FILE PHOTO- Iranian opposition leader and son of the last Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Reza Pahlavi holds a press conference in Paris on June 23, 2025.
Reza Pahlavi, an exiled Iranian opposition figure and the son of the former shah, whose name was chanted during some of the protests that swept across the country earlier this year, said Tuesday that Iran was “in a very sensitive stage of our final struggle,” in a statement shared on social media.
“I ask you to prepare your essential needs as soon as possible, and for the sake of your own security, leave the streets and stay in your homes,” Pahlavi said, addressing the Iranian people. “Continue the strike and do not show up for work. To demonstrate your unity, keep up the nighttime chants with full force.”
Pahlavi warned Iran’s military and security forces that it was their “last chance to separate yourselves from the repressive forces and join the people.”
Pahlavi told Iranians to “await my final call,” without providing any further information on any action he expected in the coming hours or days.
Born in Tehran, Reza Pahlavi was officially named Crown Prince of Iran at the time of his father’s coronation in 1967. As a cadet of the Imperial Iranian Air Force, he moved to the United States for pilot training at Reese Air Force Base in 1978.
The next year, his father was overthrown, and the monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini. In 1980, following the death of his father in exile in Cairo, Egypt, Reza Pahlavi declared himself shah of Iran, styling himself “Reza Shah II“, and actively participated in political activities opposing the Islamic Republic from abroad.
CBS/ NEWS AGENCIES
