Pahlavi pledged to lead a transition to a 'free and democratic Iran.' He called on President Trump to continue the American-Israeli military operation against Iran, in the hope of displacing a regime he decried for placing a 'sea of blood' between itself and its people.
Iranian security forces have arrested several figures from the country's reformist movement, local media reported on Monday, as Tehran's crackdown on dissent continues to widen. Those arrested include Azar Mansouri, the head of the Reformist Front, which represents several factions, former diplomat Mohsen Aminzadeh and Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, who was part of the group that stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
As recent demonstrations showed, a sizable segment of the Iranian people already opposes the regime. But when President Trump told them to 'take over your government,' it seems unlikely he considered how the regime responded to those protests, or other movements for a more open Iranian society.