Exiled Prince of Iran Calls on Israel to Overthrow Regime in Tehran

Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, also said that a majority of Iranians want their own oppressive government removed, CBN News.

"So I say to you, our friends across the Middle East: our region deserves so much better. But to succeed, first this regime, that has held us hostage for nearly half a century, must go," Pahlavi said in a message posted on YouTube.

Despite some Iranians having supported military action against Israel, Pahlavi claims most of his countrymen are open to seeing targeted action against the regime.

He tells Iranians the real enemy is ultimately their own government, led by Ali Khamenei.

"The tyrant in Tehran couches his warmongering in Iranian nationalism. But he does not speak for our nation," Pahlavi claimed. "The crimes his regime has committed against you, our neighbors, are an affront to Iranians and our values."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently shared hope for peace between his country and Iran, particularly if Iran is free from the regime in the future.

"When Iran is finally free and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different," Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said in a video address to the Iranian people. "Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace."

Lana Silk, who leads Transform Iran, a ministry that intends to share the gospel inside the country, said that recent uprisings against the regime show that Iranians desire political change like never before, even to the point of dying for it.

"It's a tough fight, but they are willing to fight it; they are willing to pay whatever it takes to take down their government," Silk told CBN News. "We've seen Iranian people take to social media inviting Israel to attack them on their own soil."

Videos from Iran showed people dancing and singing in the streets after Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated.

Since taking power 45 years ago, the regime's clerics have described the United States as the 'Great Satan' and Israel as the 'Little Satan."

"I was brought up in the country, and I was conditioned to hate Israel and America," Silk recalled. "As a schoolgirl, we had to wake up every morning and chant, 'Death to America, death to Israel.' All our teaching, our education, all the propaganda in the news, on the walls, everything was set up for us to hate these two countries, and yet we don't. No matter how hard the government tries, they cannot turn their people against these countries."

Pahlavi told CBN News that despite Iran's ongoing violations of religious freedoms, people are turning to Christianity like never before.

"The discrimination started against religious minorities. The Jews were the first, followed by the Bahais," Pahlavi told CBN News. "Lately, it's been mostly the Christians that are targeted. Iran has probably right now the fastest-growing faith in Christianity than any other faith that the country has had. We have hundreds of underground churches."

Silk says that the potential for war is prompting underground Christians in Iran to share their faith.

"We are talking about war, we are talking about unimaginable suffering coming to Iran, so there is a sense of we better be quick to make sure that all the people we love know who Jesus is and what He has done for them before it's too late for them," Silk added.

WATCH: 'Ali Khamenei's Regime Must Go'- Exiled Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi's Full Statement | The Print

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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.