Reza Pahlavi accepts Australian invitation while rejecting long-term leadership bid

Iran’s exiled former crown prince Reza Pahlavi has accepted an invitation from Australia’s Coalition but says he would seek only a transitional role if Iran’s current regime fell. An Australian academic warned that the opposition’s diversity makes it problematic to present him as its leader.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince of Iran, has accepted an invitation from Australia’s Coalition, telling ABC News Australia that he sees himself as a bridge to democratic elections rather than a candidate for permanent leadership.

Pahlavi joined a virtual meeting with 10 Coalition MPs and senators, including Opposition Leader Angus Taylor and Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Ted O’Brien. No date has been set for a visit, although Pahlavi said he hoped it would take place soon.

Speaking to Radio National Breakfast, Pahlavi said his focus would be to act as a transitional leader and provide a roadmap toward elections. He said he did not have a personal ambition to lead Iran in the long term and described himself as “not a candidate” but a bridge to that destination.

Pahlavi characterised Iran’s rulers as a corrupt, “mafia-like dictatorship” controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He left Iran in 1978 for pilot training in the United States, shortly before the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended his father’s rule. Historians have criticised his father’s monarchy for political repression, corruption and human-rights abuses.

Pahlavi said he had overwhelming support in Iran and among the diaspora, and argued that his exile had not severed his connection with Iranians. He has previously advocated US military intervention and said regime change in Iran was inevitable.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a research fellow at Macquarie University who was detained in Iran for more than two years, said the Coalition had entered “choppy territory” by appearing to treat Pahlavi as Iran’s opposition leader. She said Iranian politics was highly complex, with disparate ethnic groups and multiple opposition voices, and described any apparent endorsement as misguided.

O’Brien denied that the meeting constituted an endorsement, saying the Coalition had engaged with other opposition groups. He said Pahlavi’s views were important to hear while Iranians remained disempowered and expected the Australian government to engage with him in good faith if he visits. Pahlavi has condemned violence by supporters, while Moore-Gilbert said some sections of his support base displayed a “cult of personality.”