Iranians feel “betrayed” by Donald Trump’s peace agreement, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince has said, condemning as “abhorrent” what he described as the absence of ordinary people’s fate from the negotiations.
Reza Pahlavi said the tens of thousands of Iranians killed in January while protesting against the regime had “not died for a nuclear deal or the Strait of Hormuz”.
He also criticised Sir Keir Starmer, accusing the Prime Minister of “validating and rewarding blackmail” after he offered to lift British sanctions on Iran’s theocratic leadership in the wake of the agreement.
Mr Pahlavi, widely regarded by many opponents of Tehran as an unofficial figurehead for the opposition, said he remained convinced the regime would ultimately collapse and argued the peace plan was “not tenable”.
Deal includes sanctions relief and $300bn in reparations
Speaking to the Daily Mail in London, he made the remarks after Donald Trump signed a highly contentious Memorandum of Understanding in Versailles on Wednesday aimed at bringing the conflict to an end.
The deal would see Tehran receive $300 billion (£227 billion) in reparations and sanctions relief, on the condition that it reopens the Strait, gets rid of its enriched uranium and pledges not to pursue nuclear weapons.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a statement yesterday saying he had “issued the permission” for the agreement to be signed.
However, he added that the terms made clear that any future negotiations “will not mean accepting the enemy’s point of view”.
He added that Mr Trump had made the deal ‘out of desperation’.
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian boasted the document is ‘a reflection of the voice of a nation that did not trade its dignity and independence for any threat or pressure’.
Iranians feel ‘betrayed’
Mr Trump started the war in February with Israel after promising Iranian protesters he would ‘come to their rescue’.
It is not known how many were killed by the regime in January, but some estimates run as high as 40,000.
Washington has now declared victory by securing terms that leave the regime in power and enrich it, while scores of arrested protesters languish on death row.
Mr Pahlavi, 65, is the son of Iran’s last Shah, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
He said Iranians feel ‘betrayed’ and are asking if the promise of regime change is ‘going to be delivered or not’, adding: ‘That’s on the conscience of this President and this administration.’
He said: ‘It’s been abhorrent for us that nowhere in the discussions have the Iranian people even been considered as being part of the issue.’
@dailymail Donald Trump and Iran’s president have signed a peace agreement designed to halt the conflict and restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global trade route. The deal also outlines sanctions relief and support for Iran’s reconstruction, while negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme are set to continue over the coming weeks. Trump said the agreement could help prevent a major economic shock, but warned that military action remains on the table if a final nuclear accord is not reached. #news #usa #trump #iran
♬ Minimal for news / news suspense(1169746) – Hiraoka Kotaro
Pahlavi criticizes Trump remarks
Mr Pahlavi said Iranians want liberty and an end to human rights violations, political imprisonment and executions. He warned that the money secured by Tehran will not ‘trickle down to the people’ but will be used to reinforce proxies including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.
Mr Pahlavi also criticised comments made by Mr Trump that ‘it’s OK’ for Iran to have some ballistic missiles because other countries have them.
‘The nature of the beast is that they are dangerous in nature, that should be the calculation,’ Mr Pahlavi said.
‘It’s a beast that they’re dealing with, not rational people who calculate and are accountable to their own citizenry. If they were, they would not shoot 40,000 people just to survive.’
Yet Mr Pahlavi said he has a sense the ‘door is still open’ for Mr Trump to take further action.
On the deal, he said: ‘I don’t think it’s going to last. It’s not tenable, it’s not legitimate in the eyes of the people.’
He sought to remind Sir Keir and Western leaders that ‘executions are continuing in Iran’ every day and the fate of citizens must be linked to any negotiation. He said Britain should ‘stick with us, help us overcome this’.
Despite concern over the memorandum, he said Iranians remained ‘resilient in their fight for freedom’.
The US military confirmed that it had lifted the naval blockade of Iranian ports.
But Israel has refused to pull out of Lebanon as per the terms of the memorandum, earning it criticism from US vice president JD Vance yesterday. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been sidelined in negotiations and is not a signatory of the agreement.
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