The exiled crown prince of Iran referred to the “forces of evil” that have targeted Israel as well as the Iranian people.
Reza Pahlavi was interviewed by Fox News’s Steve Doocy, who noted the president of Iran saying, “Zionist regimes crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action.”
“The red line? What are they talking about? … Their proxy forces are shooting at our guys over in that region every day, it seems,” Doocy noted.
“That’s exactly the case,” Pahlavi responded. “From the very beginning, the attitude of this regime has been repression at home and aggression abroad, using obviously as proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. That’s how far the regime is apart from where the Iranian people are. The most heard slogan on the Iranian street has been ‘Neither Gaza, neither Lebanon, my life is sacrificed for Iran.’ What does that mean? It means the Iranian people know very well that what today the Iranian regime represents and calls for has nothing to do with their aspiration.”
“The regime, on the other hand, is trying to push the envelope; trying to see whether they can take advantage of a weakness, which currently seems to be the case, and that’s why they’ve become emboldened, every time the West hesitates or doesn’t apply the necessary pressure as it should have, to at least to contain this, but ultimately with the idea of putting an end to the problem by eliminating the regime once and for all,” he continued. “Otherwise it will be just kicking the can down the road.”
Doocy pointed out that President Biden had warned entities outside the war between Israel and Hamas not to get involved, saying, “Don’t.” “Shouldn’t he say, ‘Don’t or there’s going to be be hell to pay?’” he asked.
“Words are words, but actions determine the outcome,” Pahlavi answered. “Right now you have a situation where you have encouraged the regime that if you take hostages, you will be rewarded and get some more cash in your hands. You have called for sanctions but you have never implemented them like the old sanctions. That is not what I call putting pressure. ‘Be good boys and don’t harm us?’ Is that the message? I mean, c’mon.”
“If, by the way, European allies were to also target or designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, that’s additional pressure on the regime and will curtail their efforts even further,” he suggested. “But parallel to maximum pressure, there ought to be also a campaign of maximum support. That means empowerment of the Iranian people to put domestic pressure to force the regime ultimately to paralysis and collapse. That would be more technological assistance, funding labor strikes and what have you. It has happened before; case in point, Solidarity movement in Poland, for instance, at the end of the Cold War.”
Asked what the average Iranian thinks, he answered, “For 44 years we’ve been primarily occupied by a group of people who are ideologically not at all interested in the livelihood of our own citizens; they’re only interested in exporting an ideology beyond our borders and create a modern-day Shiite caliphate to dominate the region and the rest of the world.”
“The regime in Iran has tried to sabotage what could have led to legitimate peace in the region. The forces of evil that are fighting via terror, whether it’s conducted against our own people or Israel, other nations in the region; they are not committed to peace. They do not want peace. … you have to eliminate the problem once and for all.”
I joined Fox & Friends yesterday to emphasize the difference between the people of Iran, who chant “Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, I will sacrifice my life for Iran” and the Islamic Republic regime which, for 44 years, has sought only oppression at home and aggression abroad. pic.twitter.com/PCX5LQUxP0
— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) November 1, 2023
