Iranians feel “let down” by Donald Trump’s peace agreement, and it is “abhorrent” that the country’s people are “absent from the talks,” Iran’s exiled Crown Prince has said.
Reza Pahlavi said the tens of thousands of Iranians killed in January while protesting the regime “did not die for a nuclear agreement or for the Strait of Hormuz.”
He also criticised Sir Keir Starmer, accusing the Prime Minister of “rewarding and legitimising blackmail” after he signalled Britain could lift sanctions on Iran’s clerical regime as part of the deal.
However, Mr Pahlavi — regarded by many as the de facto figurehead of the opposition — said he remains convinced the regime will ultimately collapse, arguing the peace arrangement is doomed because it is “not sustainable.”
He made the remarks to the Daily Mail in London after Donald Trump signed a highly contentious Memorandum of Understanding in Versailles on Wednesday aimed at bringing the conflict to an end.
Under the agreement, Tehran is set to receive $300 billion (£227 billion) in reparations along with sanctions relief, on the condition that it reopens the Strait of Hormuz, gives up its enriched uranium stockpile and pledges not to pursue nuclear weapons.
New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei yesterday released a statement saying he had ‘issued the permission’ to sign the deal.
But he said the terms show that ‘negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s point of view’.
Mr Pahlavi, 65, is the son of Iran’s last Shah, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution
Trump signed a physical copy on Wednesday while dining with French President Emmanuel Macron at Versailles
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’.
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.’
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian holds a document showing a memorandum of understanding he signed to end the Middle East war
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.
