups, who are often bitterly at loggerheads, and has failed to win recognition from US President Donald Trump, who has never officially met with Mr Pahlavi and repeatedly expressed scepticism over his ability to lead Iran.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government was not due to meet Mr Pahlavi, according to a Berlin spokesman, although several lawmakers were to hold talks with him.
The ousted shah’s son was boosted by protesters chanting the name of the family dynasty during January rallies against the clerical system and then vast pro-monarchy demonstrations in February in Munich and several cities in North America.
“Inside Iran, tens of millions of Iranians chanted my name, and they still do,” Mr Pahlavi told the Berlin press conference, adding that “today’s Gen Z in Iran are my biggest supporters”.
Looking ahead, he voiced hopes for a popular uprising, saying that “the strategy is ultimately for people to be able to reclaim the streets”. AFP
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