Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s deposed shah and a figure of Iran’s Opposition in exile, said he supported US intervention to support a mass protest movement against Iran’s theocratic rulers and issued a direct plea to President Donald Trump to get involved.

Mass protesters have been emboldened by Trump’s warnings that he could strike the Iranian government if peaceful protesters were killed, Pahlavi said in an interview on the Fox News programme Sunday Morning Futures. Several Iranian rights groups on Sunday said the death toll, after two weeks of protests, had reached the hundreds.

Addressing Trump directly, Pahlavi said: “They know that you’re not going to throw them under the bus, as has happened before. This is why they are empowered — by the hope that you have their back.”

Born in Tehran in 1960 and once Iran’s crown prince, Pahlavi has lived in exile since the 1979 revolution that ousted his father, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and ushered in the rule of the Islamic Republic, which is currently headed by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Asked directly during the interview by Maria Bartiromo whether he wanted US forces to "take out Khamenei", Pahlavi said "the people of Iran have responded and reacted positively to a promise of intervention".

He added: “We need to cut the snake’s head off for good so it can no longer be a threat to Iranian interests, to American interests, to regional interests. And the only solution is to make sure this regime goes down for good and the Iranian people can liberate themselves.”

Pahlavi, 65, has long been a divisive figure among Iran’s Opposition, many of whom disdained the idea of restoring a monarchy that Iranians ousted because of its repressive rule. But he appears to have gained a base of support inside Iran in recent years, according to some analysts.

A plunge in the value of Iran’s currency on December 28 incited the current protests, which quickly grew into broader calls for the ouster of Khamenei. Many protesters have also begun voicing support for the Pahlavis, with chants of "long live the shah".

On Thursday, Pahlavi and members of several activist groups issued calls for mass protests, helping accelerate the movement.

New York Times News Service