WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9 (ANI): Following the appointment of a new Supreme Leader by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on Monday called on the Islamic Republic’s military to lay down its arms and join the Iranian people against the current regime, saying those who stand with the public now will have a place in a “free Iran.”
In a post on X, Pahlavi said the Iranian people broadly support efforts by the United States and Israel to weaken the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus, while accusing the leadership of using civilians as “human shields.”
“The American and Israeli resolve to decimate the Revolutionary Guards and dismantle the Islamic Republic’s infrastructure of terror has the broad support of the Iranian people,” the exiled crown prince said in his post. “The current regime’s despicable use of Iranians as human shields is a crime against humanity. The safety of civilians and the protection of Iran’s vital national infrastructure must remain a priority,” he added.
Addressing Iran’s armed forces directly, Pahlavi urged soldiers and officers to side with the public rather than the ruling establishment.
“To Iran’s own military: lay down your arms and join the people. If you do, there will be a place for you in a free Iran,” he said.
The statement follows the announcement by Iran’s Assembly of Experts on Sunday appointing the late leader’s son, 56-year-old cleric Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader.
Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, widely described as more hardline than his father, was named the third Supreme Leader of Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The decision came after days of deliberations by the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for selecting the country’s supreme leader, marking a significant moment in the political and religious leadership of the Islamic Republic.
In a formal statement, the body declared, “By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts elected Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Born in 1969 in the city of Mashhad, Mojtaba Khamenei is the second son of the late Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who served as Iran’s supreme leader for nearly four decades.
The development comes amid escalating tensions in West Asia following the killing of 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint U.S.-Israel military strikes on Iran on February 28. The strikes also killed several senior leaders of the Islamic Republic. (ANI)
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