Trump says Reza Pahlavi ‘seems very nice’ but questions if he can garner support in Iran

US President Donald Trump says that Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice” but expresses uncertainty over whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over.

In an exclusive Reuters interview in the Oval Office, Trump says there is a chance Iran’s clerical government could collapse, blames Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for the stalemate in negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine, and dismisses Republican criticism of a Justice Department probe of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the unrest against clerical rule. But he is reluctant to lend his full support to Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran, who was ousted from power in 1979.

“He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump says. “And we really aren’t up to that point yet.

“I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”

Trump’s comments go further in questioning Pahlavi’s ability to lead Iran after saying last week that he had no plans to meet with him.

The US-based Pahlavi, 65, has lived outside Iran since before his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and has become a prominent voice in the protests. Iran’s opposition is fragmented among rival groups and ideological factions — including the monarchists who back Pahlavi — and appears to have little organized presence inside the Islamic Republic.

Trump says it is possible the government in Tehran could fall due to the protests but that in truth “any regime can fail.”

“Whether or not it falls or not, it’s going to be an interesting period of time,” he says.