The West's 'appeasement' of Iran has failed and a new Reagan-Thatcher type ... trends now
Iran's exiled crown prince has claimed that the West's 'appeasement' policy has failed and a new Reagan-Thatcher type leadership is required.
Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the late Shah of Iran, is a prominent critic of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Islamic regime.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said there has been a 'weak approach' by leaders in the West on 'both sides of the Atlantic' towards the Islamic Republic.
He told the newspaper there should be a reset of Europe's relationship with Tehran - calling for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be labelled a terrorist organisation.
The 63-year-old also slammed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for not doing enough to protect Iranian journalists based in London.
Reza Pahlavi, the Crown Prince of Iran, pictured at The Oxford Union in 2023
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pictured in Tehran in 2022
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with US President Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004) on the steps of 10 Downing Street, after the official start of the G7 Economic Summit in London, 1984
The prince referred to the stabbing of the Iran International television host Pouria Zeraati last month in Wimbledon.
Zeraati has been repeatedly targeted by Tehran as the media organisation is openly critical of the government's regime.
Counter terror police are investigating an attack on the prominent Iranian dissident journalist who said he was targeted by a two-man team who escaped in a waiting car.
It is believed either agents working directly for the Iranian government or a criminal gang hired by Tehran targeted Zeraati, who hosts a high-profile TV show in London.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the prince asked what the benefit is of not being 'willing to respond in some form'.
He went as far as to say that the 'root cause' of Iran's influence across the Middle East was the West's police of 'appeasement'.
The prince referred to the stabbing of the Iran International television host Pouria Zeraati (pictured right) last month in Wimbledon.
The journalist was rushed to hospital, and shared a defiant Instagram post from his bed
This week, Rishi Sunak called for 'calm heads' after Israel launched strikes on Iran in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile blitz.
The PM insisted that Israel 'absolutely has the right to self defence' as he stressed the facts of the overnight action are still being established.
But he said the priority must be to defuse tensions in the region, with fears the Middle East could be plunged into a much wider conflict.
However, the exiled prince claimed that stronger leadership is needed, similar to that of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher at the end of the Cold War. He added that this partnership 'changed the world in a very significant way'.
The prince left Iran in
