In a direct challenge to Tehran, Reza Pahlavi’s appeal coincides with flag-swapping incidents at embassies, escalating diplomatic tensions.
TEHRAN PROTESTS UPDATE – Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last monarch, has issued a forceful appeal for Iran’s military and civil servants to defect from the government and support the nationwide protest movement. His statement, circulated on social media, frames the crisis as a decisive moral choice for state personnel.
“Employees of state institutions, as well as members of the armed and security forces, have a choice,” Pahlavi wrote. “Stand with the people and become allies of the nation, or choose complicity with the murderers of the people.” The message follows allegations by rights groups of a severe state crackdown on dissent.
Simultaneously, Pahlavi called for the Islamic Republic’s flag to be removed from Iranian embassies globally and replaced with the lion-and-sun banner of the Pahlavi monarchy, ousted in the 1979 Revolution. “The time has come for them to be adorned with Iran’s national flag, in place of the disgraceful banner of the Islamic republic,” he stated.
This symbolic push found physical expression in London over the weekend, where protesters successfully replaced the flag at the Iranian embassy with the pre-revolutionary standard. The act triggered an immediate diplomatic rebuke, with Iran’s foreign ministry summoning the British ambassador in Tehran to protest what it deemed a failure to protect diplomatic premises.
The pre-1979 flag has increasingly become a rallying point for diaspora-led demonstrations supporting protesters inside Iran, merging historical symbolism with current political demands. Analysts note that Pahlavi’s dual strategy—appealing directly to the pillars of state power while championing potent monarchist symbols—aims to elevate his profile as a unifying figurehead for a fragmented opposition.
The Iranian government has not publicly responded to Pahlavi’s latest statements but maintains that the protests are fueled by foreign adversaries and “rioters.”
