Reza Pahlavi II - 12 June Statement

Washington D.C.

It is with profound regret that we join the world in watching the brutal reaction of the regime in Tehran to the protests of the brave people of Iran for their rights and against the suffocating tyranny they have been subjected to these past 30 years.

The regime has had 12 months to peacefully and respectfully resolve it's differences with the populace who has long since lost faith in their so-called government and lost hope in the judicial and constitutional infrastructures of the clerics and their paramilitary apparatus.

To the youth of Iran I say: your courage is the fodder from which legends are written. Your names and your actions, today and every day, until the liberation of our beloved Iran, will not only grace the pages of our history but that of the region and the world as the stories of the great struggles for human dignity and human rights are written.

To the Basijis, the Sepah, and the men of the Armed Forces of Iran I say: Join your brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, do not turn the sacred land of your fathers and mothers into killing fields. You are better than that. You can change your own destiny and your country's destiny. We cannot change the past. But you can change today and tomorrow. Join your people in this just struggle to reclaim your blessed country.

To the regime in Iran I say: enough. Enough killing, enough torturing, enough blood of innocent spilled! In the name of all that you hold holy, stop this vicious campaign to hold power. You know it will not work, I know it will not work, history has taught us it will not work. Enough.

To the Iranian Diaspora whose heart beats in snych with their brothers and sisters inside Iran: Do not despair, the liberation of Iran is at hand. Your unity, your voice, your sacrifice is needed today more than ever by those who are buying the freedom of Iran with their blood.

To the citizens and governments of the world I say: The people of Iran need you more than ever. Let their voices be heard. Don't allow their epic and existential struggle go unnoticed under the guise of nuclear weapons priorities. These are all part and parcel of the same problem. A vile regime whose actions can no longer be justified nor tolerated by decent men and women, regardless of nationality.

In closing let us remember the words of Dr Martin Luther King: "We will foget the words of our enemies. But we will not soon forget the silence of our friends."

With a hopeful heart for a free and properous Iran,

May God bless Iran.

Reza Pahlavi