Mideast, Iran Paying Price Of Tehran's Appeasement - Exiled Prince

Iran’s exiled prince, Reza Pahlavi, says the region's problems are a result of global appeasement with the Islamic Republic. 

Pahlavi highlighted Tehran’s destabilizing activities through its regional proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis and crackdown on dissent within Iran, calling on the world to support the revolutionary uprising of the Iranian people to end the regime. 

“There is only one solution: help the people of Iran in their fight for liberation from the Islamic regime, and put an end to war and conflict,” he said after an Iran-backed militia attacked US troops on Sunday in Jordan, leaving three dead.

During a speech at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles on Tuesday, he pointed out that nothing can push Iran into reform, the regime only more emboldened in the face of global sanctions. It has continued its nuclear program at an accelerated speed, supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine and continued to crack down on dissent at home with over 800 executions last year alone.

Pahlavi also called for the formation of a coalition working towards the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, not only for the sake of Iran, but the world. The UK alone has foiled tens of attacks since 2022, with dozens more around the world. In September, Israel's spy chief said it had also foiled 27 attacks on Israelis and Jews abroad in the past year. 

The exiled prince stated that Iranians do not ask the US to send soldiers into Iran, instead, they want the US to support their aspirations for freedom and their fight against the regime. Pahlavi called for global efforts to facilitate Iranians' access to free internet and financial support for striking workers, utilizing the Islamic Republic’s funds currently blocked in the US. 

He also renewed his criticism of the prisoner exchange deal between Tehran and Washington, in which Washington released five Iranians in addition to $6 billion of the country's frozen assets in South Korea in exchange for five Iranian-Americans who were held hostage in Iran. "The United States should give Iran's assets to the protesters instead of the Islamic Republic," he said. 

Pahlavi’s message to the world echoes the demands of several opposition figures and international activists, especially since the Middle East conflict began on October 7, when Tehran-backed Islamist group Hamas invaded Israel, killed 1,400 mostly civilians and took hundreds of hostages.

In the wake of the attack, several other Iran-funded groups have intensified attacks on US and Israeli targets in Iraq and Syria while the Houthis of Yemen have been attacking international shipping in the Red Sea. Iranian officials claim that the country has had no active role in the conflict, but the proxies are the brainchild of Iran's Supreme Leader who himself called for the Red Sea blockade. During 2023, he met with leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, suggesting top level coordination of the attacks which have triggered the worst violence in the region in years. 

Echoing the exiled prince's calls, on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad called on the Western world “to take a tough stance against the regime in Iran which is determined to eliminate Israel and kill its own people too.”