Exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi said Tuesday that Iran’s execution of two protesters arrested during January’s mass demonstrations is proof that the U.S. should not be dealing with Tehran.
Mr. Pahlavi criticized the recently announced memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, which will allow for an extension of the ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
“This is the consequence of making a deal with this criminal regime. To do a deal with a regime that murdered more than 40,000 protestors in two days in January is morally wrong and strategically misguided,” Mr. Pahlavi wrote on X.
His comments were in reaction to the execution of Javad Zamani and Abolfazl Saedi, who had been arrested during the widespread anti-regime protests that rocked Iran in January. Iran’s state-affiliated Mizan news agency confirmed the two men were executed Tuesday morning.
Before the war between the U.S., Israel and Iran began on Feb. 28, President Trump warned Tehran that it would face severe consequences if its judiciary carried out execution orders against arrested protesters. He also asserted that U.S. pressure had prevented Iran from executing prisoners.
Mr. Pahlavi is one of the most well-known activists in the Iranian diaspora and encouraged protests earlier this year against the regime. He was also one of the loudest cheerleaders for military intervention in Iran and has said he would be willing to lead a post-Islamic republic Iran.
However, Mr. Pahlavi is the son of the last shah of Iran, who was deposed in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, which has hurt his image within the country. He has not been back to the country for decades, making it difficult to judge his on-the-ground support.
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