This writer is old enough to remember the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel defeated a coalition of several Arab states, primarily by destroying those states’ fighter jets on the ground, achieving total victory within...well, six days.
But impressive as that victory was, what the Israelis achieved in six days in 1967 barely begins to compare to what they managed to do in four days in 2025 — and, from all accounts, the Israelis are just getting started.
So quickly is Israel advancing that what began as a campaign to destroy the ayatollahs’ nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs seems rapidly to be morphing into a campaign to oust the mullahcracy itself — regime change.
Naturally, the prospect of regime change in Iran prompts questions, debate, and speculation regarding what will happen “the day after” ayatollahs no longer rule Iran. Order or chaos? Democracy or “dictatorship 2.0”? So far, comments by politicians, government officials, and pundits seem to range from apprehension to fear to panic.
They needn’t worry.
It is important to dispel the “conventional wisdom” that the ayatollahs, through their Council of Experts, govern Iran. They do not. Iran has all of the needed elements for democratic governance — legislative, executive, and judicial — and all three function as in a democracy. It is the people, not the ayatollahs, who choose the candidates for those positions. But the ayatollahs do have, and exercise, the power to decide who cannot be a candidate.
Enable Iranians freely to nominate and vote, and...well, you get the idea. And, thanks to Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, the time to return democracy to Iran, after 46 years of suffering under a brutal theocracy, may finally be ripe. The kindling is there; all that’s needed is a spark, a national symbol or leader to unite Iranians in their common cause — something or someone around whom to rally.
Iran has the good fortune to be blessed with both — a single man ideally suited to serve as both symbol to and leader of the Iranian people: Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.
We Americans revere and unite (at least when we’re not arguing with each other) around our national symbol, our flag. Other nations “rally around the flag.” But there is another quite common form of government: a constitutional monarchy, where, usually, a prime minister wields power but a monarch serves as the titular head of state. In the U.K., the monarch is King Charles. King Frederik X reigns in Denmark. In the Netherlands, it’s King Willem-Alexander. And in Iran, it is, and should be, Crown Prince Pahlavi. Everything this writer has seen or heard about or from the prince has shown him to be a good and decent man, steeped in patriotism and love for his country.
The country — the Iranian people — love him back, as evidenced by these remarks by Tehran-based medical worker “M” (pseudonym used for obvious reasons), in an interview with the Jerusalem Post (emphases added):
And what of a vision for Iran’s future? According to M, no political figure garners more public trust than exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“They see him as a capable, patriotic figure and as a symbol of the stability and progress Iran enjoyed before the revolution. No other political figure in Iran comes close to his level of popularity.”
Moreover:
The prince stated publicly on Tuesday that plans are in place for a 100-day transitional period if the Islamic Republic regime falls in its war with Israel, and rumors abound that Iranian military officers are contacting him abroad to declare allegiance and that they will help a transitional period if necessary.
Managing an orderly transition from dictatorship to democracy, as essential as it is, is only a part of the story. We can do more. To be specific, President Trump can do more by working with Pahlavi to make him prominent in the public eye as the living symbol of the Iranian resistance.
President Trump should invite Crown Prince Pahlavi to the White House, with all the pomp, circumstance, and trappings traditionally given to a state leader. In that ceremony, Trump should formally recognize the crown prince as Iran’s legitimate head of state, the same as he would King Charles. He should invite Pahlavi to speak — undoubtedly with the whole world watching — directly to the Iranian people.
An invitation from Senate majority leader Thune and House speaker Johnson to address a joint session of Congress wouldn’t hurt, either.
Love Donald Trump or hate him, but none can deny that our president is no slouch at promotion. This would be a chance to use his skills for the benefit of a beleaguered nation.
Gene Schwimmer is the proprietor of Gene’s Geopolitical Thought for the Day on YouTube.
Image: Chickenonline via Pixabay, Pixabay License.