Reza Pahlavi calls on Trump to ‘help’ Iranian people

Reza Pahlavi urges Trump to assist Iranian citizens in ending the Islamic republic during the Munich Security Conference.

The exiled son of Iran's last shah called on U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday (February 14, 2026) to help the Iranian people and said it was "time to end the Islamic republic".

"To President Trump... The Iranian people heard you say help is on the way, and they have faith in you. Help them," the U.S.-based Reza Pahlavi told reporters at the Munich Security Conference.

Mr. Trump had said on Friday (February 13, 2026) that a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen", as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the West Asia to ratchet up military pressure on the Islamic republic.

He had earlier threatened military intervention to support a wave of street protests in Iran that peaked in January and were met by a violent crackdown that rights groups say killed thousands.

Mr. Pahlavi, who has not returned to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the monarchy, said in Munich: "It is time to end the Islamic republic."

"This is the demand echoing from the bloodshed of my compatriots who are not asking us to fix the regime but to help them bury it," he added.