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The exiled crown prince of Iran accused the Biden administration Sunday of “appeasing” the Iranian supreme leader after Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel and urged global leaders to support the Iranian people, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic regime.
“From Tehran to Tel Aviv, from Hamidan to Haifa,Iranians and Israelis know thatthis is not the Iranian people’swar, this is Ali Khamenei, the dictator of thisbrutal regime’s war,”Reza Pahlavi said during an appearance on “Sunday Night in America.”
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An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel April 14, 2024. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
“As we speak, today there weredemonstrations in Paris, London, Berlin.Iranians together with theIsraelis and Jews hand-in-hand…supporting each otherand demonstrating to the wholeworld that we as a nation andIsrael as a nation have ourdestiny intertwined.We cannot hope for any chancefor peace and stability in theregion until this regime isfinally gone,”Pahlavi said.
“I think it’s important for theworld to realize that the onlyobstacle to peace and stabilityand a better future lies onputting an end to the regime.It’s time for the world tofinally decide to endorse andback the Iranian people totopple this regime and put an endto all this madness,” he added.
His comment comes a day after Iran launcheda barrage of over 300 missiles and drones at Israel Saturday in an apparent response to Israel’s reported role in an airstrike that killed a senior Iranian official in the country’s embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus last week.
Israeli Defense Forces and allied militaries had been preparing for the possibility of an Iranian retaliatory strike since the attack, with Israel stating that roughly 99% of the Iranian weapons fired at the country had been intercepted by its sophisticated defense systems and military allies in the region.
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People hold up images and placards during a demonstration in honor of Jina Mahsa Amini and the other protesters killed under the orders of the Islamic Republic at The Place Joachim du Bellay in Paris, on Nov. 13, 2022. (Michel Stoupak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Pahlavi said the Biden administration’s return to the Iran nuclear deal and readiness to pump billions of dollars into Iran’s cash-starved economy has emboldened its leadership and sent a message of “appeasement.” The Biden administration’s reported opposition to a retaliatory strike by Israel against Iran only further drives home that message, he said.
“When you release money to a regime and give it more means tofinance its proxies and usebrutality at home, basicallyappeasement, has proven it onlyemboldens the regime,” he said.
“We said that a long time ago.As you indicated last year whenI visited Israel, part of ourdiscussions with Israeli leaders – and for that matter, otherleaders around the world – havebeen precisely this. If you letthe regime be emboldened by the factthat they can count onappeasement or paying ransomfor the release of hostages ornot imposing sanctions whichgave the regime almost one extrahundred billion dollars [and] the fact that the currentadministration is trying torelease even more money to theregime, $10 billion of Iranianelectric revenue from the Iraqis.What do you think will happen next?” he said.
Pahlavi was referring to President Biden’s renewal of a sanctions waver last month that allows Iraq to continue to purchase electricity from Iran, effectively allowing the terrorist regime access to $10 billion in funds.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday, Nov. 1. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told Fox News’ Shannon Bream in an interview Sunday that “the additional funds that have been made available to Iran” through the sanctions program can only be used for humanitarian goods. “It doesn’t go to the regime,” he insisted.
“I think there’s a directcorrelation between appeasementin doing this kind of thing and the regime becoming emboldened,the solution is to use everyopportunity to put more pressureon the regime,” Pahlavi said.
World powers, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom, reached a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after years of international tensions that Iran was working to build a nuclear bomb. The agreement limited some of Iran’s nuclear activities, while allowing international authorities to carry out inspections. Sanctions on Tehran were lifted in exchange.
Former President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018 after slamming it as “defective at its core.”
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Pahlavi said the U.S. and its European allies should begin to support the Iranian people by classifying the IslamicRevolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group.
An activist holds a picture of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during a gathering in support to Iran’s anti-government protesters, in Strasbourg, eastern France, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
“But also parallel to that,” he told Gowdy, “it’stime to use maximum support tothe Iranian people in theirstruggle against this regime.It is the Iranian people’s ask to havechange. It does not have to be a U.S. senator sayingwho needs to change.If the Iranian people say loudand clear that we’re done withthis regime, help us liberateourselves, that is the message ofthe Iranian people… and I hope theU.S. government and othergovernments will heed this calland finally help us save ourworld from disaster and moreconflict and have an opportunitypost this regime to haveregional peace and brotherly cooperation.
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“Not just Iran and Israel,” he added, “but theArab world that’s also been atarget of this regime.”
Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to yael.halon@fox.com.
