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MUNICH – On Saturday, backers of Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi turned their attention to international leaders convened in Munich, Germany, urging them to intensify efforts to instigate change within the Iranian government.
Pahlavi encouraged global demonstrations in cities like Munich, Los Angeles, and Toronto, calling it a “global day of action.” He urged his supporters to rally and advocate for “urgent, practical steps in support of the Iranian people.”
The Iranian leadership is already under significant pressure, facing renewed military threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pressing Iran to make more reductions to its nuclear program. On Friday, Trump hinted that a regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”
Iran also drew attention from protesters in Munich on Friday, coinciding with the start of an annual security conference that brings together European leaders and global security experts. Demonstrators, including supporters of the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, also known as Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, protested against Iran’s violent suppression of last month’s nationwide protests.
Pahlavi, who is the son of Iran’s former shah who left the throne and fled the country in 1979, has lived in exile for nearly five decades. He is now endeavoring to assert himself as a significant figure in Iran’s potential future.
At a news conference in Munich on Saturday, Pahlavi warned of the likelihood of more deaths in Iran if “democracies stand by and watch.”
“We gather at an hour of profound peril to ask: Will the world stand with the people of Iran?” he asked.
He added that the Iranian government’s continued survival “sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power.”
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,005 people were killed in the protest, including 214 government forces. It has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.
Iran’s government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.
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