Recent protests in Iran have highlighted Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the Shah, who was overthrown in 1979. However, serious questions are also being raised about him and whether he is suitable for leadership. The most striking thing about Pahlavi is that he has a highly positive approach toward Israel and pro-Israeli, far-right Western politicians.

Back in 2016, his exaggerated condolence message upon the death of Shimon Peres raised doubts about his judgment. Years later, in 2023, he took perhaps the most remarkable step and went to Israel, posing at the Western Wall with a kippa on his head. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel. Gamliel, while Israel's 12-day War with Iran was going on, shared a message: "Next year in free Tehran!" When the latest protests started in Iran, she took a selfie wearing a hat with the words "Make Iran Great Again" and shared the picture, tagging Pahlavi, with the caption "Soon.”

Speaking at the 2024 Israeli-American Summit, Pahlavi emphasized solidarity between Israel, the U.S. and Iranians like himself in the face of Iran's actions against Israel and the U.S. The Israeli American Council is a place that hosts the most ardent Zionists, like Miriam Adelson. Trump also gave a speech there that year.

In 2025, he attended the Conservative Political Action Conference, which was organized and attended by far-right and, therefore, mostly Israel supporters around the world.

During the 12 Day War, his wife, Yasmine Pahlavi, openly supported Israel's attack on Iran in an Instagram post, despite civilians dying. Pahlavi also released a video following the Israeli bombing and implicitly called on his Iranian supporters to attack the regime together with Israel. The fact that he did not say a single word against Israel in the video, neither for the killed civilians, led to many reactions under his tweet.

Yasmine had previously expressed her belief that the concepts of "women, life, freedom" were represented by the Israeli female soldier in another Instagram post.

Who promotes Pahlavi?

It appears that Pahlavi appeared most frequently on Fox News during this period. This channel is known for representing the far right in the U.S. and acting as a mouthpiece for Israel.

Opinions promoting Pahlavi's legacy are also published here. In a recent piece, one of his supporters, Shahryar Oveissi, argued that the current movement yearns for Pahlavi. The column, which claims that most Iranians admire the U.S., also stated that if Pahlavi comes to power, Iran will become a close partner of Israel.

In the U.K., too, support for Pahlavi is seen among figures dedicated to Israel. Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel and Reform Party leader Nigel Farage met with Pahlavi in ​​July. Since the protests began, they, Patel in particular, have tweeted extensively, to which Pahlavi's side has expressed their gratitude.

Paul du Quenoy, a historian and staunch defender of Israel, openly advocated for the restoration of the Pahlavi monarchy. Believing he has the overwhelming support of the people, Quenoy claims that this would be enough to make Iran great again. While he discusses how things improved in Spain with the return of the monarchy, he fails to comment on the vast differences between the two countries.

Simon Sebag Montefiore, another historian known for his staunch defense of the Israeli genocide in Gaza and his attacks on anti-genocide activists, also wrote an article supporting the reinstatement of Pahlavi. However, the author, who states that "History is filled with relatively positive examples of the scions who have returned to power armed only with the name of their dynasty,” commits the absurdity of first citing the Bushes, father and son, as an example to support his argument.

Aside from those who take pride in serving Israel, it can be said that the Israeli right wing directly desires Pahlavi. The following lines are directly from a column in Arutz Sheva: "The mourning nation of Iran, even as it buries its dead and grieves for its stolen children, still clings to a single remaining window of hope. That hope is The Crown Prince, HRH Reza Pahlavi.” We also mentioned the example of Gila Gamliel. She also published an article in the Jerusalem Post on Dec. 31, in which she presented Pahlavi as the "symbol of national rehabilitation and renewal.”

However, there does not seem to be much response outside the far right. For example, MSNBC, which is opposed to U.S. President Donald Trump, has made almost no broadcasts about him. The ruling party in the U.K., Labour, also did not want to meet with him, for now.

All this type of information makes many people think that he is an Israeli asset. But, of course, for others, these are just an indication that he is just a "peace-loving" man.

Insufficient support

Jason Rezaian, who was imprisoned during the nuclear negotiations in 2014 while he was the Washington Post's Tehran correspondent, argues that Pahlavi, who has no real history of leadership, cannot lead a place of Iran's size and complexity.

In another publication, it is also stated that the opposition exhibits a diverse range, from ethnic minorities to republicans, monarchists and leftists. The newspaper also underlines that interviews with members of the Iranian opposition show that they are skeptical of Pahlavi's leadership. It is also reminded that the coalition Pahlavi established with the Iranian diaspora in 2023 did not last even two months. In this way, it’s pointed out that Pahlavi has not been successful in establishing even a very short-term unity with anti-regime secular Iranians, which is truly notable. Radio France also portrayed Pahlavi as politically immature and undesirable to the minorities who make up 50% of Iran's population.

According to the research of Ammar Maleki, who works at Tilburg University and conducts public opinion polling among Iranians, 1 in 3 Iranians have strong support for Pahlavi, while 1 in 3 have strong opposition. However, the Washington Post states that, based on who they were able to interview, there are some among Pahlavi's supporters who do not like him but support him because there is no other prominent figure, or those who only accept him for the transition period. Although there are some names among his supporters, such as former football player Ali Karimi, it can be said that this ratio and table will not be enough to distinguish Pahlavi as a leader.

The lack of support is raising questions even among pro-Israel figures. In this context, The Telegraph, which acts like Netanyahu's mouthpiece in the U.K., published an interesting article that cites the example of Ahmed Chalabi. Like Pahlavi, Chalabi cultivated close ties with the U.S. right, and after the Americans invaded Iraq in 2003, they gave him a senior role in Iraq's transitional government. However, his party only managed to get 0.5% of the vote in 2005. He had no popular support and failed to establish any order in Iraq. Maziyar Ghiabi, director of Persian and Iranian studies at the University of Exeter, is quoted in the piece, who says, "If the regime falls and someone like Reza Pahlavi comes to power, that is the easiest route to internal conflict.”

Even Fox News, which might be dubbed the most prominent propagandist for Pahlavi in ​​Western media, expresses skepticism about his support among protesters and draws attention to the anti-Pahlavi sentiment among other dissidents in the diaspora.

West is in doubt

Pahlavi’s environment also leads many to think that he has adopted both the monarchy and oppressive policies similar to those of his father’s reign. Parviz Sabeti, the former director of Savak, the secret police service known for torturing and murdering the Shah's opponents, is currently Pahlavi's adviser. It was also reported that they did not respond to The Times seeking to clarify his exact role.

Another prominent actor of the Iranian diaspora is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Shahin Gobadi, a member of the NCRI foreign affairs committee, also draws attention to Sabeti. Gobadi also states that Pahlavi has no organization within Iran and says, "More importantly, Pahlavi has never distanced himself from the crimes of his father's dictatorship.”

Indeed, Oveissi also praises the Shah's era in his aforementioned piece, describing it as a period of stability and prosperity. More importantly, he explicitly writes that Pahlavi wants a U.K.-style monarchy.

Also, an article published in Le Monde, emphasizing that Pahlavi is neither charismatic nor conciliatory, states that he excludes non-monarchists.

It is also noteworthy that most of those who want Pahlavi's return have not seen his father's reign. Making this point, the Daily Mail recalled the late Shah's lavish celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire. They also claimed that the Shah's soldiers, like today's regime, opened fire on protesters and killed dozens of them. The newspaper also reported that Pahlavi currently lives in a seven-bedroom mansion with a swimming pool in Washington. His decision not to issue a statement addressing his father’s actions, along with his privileged lifestyle, has led some to draw parallels between Pahlavi and his father.

The repression of dissidents is another aspect in which he resembles his father. Le Monde reported that many Iranians who contacted them said that if they offered even the slightest criticism of Pahlavi, they were harassed by his army of royalist cyber soldiers.

Pahlavi published a document called "Iran Prosperity Project” last year. According to David Ignatius, he "may be too much of a creature of the past to lead a new Iran,” but his project is "superb.” However, several analysts think this model "would reproduce certain traits of authoritarian centralism that Iranian history is trying to overcome.” Iranian analyst Hamid Enayat says that "the text does not provide for the dissolution of current repressive structures (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij militias), but their 'filtering' and their reconversion. A new intelligence service would even be established. This vagueness in democratic guarantees worries some observers and activists.”

In short, it cannot be said that he is a name that Westerners trust very much. However, the support he finds from Zionists seems high. But even on that side, some think he is not fit for duty.

Even some of his supporters write as if to say that he should not be supported. The Times writer Roger Boyes, who argues that he should be given a chance, states that he is a "goofy," "indecisive" person who is "out of touch" with the truth and has many opponents inside and outside Iran, but writes that he is not as bad as his father. Similar criticisms were made in more detail by Victoria Azad, who was with him for a long time. Trump's suspicion and distance from him may be due to these reasons.