Iran's exiled crown prince says the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has opened a door he's been waiting on for nearly five decades. Speaking from Paris, Reza Pahlavi told CBS' 60 Minutes that he believes Iran's ruling system is now "bound to collapse" and that he is ready to serve as a temporary leader to guide the country toward a democratic government—though, he stressed, not as king or as an elected official, CBS News reports. "Many Iranians, often despite facing bullets, have called on me to lead this transition," he wrote in an oped piece in the Washington Post published Saturday.
Pahlavi laid out four pillars for a post-theocratic Iran on 60 Minutes: keeping the country intact, separating religion from government, guaranteeing equal rights under the law, and letting voters decide the political system. He called for dismantling the country's nuclear weapons program and said he envisions future partnership and peace with Israel. Pahlavi, who has lived in exile since his father, the last shah, was ousted in 1979, rejected criticism tied to his father's rule and said millions now chant his name inside Iran. He praised President Trump for military action against Iran's regime but said he does not expect formal US backing, contending that parts of Iran's security forces are prepared to abandon what he called a sinking ship. "This is our chance now," the opposition leader said.
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