Exiled shah’s son, Pahlavi puts himself forward as interim Iranian leader

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah and one of the country’s most prominent opposition figures in exile, has again put himself forward as Iran’s potential leader.

Pahlavi responded to the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday.

“Many Iranians, often even after facing bullets, have called on me to lead this transition.

“I am in awe of their courage, and I have answered their call,” he wrote.

“Our path forward will be transparent: a new constitution drafted and ratified by referendum, followed by free elections under international oversight.

“When Iranians vote, the transitional government dissolves.”

A democratic Iran would “transform the Middle East, turning one of the world’s most persistent sources of upheaval into a pillar of regional stability,” he wrote.

He emphasised that Iran would not “repeat the mistakes” that followed the Iraq war.

“There will be no dissolution of institutions, no power vacuum, no chaos.”

U.S. President Donald Trump declared Khamenei dead after the United States and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on Saturday.

His death was confirmed by Iranian state media early on Sunday.

Trump told U.S. broadcaster CBS News that “there are some good candidates” to lead Iran following Khamenei’s death but did not elaborate.

Saturday’s attacks targeted key locations where the Iranian leadership was meeting, killing top officials including the defense minister and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Israeli military said earlier.

Pahlavi’s father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, ruled Iran from 1941 until his overthrow in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Reza Pahlavi, who was designated crown prince by his father, has lived in exile in the United States for decades.

(dpa/NAN)