Son of Former Shah Calls on Iranian Forces to Support Protesters

Reza Pahlavi urges state employees and security personnel to join the opposition, as embassy flag incidents escalate tensions.

Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s last monarch, has publicly appealed to Iranian government workers and members of the armed forces to align with the ongoing protest movement. In a social media statement on Sunday, he presented a stark choice: stand with the people or be complicit with what he termed “the murderers of the people.”

His comments followed reports from a human rights group alleging that authorities are using lethal force to suppress widespread unrest. Pahlavi, who has positioned himself as a leading opposition voice, also called for Iranian embassies worldwide to replace the current Islamic Republic flag with the pre-revolution tri-coloured banner.

“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 call was acted upon over the weekend in London, where protesters replaced the flag outside the Iranian embassy with the ceremonial flag used during the rule of the Shah, which ended with the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Iranian foreign ministry responded by summoning the British ambassador in Tehran to protest the incident, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The pre-revolution flag has become a prominent symbol at international rallies supporting the protests within Iran.