Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is calling for a “nationwide uprising” to “reclaim Iran” and overthrow the Islamic Republic regime.

The son of the last Iranian shah made a video address to the public on Tuesday in which he asserted that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s government “has reached its end and is in the process of collapsing.”

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“Khamenei, like a frightened rat, has gone into hiding underground and has lost control of the situation. What has begun is irreversible,” the crown prince said. “The future is bright and together we will pass through this sharp turn in history.”

Following the 1979 forced abdication and exile of his father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince has lived in the United States, where he founded and continues to lead a quasi-government in exile called the National Council of Iran.

He is widely seen as the Western powers’ most favored head of state to replace Khamenei in a hypothetical democratized Iran and characterized the “end of the Islamic Republic” as the “end of its 46-year war against the Iranian nation.”

Pahlavi’s speech on Tuesday was perhaps his boldest assertion of authority since the abdication of his father. He characterized himself as an authority-in-waiting, already making preparations for a transitional government.

“Do not fear the day after the fall of the Islamic Republic. Iran will not descend into civil war or instability. We have a plan for Iran’s future and its flourishing,” Pahlavi said, without clarifying with what group he was speaking for. “We are prepared for the first hundred days after the fall, for the transitional period, and for the establishment of a national and democratic government — by the Iranian people and for the Iranian people.”

He repeated his calls for a popular uprising, a development that the National Council of Iran has maintained for years is the only path to a democratized Iran.

“The regime’s apparatus of repression is falling apart. All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put an end to this nightmare once and for all. Now is the time to rise; the time to reclaim Iran,” Pahlavi said. “Let us all come forward, from Bandar Abbas to Bandar Anzali, from Shiraz to Isfahan, from Tabriz to Zahedan, from Mashhad to Ahvaz, from Shar-e Kord to Kermanshah — and bring about the end of this regime.”

He also repeated his past requests for the Iranian military, police forces, and state employees to defect from the regime.

“Do not sacrifice yourselves for a decaying regime,” he said. “By standing with the people, you can save your lives. Play a historic role in the transition from the Islamic Republic, and take part in building the future of Iran.”

Pahlavi enjoys a high level of esteem and popularity with Iranian expats living outside their homeland since the revolution.

Tabulating his popularity within the former Imperial State is far more difficult due to restrictions on internet access and persecution of citizens accused of sympathizing with the former monarchy.

A 2022 study by the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN) found that hereditary monarchy is an unpopular form of government within the nation, but Pahlavi polled at 39% support to head a future state.

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Pahlavi has never asserted a hereditary right to rule the country, only advocated the overthrow of the regime and democratic elections to reshape national politics.

However, he has not dismissed proposals for the House of Pahlavi’s return to royal status either, saying that such a decision would require the people’s consent.

Israel seems to be gesturing toward the crown prince taking back control of the nation in its messaging throughout the bombings in Tehran.

The operation was named “Rising Lion” — a reference to the “Lion and Sun” symbol that adorned the flag of pre-revolutionary Iran and is intimately tied to the House of Pahlavi.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted an image to social media on Tuesday showing the Iranian lion symbol slicing apart the Islamic Republic’s emblem and a caption referencing the “rise of the lions.”