President Donald Trump said that while Reza Pahlavi comes across as personable, he is unconvinced that Iranians would embrace the exiled shah’s son as a leader if the current Islamist regime were to collapse, and he suggested the situation has not yet reached the stage where succession planning is appropriate.

Speaking to Reuters, Trump also indicated that the wave of unrest sweeping Iran — now in its second week and marked by heavy-handed repression — has not progressed to the point where discussions about who might replace Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei should take place.

Opposition groups say demonstrations have erupted in as many as 195 cities since late December, with protesters demanding an end to the hardline rulers who have governed since 1979. Authorities have responded with mass detentions and lethal force, mirroring past crackdowns. Some estimates claim up to 20,000 people may have been killed over the past month. Despite the scale of the unrest, there has been no clear emergence of a single opposition figure capable of leading a post-Khamenei transition, leaving the question of future leadership unresolved.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, has lived in the United States since before the 1979 revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power. Although images circulating from recent demonstrations have occasionally shown monarchist symbols, Trump told Reuters he doubts Pahlavi has sufficient domestic backing to step in quickly if the regime were to fall. Pahlavi is also widely viewed as lacking any organized military or paramilitary force that could supplant the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which dominates Iran’s security apparatus.

“He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country, and we really aren’t up to that point yet,” Reuters quoted Trump as saying. “I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”

“Whether or not it falls, it’s going to be an interesting period of time,” Trump added, referring to the Iranian regime.

Reuters reported that Trump has previously said he has no intention of meeting with Pahlavi or engaging in talks about a transition. Speculation in Washington suggested that Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, may have spoken with Pahlavi last weekend, though no public confirmation has been made. The news agency also noted that Pahlavi “appears to have little organized presence inside the Islamic Republic.” The Wall Street Journal editorial board recently argued that Pahlavi helped energize some of the demonstrations, pointing out that “the Shah’s son called on Iranians to rally against the regime at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday,” and that crowds responded. However, protests had already been underway in large numbers since December 31, making it difficult to assess the impact of calls issued from abroad.

The current uprising began in the final week of 2025, driven by two immediate triggers: the announcement of a new tax burden and the sharp collapse of Iran’s currency amid surging inflation. Footage from New Year’s Day shows demonstrators blocking roads and attempting to breach government buildings.

The unrest has been compounded by long-simmering crises, including severe repression enforced by morality police, water shortages so acute that “president” Masoud Pezeshkian has floated the idea of relocating Tehran’s roughly 10 million residents, and extreme weather swings. Iran pursued cloud-seeding operations in November to address drought, following destructive floods in western parts of the country.

From exile in the United States, Pahlavi has repeatedly urged President Trump to take “action” in response to events in Iran, without detailing what form such steps should take.

“The best way to ensure that there will be less people killed in Iran is to intervene sooner, so this regime finally collapses and puts an end to all the problems that we are facing,” Pahlavi said in an interview with CBS News on Monday. “The game-changer would be for this regime to know that they cannot rely anymore on a continued campaign of repression without the world reacting to it.”

“When asked whether he was pushing Mr. Trump to initiate regime change, Pahlavi said that the president stands in solidarity with the Iranian people, which means ‘ultimately supporting them in their ask. And their ask is that this regime has to go,’” CBS News reported.

In the same interview, Pahlavi said he was “prepared” to die for a free Iran, though there has been no indication that he plans to return to the country or join the demonstrations in person. Addressing criticism that encouraging protests from abroad could endanger lives, he responded that “this is a war and war has casualties,” while again calling for unspecified “action.”

{Matzav.com}