Reza Pahlavi: Lifting sanctions is useless; Islamic Republic seeks "blackmail"
Prince Reza Pahlavi says the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, which are taking place indirectly in Vienna, are "fruitless" because the regime ruling Iran "only responds to pressure."
According to the son of Iran's last king, if economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic are lifted, Tehran will use the money it earns "only to finance more terrorism and cause more instability in the region."
In a detailed interview with the Arab News website published on Sunday, June 29, Prince Reza Pahlavi spoke about the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the West, and the current relations between Tehran and the countries of the region and the world.
The Arab News website conducted this interview as part of a new round of "frank and honest" conversations with influential politicians and leaders in the region.
In this interview, Prince Reza Pahlavi emphasized that the result of reducing pressure on the ruling regime in Iran will be an increase in the arrogance of Tehran's rulers.
Recalling the "soft policy" of the Barack Obama administration towards Tehran, he added that at the current juncture, if the pressure of economic sanctions is lifted from the regime, the Tehran government will not seek to improve the economic situation of its own people in Iran, but rather will intensify attacks in this part of the region, including attacks on Saudi Arabia, by making its allied militias more active in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
This interview was published while another round of Iran's nuclear negotiations with world powers, aimed at getting the US to return to the JCPOA, is still underway in the Austrian capital, but the US Secretary of State has repeatedly said that there is no sign of Iran's determination or seriousness to return to its nuclear commitments.
On the other hand, Hassan Rouhani, in the final weeks of his presidency, claims that the United States has accepted the lifting of all non-JCPOA sanctions.
Prince Pahlavi has argued that if the West's behavior toward Iran changes, the regime ruling Tehran "cannot change its behavior because its entire existence depends on exporting its ideology, and through it, while activating proxy groups, it aspires to dominate the region."
He called the critical relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia a direct result of the incompetence of the leaders ruling Tehran.
Prince Reza Pahlavi said that during the previous Iranian regime, the people of Dubai once longed to travel to Iran and shop at modern Iranian places, but now many Iranians are watching with longing the progress of neighboring countries and others and the worrying regression of their homeland.
He expressed "confidence" that in Iran today, "even religious and pious people" are unhappy with the Islamic Republic because they clearly see that the damage that has been done to faith and the institution of the clergy is due to the existence of a system under the name of the Islamic Republic.
Prince Reza Pahlavi has welcomed the release of a confidential audio recording of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. He believes that the revelation of these statements proves to the West that the current government is an autocratic institution in which everything depends on the decisions of the leader and that people who were previously described as “moderates” have no role in the country’s affairs.
Mr. Pahlavi has clearly stated that he has no ambition to become a king and that the choice of the future form of government in Iran, should the current government fall, is solely the responsibility of the Iranian people. He noted that his political mission will reach its end with the end of the current Iranian regime, and that point is the liberation of Iran and the creation of an opportunity to form a new, secular, and democratic system.
Source: Radio Farda
