Tehran/Annapolis, Jan 10 (.) Iran’s exiled Prince, Reza Pahlavi on Saturday escalated his call to Iran’s protest movement, urging demonstrators to return to the streets for two more nights, seize city centres and press energy and transport workers to launch nationwide strikes, in order to bring the theocratic regime to its knees.
In a message addressed to protesters, Pahlavi praised the “courage and resilience” of his countrymen, after millions heeded his call for protests on Thursday and Friday, saying their mass turnout delivered, what he termed a “decisive response” to threats issued by the Islamic Republic’s leadership, exposing deep weaknesses in the state’s security apparatus.
Pahlavi argued that the protest movement had entered a new phase, one that required sustained street pressure alongside economic disruption.
He said the Islamic Republic’s govt apparatus could be only if its financial lifelines were cut, and thus singled out merchants and workers in the field of transport, oil and gas, and across the wider energy sector.
As such, he urged workers across these industries to begin coordinated strikes across the country, calling their participation pivotal to the success of this movement.
The exiled-prince’s appeal comes as Iran is grappling with massive socio-political and economic unrest fuelled by massive inflation, crippling finances, and heavy religious, political repression, by a largely dismissive regime, in turn leading the demonstrations to spread nationwide across multiple cities, to smaller towns on fringe areas, despite a heavy security presence, massive crackdowns, and an ongoing internet blackout.
Calling on protesters to take to the streets again on Saturday and Sunday evenings starting at 6 p.m., he further asked them to carry national flags, symbols, and images and to reclaim public spaces. He said the aim was no longer limited to symbolic protests but had shifted toward holding territory in key urban areas.
To achieve this, he urged protesters to take control of whole city hubs, disrupt govt access points, and use the captured routes to connect with fellow protesters across different areas, and prepare for prolonged stays in the streets by arranging basic supplies in advance.
“Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets,” Pahlavi said. “The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres.”
Pahlavi urged them to cripple the Islamic Republic’s “repression machine”, and bring the theocracy to its knees, calling the current wave of protests the definitive moment for ending the brutality of the Islamic Republic.
Pahlavi’s message further expressed sympathy and commendation for those members of the security forces, who have reciprocated to the public calls for defection, dissenters, and those who have refused to inflict violence on their fellow countrymen and women.
The Islamic Republic, so far has dismissed the demonstrators as a ragtag bunch of “vandals,” and “foreign-backed agitators”, and branded them as “rioters”, “saboteurs”, and even “terrorists” who were disrupting the country’s unity and stability for the benefit of the US.
Pahlavi, further mentioned his own personal stake in the mass protests, adding he was now “preparing to return” to his “homeland,” stating that such a day he believed was now “very near”, and pledged to stand alongside the Iranian people at what he described as the victory of a “national revolution,” adding that he believed such a moment was approaching rapidly.
. . .