Since December, Iran has been engulfed in protests over the economic collapse of the country.
Leadership reportedly issued an order for a violent crackdown on protesters, with tens of thousands reportedly massacred as a result.
Now, exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is begging the administration to step in and help.
The protests started to surface in late December 2025, and they continued for more than a month, although the worst of the protests subsided around mid-January.
This was a slow burn, but by January 8, 2026, more than one million people had joined the protests.
The next day, it was estimated that more than five million had gathered.
Services were cut, and leadership initiated a crackdown on the protests, which resulted in more than 30,000 reported deaths.
As the carnage was sorted through, we started to get a more realistic idea of how many people had been killed during the protests and rioting.
The New York Post later reported that more than 36,500 Iranians had been killed after the government reportedly unleashed local militia on its citizens.
It was so bad that authorities even started to raid hospitals to arrest those who were “only” wounded during the protests.
Trump hit Iran with additional tariffs recently, but now the son of a former leader of the country wants Trump to do more.
Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, has appealed to President Trump to provide "humanitarian intervention" in his home country.
He gave a laundry list of measures that could be taken, including neutralizing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), adding, "These are specific measures... that the world can [take to] put more pressure on the regime, but it will also show much more support to the Iranian people.”
There is a purpose here, as Pahlavi knows that Trump wants to see regime change, and he is hoping to position himself to be the next leader if this regime is removed from power.
To this point, Trump has not been willing to force regime change, but he has made it clear that force is not out of the question. Trump has positioned considerable assets in the area, and after Maduro’s arrest, I doubt it would surprise anyone if Iran were next.
