Exiled Iranian crown prince sends message to Trump: 'SEAL THIS LEGACY'

Welcome back. Now a revolution underway in Iran. Massive protests against Ayatollah Khomeini and its brutal regime are persisting in Iran. As Iranian citizens take to the streets over its failed economy and skyrocketing inflation up 50 percent, food prices surging more than 70 percent. President Trump has warned Khomeini there will be severe consequences if protesters

are killed. But the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Iran is threatening to strike U.S. military bases in the Middle East if the U.S. tries to take down the Iranian regime. Here's the president on Friday.

Iran's in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible. I've made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. We'll be hitting them very hard where it hurts.

As protesters ramped up on Thursday, the Ayatollah dug in by cutting all Internet service and international calls inside the country. The Internet has been out for 60 hours so far, with Iranian officials also trying to jam up Elon Musk's Skylink to further isolate the country. As protesters have heeded the call from my next guest, the exiled Crown Prince of Iran, His Royal Highness Reza Pahlavi, called on the people to mobilize and take to the streets

against the authoritarian government. Demonstrators calling for Pahlavi to return and to lead Iran. Pahlavi's father, Mohammad Reza Pahlav, was Shah of Iran from 1941 until 1979, overseeing key modernization initiatives in the country, with close ties to both the United States and to Israel, until the extremists and the terrorists overwhelmed the monarchy, forcing the Shah and his wife, Empress Farah Pahlavi, to flee, and the Ayatollah to return from exile.

Iran then shifted overnight from a U.S.-allied monarchy to an anti-Western Islamic regime, soon to become the largest state sponsor of terrorism, funding Hezbollah and Hamas, among other groups. President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio posting this weekend on social media that the U.S. stands with the people of Iran, with the president writing this is not the Obama administration when it comes to standing up to the Iranian Ayatollah and his religious

Nazi henchmen, and standing behind the people of Iran protesting for a better life. The president retweeted that tweet from Lindsey Graham, who will be joining me momentarily. To the regime leadership, Graham wrote, your brutality against the great people of Iran will not go unchallenged. Joining me now in this Sunday Morning Futures exclusive, in the middle of these calls to return to power and free the people is His Royal Highness,

the exiled Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi. Your Highness, thank you so much for being here this morning.

Good morning, Maria.

We have seen other times when the people have risen up, but it feels different this time. You called for the people to mobilize for two straight nights this week. Does it feel different? Assess for us what is taking place this weekend in Iran.

Maria, to put it into perspective, in the last 48 hours, Iranians have suffered more casualties than America did after the 9-11 attack. This is a moment that is defining. Despite being completely cut off from the world, Internet shutdown, and for a regime that is massacring its own people, this is an opportunity to liberate that nation. Remember, the same thugs that hate America also hate their own people.

And this is an opportunity to help a nation that starves for liberty, that starts to be rejoined with a free world, and to have the same relationship that we had with America before this revolution occurred, to liberate ourselves and come back to the fold and contribute to world peace and stability regionally and beyond.

Now, Yohannes, you have called for the opportunity to become the transitional leader. You've said many times with me on this program, you are hoping to be a transitional leader. What is your plan in that transition? What would the first 100 days look like? Because we know that these protests are economic in nature. They are about food and life and democracy second.

Maria, I'm a fighter pilot. I've trained all my life for exactly this moment, and people are calling on me to step in and lead this transition. I'm here to lead and help our nation go through that transition. But beyond liberation, we have to have a plan, a plan for a stable, smooth transition, a plan that, unlike other scenarios we witness in our neighborhood, like the de-Baathification

in Iraq, will not lead to chaos. We have to ensure stability. We have to be able to protect the citizenry. We have to be able to stabilize the economy. And for that, we have very comprehensive plans. I'm helped by numbers of economists, scientists, jurists and specialists in every field, so we can, in fact, address all of these issues the moment the opportunity comes.

More importantly is what we're doing right now. As you can see, people are still fighting, despite this crackdown. They hope that there will be assistance in protecting them from further bloodshed. I have called upon further strikes, and that is beginning to unfold. We are beginning to see more and more defections, which is very important, as part of the transition. So all of this is at play as we speak.

You have treated directly at President Trump, and you have a message for President Trump. What is that message, sir?

Mr. President, you have already established your legacy as a man committed to peace and fighting evil forces. There is a reason why people in Iran are renaming streets after your name. They know that you are totally opposite to Barack Obama or Joe Biden. They know that you're not going to throw them under the bus, as they have had before. This is why they believe that this time they are empowered by the hope that you have their

back. Your words of solidarity with the Iranian people and your administration have tremendous positive effect. Let's hope that we can permanently seal this legacy by liberating Iran so that we and you can make Iran great again.

Let's partner on this and have a better future for our countries and for our people. This is an opportunity that has presented itself. I'm prepared to return to Iran at the first possible opportunity. I'm already planning on that and the transition team.

We hope only that the Iranian people this time will be victorious, and they will be, because I know that the Iranians are prepared to die for this cause, and so am I. We're doing everything we can, and I think it's not just for us as Iranians. It's for the whole world. Iranians are prepared to sacrifice not just for themselves, but to make sure that all the evil that has been brought by this regime from the time it came to power dissipates, and we can finally breathe in an atmosphere of tranquility, good relationship with our neighbors, with the

Israelis, with our Arab neighbors, and the rest of the world.

And this will happen, because unlike this regime, this is the commitment of a nation. Are you willing to make the commitment to free and fair elections after the transition, sir? How long are you expecting a transition to take and what happens then?

The most important process is a democratic process is for the people to have the opportunity to have their representative debate all what needs to be debated in a parliamentary process. My job is to lead this transition, to make sure that no stone is left unturned, that, in full transparency, people have an opportunity to elect their leaders freely and to decide their own future.

Under international observation, we will know that this will be fair and fair elections. I am committed to that. That has always been my objective. But it is important that we have a good process established, so the world understand, and the people of Iran, most importantly, understand exactly this time how we're going to achieve that, unlike what happened 47 years ago, where nobody really had a clue what it would mean

to have what Khomeini planned for Iran. And, by the time they woke up to it, it was too late. This time, we cannot afford not to be clear on the alternative. I think the alternative is clear. The people have spoken. They have their trust in me.

And I have stepped in at their request to provide them with that process. I'm committed to that. And I will do everything that I can to ensure that we end up with a democratic alternative in Iran.

So, how long do you expect the transition to take?

We have to try to do it as soon as possible. Realistically speaking, it could take a couple of years, because a lot of things need to happen, and people need to be able to organize themselves, the right structures and everything. So it's a process that shouldn't take longer than that. And it all depends on how successful we are in implementing the immediate short-term needs that will stabilize the country.

All of that will have an impact on how quickly we can address that issue and bring the transition

period to a minimum amount of time possible. The Trump administration a week ago went into Venezuela and extracted the leader there, Maduro. And do you believe that incident galvanized the people in Iran?

Look, every time countries are liberated anywhere in the world, it's a positive message of encouragement to other nations that are still gripping up with unwanted systems and regimes. It's a message of solidarity across the world. People were empowered when they saw the success of Nelson Mandela in South Africa or the success of Lachvalessa in Poland and so on and so forth. And in this case, our Venezuelan friends, who have the same optic and vision of a tomorrow liberated Iran, because, unlike the connection of Caracas-Tehran under these two regimes,

they can understand that democratic nations will be the best partners possible. I'm happy for the Venezuelan people. I think the Iranian people get encouraged by that. And that's why I think the commitment to help the Iranian people in their liberation is not just, as I said, for the best interests of the Iranian people, but it is also in the best interests of the world, and particularly the United States of America.

And would you be willing to actually run in a potential election? I mean, you just said you were a fighter pilot. You were trained in the United States. Are you willing to take off the uniform after a transition and say, yes, I am going to run in an election, and we will see who the people decide is their next leader?

As I said, I'm here to lead, but the choice is that of the people. My job right now is to make sure that we achieve that transition, that as an honest arbiter, I'm a unifying force. That's why they are calling my name, because they have their trust in me. It's a huge responsibility that I intend to carry out to the best of my ability.

Your Highness, there is an issue about the Chinese Communist Party as part of this story as well. The Chinese finalized a deal back in 2021 to acquire ports in Iran. Are there plans to try to separate from the Chinese Communist Party? How do you see that playing out?

Look, Maria, this regime, out of weakness, have offered far too many concessions, whether to Russia or to China. We don't believe that the future of Iran has to be antagonistic to Russian or Chinese interests. We just don't want to have unfair, imposed, imbalanced arrangements. Most of these arrangements have been unfair and balanced, and it's basically devoiding our country in our national interests.

So long as we can defend our national interests, we are prepared to deal with any bloc so long as it's based on fair trade. And I think this is an element that will obviously be an issue of discussion in Parliament and future governments in Iran as we determine our foreign policy and relationship with the

whole world.

So, you think that that could be part of the conversation, trying to get the CCP out of owning those ports?

As I said, this is something that has to be decided once we have a functioning democratic government. In the meantime, we have to be able to also protect the best interests of our nation. And that's why we should have an open mind as to how to deal with that, because we don't need to have further confrontation with anyone. We have to bring it back to sanity, responsible, pragmatic and objective analysis, and see what's best.

And hopefully, we can have, based on mutual interest, different arrangements than the one that we currently have, that is totally lopsided and undermines Iran's national interest.

That we cannot stand for, and now we'll not stand for. And this story is so enormous, to actually think about the idea of potential freedom and a free Iran. I don't see a lot of the international media covering it, like the BBC, for example. What is your take on the media's role here?

But look, mainstream media is entirely missing the actual narrative and us that the people of Iran have. And again, when you have absence of Internet and the feedback from Iran, it is very difficult for the world to understand really what's happening. I hope that the media ultimately feel responsible in giving fair coverage to the facts on the ground in Iran, rather than to, you know, offer some unfounded opinions or biased interpretation of what's happening.

But, you know, regardless of whether the media coverage exists or not, we know what we need to do as a nation. But I think the world that has been in awe of the courage and determination of our compatriots have bypassed mainstream media. They do hear from the Iranian people. I just hope that they do their professional job, and this time really have accurate accounting

of what's really happening, and let the people judge on their own, as opposed to push an opinion on people.

And, Yohannes, before you go, I want to get your take on these threats from the Iranian Khomeini regime, saying that they will target U.S. military bases in the Middle East should the Trump administration get involved here. Are you expecting the administration, do you want to see the administration go into Iran and take out Khomeini? And what about the threats that they will hit back at our military installations in

the Middle East?

Look, the people of Iran have responded and reacted positively to a promise of intervention by the president and his administration that if the regime turns their gun and continue massacring its own people, that will not remain unanswered. That's the ask on the ground. We need to make sure that this time the Iranian people are successful. That kind of assistance will go a long way in letting the Iranian people prevail in this

war that we have against this regime. And we need to cut the stakes head off for good, so it can no longer be a threat to Iranian interest, to American interest, to regional interest. And the only solution is to make sure that this regime goes down for good and the Iranian people can liberate themselves, because they are country to this regime that is a sworn enemy of America.

We Iranians are a friend to America. We proved it before and we'll prove it again. Your Highness, when was the last time you were in Iran? It was July of 1978. So it's been a long time. Your

Highness, it's wonderful to have you this morning. I'll be there soon. Yes, we will be watching. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mary. Your Royal Highness, Reza Pahlavi.

We'll be right back.

Hey everyone, I'm Emily Campagno. Catch me and my co-hosts Harris Faulkner and Kayleigh McEnany on Outnumbered every weekday Catch me and my co-hosts Harris Faulkner and Kayleigh McEnany on Outnumbered every weekday at 12pm Eastern, or set your DVR.