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Reza Pahlavi
112 quotes
“Things were not perfect, but most Iranians recognize now that at least we were moving forward, and Iran’s international status reflected this.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“It is up to the Iranian people to say what role I should play.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“Barack Obama is hell-bent on engaging the Iranian regime just to prove that he’s not George Bush. That doesn’t help the problem. That’s not what people expected in Iran... The people of Iran are asking for help, and Obama cares about showing Khamenei that he can reason with him. That was Jimmy Carter’s mentality in 1979 and that’s still the mentality in 2012.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“Of course Iranians don’t hate Israel. The regime wants you to think so. Our nations share a biblical relationship since the times of Cyrus, who helped the Jewish people in their hour of need. This is our hour of need. We’re asking Israel’s help to free us from our tyrannical regime. Are you going to help us, or are you going to bomb us?”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“[The current Iranian regime is like] a combination of Hitler, the Soviets and apartheid which treats minorities and even women in a fascist manner. Yet the world seems to do nothing about it. This is odd to me.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“… a military strike would only delay Iran’s efforts to become a nuclear power, and we would still have the same regime in place. In order to fundamentally resolve the issue, we need to support the forces within Iran that want to topple the regime.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“The international community invested much effort and hope in the Reformists, but they’re pre-screened, pre-approved loyal opposition. More and more of their supporters are realizing it’s futile to promote change from within because Iran’s paramilitary mafia still occupy the top of the pyramid. Khamenei controls every apparatus of state: legislature, politics, information and military.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“Those who belong to the establishment need to know that no harm would come to them if they walk away. Otherwise, we end up with a Syria-like reality where those in power hold on for dear life.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012.
“In the name of Almighty God, in accordance with the Iranian Constitution and its amendments, I solemnly declare that from this day, 9 Aban 1359 (31 October 1980), as I enter my twenty-first year, I am ready to assume my responsibilities and obligations as king of Iran... From today... I solemnly swear before the glorious Iranian tricolor flag, and on the Holy Koran, that in my high office I will dedicate my whole life to protecting the independence, national sovereignty and legitimate rights of the Iranian people.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kibbeh Palace, Cairo, Oct. 31, 1980, as quoted in Farah Pahlavi (2004) An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah, p. 433.
“How can assured destruction deter those who glorify self-destruction and call it martyrdom? Just as suicide bombing has changed domestic security policies, dealing with the nuclearization of this new kind of “other-worldly” state requires a different approach in international relations. Far from acting to avoid assured destruction, they invite it with tireless exaltation of martyrdom!”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iran, Regime Change or Behavior Change: A false choice, Hudson Institute, Apr. 3, 2007.
“To the realpolitik cynics who say Islamist theocracy is a reality we have to live with, I respond: funny – they never said they can live with YOU! To those who say the theocrats can reform if we are nice to them, I say you do not know the difference between Islamist revolution and secular ones. Those who believe they speak with the absolute authority of Allah demand absolute submission.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement by Reza Pahlavi of Iran - Democracy & Security Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, Jun. 5, 2007.
“From Iran's different faiths, ethnic groups and social sectors, from the left to the right of the political spectrum, from my brave countrymen and women struggling for human dignity and freedom, this is the message I carry to you: As you face our oppressors, do not turn your back to us. We are your best friends in the struggle against a common enemy, the enemy of peace on earth.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement by Reza Pahlavi of Iran - Democracy & Security Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, Jun. 5, 2007.
“Western classical music, to be sure, is not part of traditional Iranian culture, and yes it’s elitist. But the fact that the Tehran symphony Orchestra and the Roudaki Hall have survived the vagaries of these past three decades is yet another evidence that the forces of darkness, the cult of death, martyrdom and superstition has not conquered the spirit of our nation.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peace and Stability in the Middle East and Beyond: A Hostage to Iranian Intransigence and Adventurism.", Oct. 24, 2007.
“Our youth have defied and derided a regime which is not mindful of their future but is obsessed with the hereafter. The Iranian youth keep defending their right to live their age and the epoch in which they are born; that is to say in a world flourished by science and learning, and not mourning and martyrdom.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peace and Stability in the Middle East and Beyond: A Hostage to Iranian Intransigence and Adventurism.", Oct. 24, 2007.
“My country, Iran, is youthful in its demographic properties, rich with a multi millennia culture and an alive and vibrant society. In our defiance of the ruling theocracy, my compatriots need and deserve all the moral help and support they can get in order to bring about fundamental change by establishing a system of governance that is in keeping with the imperatives of our time: a secular democracy in place of the current ruling theocracy.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peace and Stability in the Middle East and Beyond: A Hostage to Iranian Intransigence and Adventurism.", Oct. 24, 2007.
“Let me be clear: the upcoming Majles elections in Iran is nothing but a sham, and the Iranian people – whether they are compelled by a variety of reasons to take part, or whether they are able to withstand enormous pressure and boycott the elections – know full well that, no matter who gets into the next Majles, they are unlikely to truly represent their will, desire and vision for Iran. Consequently, the next Majles will continue to remain a mere pawn in the hands of the “Supreme Leader” and his cohorts.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iran and the Future of the Middle East", Georgetown University, Jan. 30, 2008.
“… a good university where one can study in peace and freedom may seem common place to you. But not so for many thousands of students in my homeland whose eager young minds remain constrained and constantly shackled by a closed and dogmatic atmosphere that has been ruthlessly imposed on them by an unpopular dictatorship. Consequently, universities in my country are not places for critical learning, and students are not given the kind of opportunities that they need to freely debate contemporary issues or contemplate the shape of the future in the manner that is common practice here in the West.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iran-US Relations At a New Cross Roads", University of California, Irving, May 6, 2009.
“My message to the rank and file of the IRGC and to the nation’s military and security forces is to part ways with this criminal regime and join the Iranian people in their revolution”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no doubt in my mind that the advent of Khomeini’s Islamic Republic in 1979, which turned my homeland into the cradle of modern day Islamic radicalism, was instrumental in opening the flood gates for the spread of militant anti-Western Islamic tendencies, not just in the Middle East region, but throughout the Islamic world. Moreover, it turned one of the World’s richest and most strategic countries into a launching pad for spreading state-sponsored terrorism in addition to becoming the Godfather of numerous sub-state entities that are today destabilizing the entire Middle East region.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reza Pahlavi of Iran Speech at the University Club, Washington, D.C., Jan. 27, 2010.
“Last summer, the people of Iran achieved something unprecedented in the history of the 31-year-old Islamic Republic. For the first time, the Iranian people coordinated mass-scale demonstrations against this totalitarian theocratic regime. These demonstrations and protests continue even today, questioning – well beyond the election results of last June – the very legitimacy of the regime and the so-called Supreme Leader Khamenei.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iran: From Theocracy to Democracy”, George Washington University, April 13, 2010.
“The cataclysmic shift the clerical regime brought to my homeland and the region over 30 years ago was immediate. The destabilization of the Middle East began as soon as the revolutionary regime of Iran established itself and set out to implement its foremost mission: to export its brand of Islamic rule and Revolution beyond Iran’s borders, targeting the Middle East first.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iran: Unleashing Her Potential Through Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights, Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium, Johns Hopkins University, Oct. 12, 2010.
“It is critical to understand that the clerical regime sought – and continues to seek – to challenge America and its regional allies as a convenient way for it to deflect attention from its abhorrent policies of ongoing repression and terror against my fellow Iranians. While our precious national resources are being utilized by the clerical regime to export revolution, the Iranian people are being left without access to basic necessities, rapidly losing a standard of living that was once the envy of many around the world, and they live in a state of perpetual tyranny.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iran: Unleashing Her Potential Through Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights, Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium, Johns Hopkins University, Oct. 12, 2010.
“It took little time for most Iranians, including those who believed in and contributed to “Khomeini’s revolution”, to become disillusioned. Resistance and the earliest forms of defiance of the regime soon began in war-torn Iran. It began first among the courageous women of Iran who have endured the harshest treatment since the arrival of the regime. Today, it is the very children of those brave parents whose blood is been spilled on the streets of Iran.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iran: Unleashing Her Potential Through Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights, Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium, Johns Hopkins University, Oct. 12, 2010.
“The world has concluded so long as the Iranian regime exists , multiple problems for the world...will not disappear ...Iranian people cannot wait for a year.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have been living in our long winter night for forty-five years. But today, even the corps of Zahhak feel the light, and the reverberation of Iranian's liberation steps has made their dark hearts afraid.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In short, my compatriots want to reclaim Iran from the Islamic Republic. This a struggle for human dignity and liberation. Iranians want their freedom, their dignity and their country back”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The usurpers of Iran are set to cover up their latest criminal act and massacre of the people in November by holding a farcical show .A country ruled by liars, criminals and thieves is doomed to collapse”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I … ask you to imagine … a world without the Islamic Republic. Imagine the Middle East liberated from the shadow of nuclear blackmail and threats. Imagine our region without endless proxy wars, extremist ideologies, and terrorism—all driven by a regime whose policies have caused mass migration, instability, and suffering far beyond Iran’s borders. Imagine a Western world free from hostage-taking and Western troops and taxpayers free of the burden of endless wars in far off lands.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Norooz Message to the World: Imagine a New Iran", rezapahlavi.org, 19 March 2025 (quoted in The Jerusalem Post).
“At this crucial moment in the life of our country, I would like to offer my blood to save the inviolability of our dear native land.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reza Pahlavi's request to join in the Iran-Iraq war, 1980, as quoted in Farah Pahlavi (2004) An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah, p. 396.
“I calculated the amount of time I spent with my father during my entire life... the total amount of time I had with him, if you add up the hours, was about two months. My father was a busy man... we had very few opportunities to really sit down and talk as father and son.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Marvin Zonis (1991), Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah, p. 57.
“https://www.prageru.com/video/iranian-crown-prince-reza-pahlavi-says-iranians-are-ready-for-regime-change”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Christian broadcast news https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xHOYEhhExaw”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Richard Nixon foundation https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RKLLALxzfmo”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sky Australia https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vfw1KShnnM”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“ThePrint https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jdCXVt3RUhU”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“ILTV https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv2YVfG_IhE”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A regime that has a Constitution which denies the sovereignty of the people and where candidates are selected by the regime and the Parliament can not vote into laws its own proposed bills, is not a system representative of the people. This regime interprets divine laws as it pleases and elections are like those held under the Soviet or Saddam's regime. All this is to make the world believe that they enjoy a certain degree of legitimacy. Elections must be boycotted. To vote for this regime is to prolong its survival. Not to turn out will be the demonstration that the people rejects this theocracy. What the people is asking for is a secular Constitution based on the Universal Charter of Human Rights. Reformists couldn't do anything. We have lost ten years. Time has come for change.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Michel Bole-Richard, The regime is archaic. The country is on the brink of explosion, Le Monde, June 18, 2005.
“Violence is useless. Civil disobedience is a necessary and effective tool to get the job done. The system must be paralyzed and national reconciliation facilitated. A police State can not control a massive uprising. Iranians, in particular the youth, are aware of what is going on in the world. The regime is archaic. The country is on the brink of explosion. But this should not happen in anarchy. What we want is a democratic and peaceful implosion. If the champion of reforms, Mohammad Khatami, couldn't do anything, it is not Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, the most detested and most corrupt individual in the country, who can bring about change. What we have is a paralyzed mafia regime.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Michel Bole-Richard, The regime is archaic. The country is on the brink of explosion, Le Monde, June 18, 2005.
“I have vociferously rejected and expressed my opposition to any kind of military action against my homeland! There is a much better way – far less costly and more legitimate – to put an end to the principal source of militancy in our region: Supporting the people of Iran, as the most natural ally to the free world in their quest to rid themselves of the clerical regime. A combination of domestic pressure coupled with a cohesive international economic and diplomatic pressure will enable the people of Iran, an “army in place,” to rid themselves of the regime. It however very much concerns me that due to the mounting domestic problems the regime is faced with, it may in fact invite and seek such a confrontation.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Ahmad Zakaria, Al-Watan Daily: Interview With Reza Pahlavi Of Iran, Al-Watan Daily (Kuwait), Nov 27, 2007.
“The regime plays on the nationalistic argument of Iran’s sovereign right to the technology. They need to be reminded that Iran had that right before they came to power. As a matter a fact, it is their behavior which is the cause for Iran today to be denied the privilege. For a regime that has violated just about any international charter and regulations, they cannot invoke the NPT only when it suits their purpose, and violate it by the same token when it does not. But let us understand the ultimate logic behind the regime’s quest for the bomb. Be it via manufacturing or acquisition, the clerical regime views the bomb as its key to survival. Why? Because it will serve as a counterweight to the inferiority of its conventional military capabilities against the West. Under a nuclear umbrella, the regime would be able to continue its support of terrorism, undermine the region, holding it hostage with the ultimate goal to institutionalize itself.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Ahmad Zakaria, Al-Watan Daily: Interview With Reza Pahlavi Of Iran, Al-Watan Daily (Kuwait), Nov 27, 2007.
“Government clerics who enter the holy city of Ghom and its seminaries backed by money and not-so-hidden coercive powers of the state are a thorn in the side of independent clerics who are more interested in faith and morality than power. In the younger, more popular days of this theocracy the schism was not obvious. Now, with masses of people on the streets, crushed by the orders of the head government cleric, the rift is wide open. The grand ayatollahs can no longer keep quiet about rape and torture in jails in the name of Islam. Unlike government mullahs, these senior clerics get their support from the people, so they can never be far away from popular feelings.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Mark Pitzke, 'Iran Is My True and Only Home', August 12, 2009.
“It's now plain for the world to see how the supreme leader and his fellow power-hungry, mid-level clerics have been abusing the peoples' faith to maintain the big lie that they derive their legitimacy from Islam. Gone is the delusion that one man, Mr. Khamenei, can appropriate the powers of state in the name of God. So the supreme leader has lost his theocratic claim to legitimacy just as his favorite president has lost his claim to popular legitimacy. Because many in the armed forces and Revolutionary Guards are followers of religious leaders who question Mr. Khamenei, he cannot even count on presiding over a typical military dictatorship for long.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Mark Pitzke, 'Iran Is My True and Only Home', August 12, 2009.
“Let me remind you that Iran was not denied the right to have a civilian nuclear program before the clerical regime's appearance. In fact, the very same countries who are today imposing sanctions on Iran were competing with each other in selling our country nuclear technology and reactors. Actually, no foreign government has actually said that Iran does not have the sovereign right to the technology and peaceful civilian use of it. The problem lies with the nature of the regime and its dubious intentions. The world has good reason to distrust a regime that has sponsored terrorism abroad while repressing its own society for years. Troubling statements emanating from some key individuals in leadership positions have added more fuel to the fire. My position is simple: As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has the sovereign right to develop its own civilian nuclear program. But future democratic governments will have to examine the scope and feasibility of such programs in the context of our energy needs, while ensuring the full trust of the international community.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Mark Pitzke, 'Iran Is My True and Only Home', August 12, 2009.
“I don't think [Ahmadinejad is] a “mad man.” He's an individual who is very committed to his view and ideology. There's almost a sort of apocalyptic mentality that reigns here and he's not alone in it. Unfortunately, there are a few people who may sign up for that kind of a point of view. The problem is that we have this kind of regime represented by such individuals who have taken, first-and-foremost, the Iranian people hostage for the past 30 years and who are completely uninterested about the state of our own citizens. They are only interested to use Iran as a base from which to launch what was from the very beginning the exploitation of a theocracy and Islamic ideology across the planet as a challenge to the rest of the world... I think you should take him very seriously. The last time the world was not quite sure about the final threat was at the time of Hitler in Nazi Germany and we know the rest of the story. If we look at these kind of regimes that have been completely merciless vis-à-vis their own population; who have been brutally shooting our youth on the streets simply because they ask for their freedom; and are willing to stop at nothing to intimidate the whole world to submit to their demand, I think we should take it very seriously.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Felice Friedson, Iranian Crown Prince: Ahmadinejad's regime is "delicate and fragile", August 12, 2010.
“Today, you see a generation of young Iranians who are committed to fight even if it means risking and losing their lives to ultimately get rid of this regime and achieve full freedom. This is no longer a debate over more moderation or for awhile being fooled by the idea that there is any reform possible by this regime -- not only from the domestic perspective but from the international perspective. Today, the fight is led by people who are committed to a campaign of hidden resistance. The discipline of non-violence has been for the most part observed by the protestors and I think at the end of the day, this movement could culminate into something that could be a well-organized or orchestrated campaign of resistance: perhaps even labor strikes that could in fact bring the regime to its knees and ultimately cause its demise. This is the best way for Iran to not only achieve its goal of freedom, which would immediately have a positive impact and ramification not only in our area, but on the rest of the world. It is the ultimate guarantee by bringing in democracy and secularism as a means to preserve our cultural and religious identities and to guarantee self-determination and human rights. Iran is a country that has always and throughout its glorious history been contributing to world civilization as opposed to a clerical regime that is asking for its demise under a very utopian ideology that only a few at the top believe in, and not the rest of the population.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Felice Friedson, Iranian Crown Prince: Ahmadinejad's regime is "delicate and fragile", August 12, 2010.
“Is the choice between forms of regimes -- democratic regimes that is, that we find often in the free world, particularly in the West -- a path through which Iran can find its salvation? Here I understand fundamentally that some of the values that are embedded in Western society -- liberty, equality, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, media, labor unions, human rights, a democratic establishment, a checks and balance system, a separation of religion from government -- are opposed to any system that is based on an ideology that is totalitarian or that is against fascist or discriminatory vis-à-vis a great portion of its own citizens. Obviously, if you give that choice to people, the choice is clear. I think that is the choice that the Iranian people today are faced with and it goes without saying that obviously they are up for the former rather than the latter if given the opportunity.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Felice Friedson, Iranian Crown Prince: Ahmadinejad's regime is "delicate and fragile", August 12, 2010.
“What has been clear all these years is that the regime from the get-go was antagonistic; was trying to and continues to try to foment instability -- ultimately to force the region to succumb to some kind of a modern-day Shiite caliphate under Iranian regional hegemony; all of it perhaps backed by the very deterrent we talked about at the beginning of the interview: forcing the world to submit to that as a fait accompli. I find it a little bit difficult for a lot of people to sort of agree to some kind of a fait accompli and say, “Well, there's no way we can change the course of events and Iran will undoubtedly under this regime demand to have its way.” The question is the regime that is in Iran – the regime that has now taken our country hostage and is willing to do anything for its own survival -- and not to be confused with Iran as a country.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Felice Friedson, Iranian Crown Prince: Ahmadinejad's regime is "delicate and fragile", August 12, 2010.
“Despite the fact that the regime is trying to tighten its screws; and despite the fact that the regime is increasing its violence against its own people in an attempt to intimidate them into submission; and despite the fact that the regime is spending millions and millions of dollars financing its own war machine at the expense of hungry people or workers who haven't been paid their salaries for months, Iran continues to finance groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and other places. And despite all of this, there's more disenchantment within the ranks in the regime. There are more indications of defections from within some of its coercive forces, all of which indicates a very delicate and fragile situation within the regime that has not been so vulnerable ever since its creation. That is, I think, an opportunity -- not only for the people, but I think in a way for the rest of the world. If we miss this opportunity and allow this regime to regroup and continue on its path, then we have with our own hands contributed to the regime’s survival and then we have to live with the consequences.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Felice Friedson, Iranian Crown Prince: Ahmadinejad's regime is "delicate and fragile", August 12, 2010.
“I think [Israel attacking Iran] would be a very disastrous event if it were to occur. I have long stated that I think this would be a lose-lose proposition by and large, especially when there's a much better alternative in play, which will be much less costly and far more legitimate than trying to bring any change as a result of any kind of external measures, particularly of the violent and military kind. You have in place the best natural army in the world: namely, the Iranian people themselves, who have bravely fought this fight for years, without any help or support from anyone in the international community. Today, they are already committed to that struggle and I think this is a much better way to put pressure on the regime and abide by international rules. It's a much better way to help the Iranian people bring about whatever changes they want in Iran and nothing is being done about this while everybody contemplates striking the country just because they don’t have faith in diplomacy, which was doomed from the very beginning. I think there's still a chance for a lot of serious fundamental change that will bring an end to all the threats if Iran wants to change from this regime to a democratic nation. If it invests time and effort in helping the movement of the young people in Iran today and be supportive of their demands; be supportive of what they want; engage them after 30 years of limiting engagement to only members of the regime and its representatives. I don't think that's far too much to ask for those of us who are fighting for freedom. What I am saying is that in my opinion, not using this opportunity and going straight to conflict would be historically criminal. That option has to be given its chance but the time is limited and the window of opportunity is now. I hope that many key governments will decide to commit some of their policies to give a chance for this movement to succeed before jumping to conclusions that the only familiars we're left with are either capitulation or attacking Iran.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Felice Friedson, Iranian Crown Prince: Ahmadinejad's regime is "delicate and fragile", August 12, 2010.
“… the [Obama] administration has spent, in my view, too much time, in maintaining its extended hand of engagement toward the regime without getting anything in return. Meanwhile, the clock has been ticking. Some countries in the area are becoming more antsy about the imminence of Iran's ability to be equipped with weapons of mass destruction. Obviously, the rhetoric and language from some key countries would be to mention the fact we are exploring this and this is an option on the table. I could not say otherwise. But that doesn't mean to me that there is a major change of policy. We need to think a little bit outside the box and perhaps look at other avenues. It's not limited to the character of this administration because successive, previous administrations have fallen systematically into the same “loophole” -- and I'm not even saying the same “trap.” Einstein said, if I'm not mistaken, that “thinking that doing more of the same will produce a different outcome is a sign of insanity.” When I look at the overall diplomacy of the free world, particularly of the U.S., I can only see a repeat pattern of the same attempts made while hoping to obtain a different result. Something's got to change.”
Reza Pahlavi (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Felice Friedson, Iranian Crown Prince: Ahmadinejad's regime is "delicate and fragile", August 12, 2010.