Iranian dissident Reza Pahlavi warned on Saturday that any peace negotiations with the current leadership in Iran would only postpone the danger facing the Americans, and announced that he would return to calling on Iranians to demonstrate in the streets.
The son of the deposed Iranian Shah, who resides outside the country, made the comments in a speech he delivered to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas, an annual gathering of activists and Republican lawmakers. He received a standing ovation and applause from those in attendance, including conservatives and Iranian-Americans.
Pahlavi cited statements by US President Donald Trump in which he said that he was moving forward with attacks on Iran because he did not want to face security threats from this country “every two years,” considering that negotiating with the current leadership in Tehran would be an embodiment of this scenario.
“The only thing that can be relied upon with the remnants of this regime is buying time, deception and theft,” Pahlavi said, adding that “they will never be honest or true partners for peace.”
He added that the regime “will buy time, pretend to negotiate, and then return to its old ways of threatening America, its security, and its interests.”
Pahlavi, 65 years old, is marketing himself as the ideal choice to lead a transitional administration, declaring his readiness to return to Iran as soon as possible after an absence of 47 years.
However, the Iranian opposition remains divided between competing groups and factions with ideological differences. Trump has repeatedly expressed doubts about Pahlavi’s ability to lead, hinting that the best choice may be a figure from within Iran.
In light of the rise in global energy prices and the decline in Trump’s support ratings, the US President, a month after the start of the war on Iran, faces two difficult choices: concluding a potentially flimsy agreement and withdrawing, or continuing the military escalation with the risk of a long-term conflict.
Pahlavi sought to link his cause to the security and economic interests of the United States, stressing that a “free Iran” could provide broad economic opportunities for Washington, calling on the audience to imagine Iran shifting from the slogan “Death to America” to “May God Save America.”
During the speech, some of the Iranian-American attendees chanted, “Long live the king.”
Pahlavi concluded by noting that he had called for continued protests across Iran in January, stressing that he would issue “a call to rise up again… when the time is right” in an attempt to “restore their homeland, their dignity, and their future.”
