Exiled crown prince: Iranians, not the US, will oust regime; eyes ‘Cyrus Accord’ with Israel

Pahlavi argued that nationwide unrest has created what he called a rare alignment of circumstances that could finally topple the ruling system.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi says Iranians, not the United States, will bring down the Islamic Republic, rejecting speculation that Washington might attempt a military extraction of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or engineer a handover of power, as US President Trump has done in Venezuela.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Pahlavi said the country’s protest movement has reached a point where, in his view, “the regime is collapsing” and outside intervention is neither necessary nor desirable.

Pahlavi argued that nationwide unrest has created what he called a rare alignment of circumstances that could finally topple the ruling system.

He described the current moment as one in which “the conditions are right on many levels for the regime to collapse,” adding that demonstrations now go beyond economic frustration and openly call for an end to clerical rule.

Asked whether he envisioned a formal position for himself if the government fell, he said his contribution would be focused on repairing a country battered by decades of repression.

Healing a society that has been “hurt, depressed, demoralized, cheated, lied to,” he said, would take precedence over pursuing a specific executive role.

Pahlavi repeated his long-standing argument that accountability for regime leaders should come from inside Iran. “It will be far more appropriate for this to be solely in the hands of the Iranian people,” he said, while urging international governments to support Iranians seeking to free themselves.

He also criticized past U.S. administrations, saying the Green Movement in 2009 was abandoned and that the Biden administration’s approach allowed Tehran access to “over $200 billion of oil revenue.”

That money, he said, was used to reinforce regional proxy groups rather than ease domestic conditions, a dynamic he connected to the October 7 massacre.

Pahlavi praised Israel’s government and current U.S. leadership, saying Israel has “a very strong prime minister” and that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are pursuing a markedly different policy toward Tehran.

Looking ahead, Pahlavi predicted a strategic realignment after the Islamic regime falls, saying Iran would seek a “Cyrus Accord” with Israel—an elevated version of the Abraham Accords. He cited historic ties dating back to Cyrus the Great and noted that Israeli water-management expertise could help Iran confront severe environmental challenges. He said many Iranians envision a future built on cooperation with Israel and Arab states, arguing that Tehran’s hard-line rulers resisted regional normalization precisely to block that trajectory.