Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Denounces Proposed U.S.-Iran Deal as a Prize for Repression

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and one of the most prominent figures in opposition to the Islamic Republic, has condemned a reported U.S.-Iran memorandum as “shameful.” In an interview with the Daily Mail in London, he argued that the agreement ignores the Iranian people and rewards a regime he says has brutally crushed dissent.

The deal, signed by President Donald Trump in Versailles last weekend, is said to give Tehran $300 billion and major sanctions relief in exchange for removing enriched uranium and pledging to stop developing nuclear weapons. Pahlavi said the money will not reach ordinary Iranians, but instead strengthen Iran’s regional militant network, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

He also criticized Trump’s reported comment that it was acceptable for Tehran to have ballistic missiles. “They are not rational people,” he said, calling the regime a “beast” that is not accountable to its citizens. Pahlavi described the accord as a reward for a leadership that, he said, violently suppressed mass protests in January, during which an estimated 40,000 demonstrators were killed.

Tehran, meanwhile, is presenting the agreement as a victory. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said it was not the result of accepting the enemy’s position, but of American “despair,” while President Masoud Pezeshkian called it “the voice of a people who did not trade their dignity.” Pahlavi, speaking after the “Rage of the Lion” operation and the ceasefire with the ayatollahs’ rule, said the campaign had left the Islamic Republic more isolated than ever and urged Iranians to wait for the “decisive moment” to deliver the final blow to the weakened regime.