Exiled Prince Says Iran's Regime Failing To Secure Territory

Iran's exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, a top opposition figure, has slammed the weakness of the Islamic regime in defending the country's territorial integrity.

In an interview with Kayhan London on Friday, Pahlavi condemned the reaction to Russia's recent claim regarding three Persian Gulf Iranian islands contested by the United Arab Emirates.

Last week, Russia supported UAE sovereignty over three Persian Gulf islands - Abu Musa, the Greater and the Lesser Tunb - causing diplomatic friction with Iran.

“Russia's siding with the illusory claims of the member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council about the three Iranian islands ... shows how the Islamic Republic has auctioned the wealth, soil and territorial integrity of Iran with its unwise and traitorous policies,” Pahlavi said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian prince condemned the use of violence against veterans of the Iran-Iraq war, who had gathered in front of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs in Tehran, to protest hardship amid a 100-percent food price inflation and their inadequate pensions.

“Like other foundations and headquarters under the control of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation is an extremely corrupt and non-transparent institution that the regime uses to loot the Iranian nation and suppress them,” Pahlavi added.

He also censured the approval by the regime to let the members of Iraq's Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias and other proxies of the Islamic Republic to study at Iranian universities.

“Iraqi militia forces are allowed to enter Tehran University so that, when necessary, these non-Iranian mercenaries suppress Iranians’ protests,” the exiled prince claimed.