US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice” but expressed uncertainty over whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over.
In an exclusive Reuters interview in the Oval Office, Trump said there was a chance Iran’s government could collapse and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the stalemate in negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran. But he was reluctant on Wednesday to lend his full support to Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran, who was ousted from power in 1979.
“He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump said. “And we really aren’t up to that point yet. I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”
Trump’s comments went further in questioning Pahlavi’s ability to lead Iran, after he said last week that he had no plans to meet with him.
Opposition Fragmented
The US-based Pahlavi, 65, has lived outside Iran since before his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and has become a prominent voice in the protests. Iran’s opposition is fragmented among rival groups and ideological factions — including the monarchists who back Pahlavi — and appears to have little organised presence inside the Islamic Republic.
Echoing Trump’s caution, Sanam Vakil, deputy director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, said Pahlavi had gained prominence among some protesters and had helped mobilise them to some extent. “But I wouldn’t overstate it. It’s very hard to see how much support he has or how much support any figure has in Iran,” she said.
Trump said it is possible the government in Tehran could fall due to the protests but that in truth “any regime can fail”.
“Whether or not it falls or not, it’s going to be an interesting period of time,” he said.
Trump, who is closing out the first year of his second term in office, sat behind his massive Resolute Desk and sipped a Diet Coke during the 30-minute interview. At one point, he held up a thick binder of papers, which he said contained his achievements since being sworn into office on January 20, 2025.
But he sought to manage expectations for Republicans in November’s congressional midterm elections, noting that the party in power frequently loses seats two years after a presidential election.
“When you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,” he said. “But we’re going to try very hard to win the midterms.”
‘Zelensky’ main impediment to reaching a deal
Trump, who has struggled throughout his presidency to end Russia’s war in Ukraine despite campaign boasts that he could end it in a day, said Zelensky is the main impediment to resolving the four-year-old war.
Trump has frequently criticised both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky but seemed more downbeat once again on the Ukrainian president.
Trump said Putin was “ready to make a deal.” Asked what the holdup is, Trump said simply: “Zelensky.”
“We have to get President Zelensky to go along with it,“ he said.
