“This is a slaughter, not the end of protests.” The Shah's son hits out at Tehran's lies

Contrary to the regime's lies, the bloodshed in Iran has not decreased and the massacre of protesters has not stopped, Cyrus Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran, said in Washington on Friday. He also called for strikes against key elements of the ayatollah regime.

– Despite the lies you hear from the regime, the bloodshed has not diminished and the carnage has not stopped. My brave compatriots are still holding the front line (…) they need your urgent help, Pahlavi appealed during a press conference.

He referred in this way to the Tehran regime's assurances, repeated by US President Donald Trump, that the killing of anti-government protesters has stopped. Anti-government protests in Iran broke out on December 28.

Pahlavi said he believes President Trump will keep his word to the Iranians and “ultimately stand with the Iranian people, just like he said.”

Pahlavi argued that the Islamic Republic was close to collapse and the only question was “when, not if” it would collapse.

But he called on the US and the rest of the world to take six steps, first which would be “degrading the regime's repressive capabilities, including targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guards command and its command and control infrastructure.” The remaining The demands include increasing sanctions on the regime and Iran's shadow fleet, making the Internet available to protesters, expelling Iranian diplomats from capitals, demanding the release of political prisoners and preparing a democratic transformation in Iran by recognizing the transitional government.

Pahlavi claims that he has the support of Iranians to lead such a government and that he can unite the various factions of Iranian dissidents. He also assured that he had a detailed plan for the political transformation towards democracy. When asked about the repression carried out by his father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown by the revolution in 1979, he said he left history to historians, but added that he wanted to bring about democratic rule in Iran.

The former crown prince assured that thousands of members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were ready to abandon the regime and assured that if the regime fell, he would support an orderly transformation, leaving some of the institutions and people of the current regime.

– We are not talking about a catastrophe such as the one after the fall of Saddam Hussein (in Iraq) or after the fall of the regime (Muammar Gaddafi) in Libya. We will not have a failed state. And in order to lead a small transformation, I count on the security forces to be an element that will ensure the country's security, protect people's lives and livelihoods, and be part of the solution, he said.

Pahlavi dismissed Trump's comments from an interview with Reuters, in which the American president questioned whether the former monarch's son had adequate support inside the country.

– President Trump said that the decision belongs to the Iranian people and I completely agree with that (…) And I think that the Iranian people have already shown in large numbers who they want to lead this active transformation, Pahlavi said.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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