Israel-Iran War | Don’t give Khamenei’s collapsing regime a lifeline: Reza Pahlavi warns West

Iranian opposition leader and son of the last shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Reza Pahlavi.

Exiled Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi has urged Western nations to refrain from engaging in fresh talks with the Islamic Republic, warning that such diplomacy would only prolong the regime’s survival at a time when it is nearing collapse.

Speaking to AFP on Monday, Pahlavi - the son of Iran’s ousted Shah and a prominent voice of the opposition in exile - cautioned that reviving negotiations with Tehran under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would send the wrong message to the Iranian people who are demanding change.

"The West should not give a lifeline to the Iranian leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei through talks when his rule is 'closer every day' to ending," Pahlavi said, urging international actors to take a stand that reflects the growing domestic discontent inside Iran.

"This regime is collapsing... You can facilitate that by standing this time with them (the Iranian people), not throwing this regime another lifeline to survive," he added.

Just days ago, Pahlavi had claimed that the Islamic Republic was collapsing from within, declaring that the time for national liberation had arrived.

He had warned that the command and control structures of the regime were disintegrating rapidly and that international actors had begun to accept a future without the Islamic Republic.

Israel struck Tehran and Iran fired missiles on Monday, as the war between the longtime foes raged for its 11th day after the United States sent bombers to attack the Islamic republic's nuclear sites.

Israel carried out "strikes of unprecedented force against regime targets and agencies of government oppression in the heart of Tehran," Defence Minister Israel Katz said as an AFP journalist heard loud blasts in the north of the Iranian capital.

Katz said the targets included the notorious Evin prison in the city's north, known to hold political prisoners and dissidents as well as foreign detainees.