Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is calling on President Donald Trump to intervene after the Islamic regime implemented a nationwide internet blackout amid growing anti-government protests. He said the president has proven to be a “man of peace and a man of your word.”
“Mr. President, this is an urgent and immediate call for your attention, support and action. Last night you saw the millions of brave Iranians in the streets facing live bullets. Today they face not just bullets, but a total communications blackout. No internet. No landlines,” Pahlavi wrote on X.
“Ali Khamenei feared the end of his criminal regime at the hands of the people and, using your strong promise to support the demonstrators, threatened the people on the streets with brutal action,” Pahlavi added. “And he wants to use this blackout to kill these young heroes.”
Iran’s supreme leader says protesters are ‘ruining their own streets’ to please Trump
Protesters march in central Tehran, Iran, Monday, December 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently took a swipe at Trump, saying protesters in Iran were “destroying their own streets” to appease the US president, according to reports The Associated Press.
Pahlavi added that he believed Trump’s threat to intervene if the Iranian government used force against demonstrators to “keep the regime’s thugs at bay” during Thursday night’s protests. The prince called on the Iranian people to demonstrate on Thursday evening and reiterated his call for more protests on Friday evening.
Recently, Pahlavi predicted that the regime was “on the verge of collapse” amid the nationwide unrest.
“More than a hundred cities and millions of people on the streets chanting ‘Death to the dictator,’” Pahlavi told Hannity on Tuesday. “The regime is crumbling and on the verge of collapse,” he added.
Protesters march in central Tehran, Iran, Monday, December 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP)
THE IRAN REGIME REDUCES NATIONAL INTERNET ACCESS AS PROTESTS SHATTER 44 LIVES IN MAJOR CITIES
He said the move is “unprecedented” and different from previous efforts, pointing to participation from Iran’s powerful merchant class.
At least 36 people had been killed by Friday, including 34 protesters and two members of security and law enforcement forces, according to the Press agency for human rights activists.
Trump said in a Truth Social posted on January 2 that the US was “locked and loaded and ready to go” to defend protesters if the regime used force against them.
Activists take part in a rally in support of protesters in Iran at Lafayette Square, across from the White House in Washington, DC, on January 3, 2026. (Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
EXILED Iranian PRINCE SAYS REGIME ‘VERY CLOSE TO INVADE’ AGAINST NATIONAL UNTIL
“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, as is their habit, the United States of America will come to their aid. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote.
Trump repeated the statement during an interview with Hugh Hewitt that aired Thursday. He said Iran “has been told very strongly, even more so than I am speaking to you now, that if they do that, they will have hell to pay,” according to the AP. However, in the same interview, the president appeared to cast doubt on the idea of him meeting Pahlavi.
“I’m not sure it would be appropriate to do that as president at this point,” Trump said, according to the AP. “I think we should let everyone out and see who comes out.”
“We’re ready. If they do, we can hit them hard,” Trump told Hannity.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of deposed Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, speaks during a press conference. He has called on President Donald Trump to help the Iranian people protesting against the regime led by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Thomas Padilla/AP Photo)
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Video from Tehran showed entrepreneurs closing their shops in the Grand Bazaar and facing security forces in riot gear. Meanwhile, video from other parts of Iran shows large crowds, with thousands taking to the streets to criticize the country’s deteriorating economic conditions.
On Thursday, the regime plunged Iran into a nationwide internet blackout as protests intensified. Live network data from NetBlocks showed internet traffic in the restive country collapsing on Thursday evening, shortly after calls for mass protests circulated at 8pm local time.
