US tensions in Iran LIVE update: The son of Iran’s last shah in exile called on US President Donald Trump on Saturday to help the Iranian people, a day after the US leader said a change of power would be “for the best”, according to AFP.
US-based Reza Pahlavi, who has not returned to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the monarchy, added that it was “time to end the Islamic Republic” as he spoke to reporters at the Munich Security Conference.
“It’s a matter of time. We hope that this attack will speed up the process and people can finally go back to the streets and lead to the fall of the final regime,” Pahlavi said, according to the AP.
Iran’s leadership is facing increasing pressure, including renewed threats of US military action from Donald Trump, who is pressuring Tehran to further curtail its nuclear activities.
On Friday, Trump said a change in Iran’s government “would be the best thing that could happen.”
Iran was also in the spotlight in Munich, where protests took place on the opening day of the annual Munich Security Conference attended by European and global security leaders.
Followers of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran, also known as Mujahideen-e-Khalq, rallied last month against Tehran’s violent crackdown on nationwide demonstrations.
Meanwhile, Reza Pahlavi – the son of Iran’s former shah who fled the country during the 1979 revolution – has spent nearly five decades in exile but is trying to play a role in Iran’s future.
During a press conference in Munich on Saturday, he warned that more lives could be lost in Iran if democratic states just “stand by and watch”.
The US Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that at least 7,005 people have been killed during the protests, including 214 members of the security forces.
The group, which has previously provided reliable death tolls during earlier periods of unrest in Iran, bases its numbers on information gathered and verified through a network of activists inside the country.
Iranian authorities released their only official figures on January 21, saying 3,117 people had died. In the past, Iran’s ruling establishment has been accused of minimizing or failing to disclose the full death toll during episodes of unrest.
Get all the updates on US Iran tensions LIVE here on Mint.