Iran’s exiled crown prince speaks out against Khamenei’s funeral
Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said the nation “does not mourn” the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, describing the week-long funeral ceremony as a “propaganda spectacle” funded by the wealth of the Iranian people.In a series of posts on the website
He said that the regime spent huge amounts of the Iranian people’s wealth on holding the funeral, noting that “no leader from democratic countries deigned to attend.”Pahlavi added in a later blog post: “What you see today is not a nation mourning its ruler, but rather a nation full of righteous anger, and it is this same anger and heroic courage that will bring down what remains of this criminal regime.”
Pahlavi’s long-standing opposition to Islamic Republic
Pahlavi, the eldest son of Iran’s last shah, has been a prominent dissident in exile since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. During the 2026 Iran War, he described the US-Israeli strikes as a “humanitarian intervention” targeting the Islamic Republic’s “repressive apparatus”, not the Iranian people.
Trump urged caution to protect civilian lives, saying that “the people of Iran are your natural allies.” Pahlavi also called for large public gatherings in solidarity with the protest movements and outlined a vision for a post-regime Iran at the 2026 CPAC conference.
