Son of ousted shah says ready for Iran transition ‘under my leadership’

But he has notably also failed to win recognition from US President Donald Trump. Read more at straitstimes.com.

PARIS – The exiled son of Iran’s last shah who was ousted by the 1979 revolution said on March 14 he was ready to lead a transition “as soon as the Islamic Republic falls”.

In a message on his social media channels, US-based Reza Pahlavi said he had already been working to select individuals both inside and outside Iran to serve on what he called a “Transitional System”.

Mr Pahlavi leads one of several opposition movements based outside Iran but his prominence grew after January protests against the clerical system, with some demonstrators calling for a return of the monarchy.

Longstanding supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on Feb 28 in US-Israeli air strikes but after a fortnight of war the clerical system remains in place even if his successor, his son Mojtaba, has yet to make a public appearance.

Mr Pahlavi said that Mr Saeed Ghasseminejad, senior Iran and financial economics advisor at the US-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which is staunchly critical of the Islamic republic, had been leading the process to select members of a transitional body.

“Capable individuals both inside and outside the country have been identified and evaluated to lead various sections of the Transitional System,” he said