The exiled Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, and his daughter, Los Angeles–based Princess Noor Pahlavi, issued celebratory statements on Saturday following reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed in a joint U.S.–Israeli strike—an operation many observers credited to the firm foreign policy stance under President Donald Trump, the New York Post reports. Supporters of the Pahlavi family hailed the strike as a decisive moment in ending decades of oppression in Iran.
Princess Noor, who has emerged as a prominent voice against Iran’s religious leadership, responded to the news with a series of heartfelt posts on Instagram
“We are watching a violent theocracy that has massacred our people for decades finally get hit. And many Iranians inside Iran feel a painful kind of relief,” she said. “Not because war is ‘good.’ Not because anyone is ‘good.’ But because when you’ve lived with a devil on your neck for 45-plus years any crack in its machinery feels like air.”
The princess also shared videos of jubilant crowds across Iran celebrating in the streets, accompanied by the caption: “The Islamic republic is being bombarded. They are laughing because they have suffered under this regime for decades.”
Noor Pahlavi also wrote “Thank you” including a heart and crying face emoji in response to President Trump’s announcement on X.
Meanwhile, her father, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi—who has lived in exile since the 1979 revolution that ended Iran’s monarchy—issued a powerful statement on X. Calling Khamenei “the bloodthirsty Zahhak [an evil king in Iranian mythology] of our time,” he declared, “the killer of tens of thousands of Iran’s bravest sons and daughters, has been erased from the pages of history. With his death, the Islamic Republic has effectively come to an end and will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.”
Pahlavi further stated that any attempt to install a successor would inevitably fail, asserting that no continuation of the regime could claim legitimacy. He urged Iran’s military and security forces to align with the people and support a peaceful transition “to help ensure Iran’s stable transition to a free and prosperous future.”
In a follow-up post, he described Khamenei’s death as “a great national celebration” and a long-awaited consolation for countless grieving families, writing, ”The death of the criminal Khamenei, while it cannot bring back the spilled blood, can serve as a balm for the scorched hearts of the grieving families, the fathers and mothers, spouses and children in mourning, and the families of the selfless martyrs of Iran’s Lion and Sun National Revolution.”
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Reza Pahlavi told Scott Pelley, “My message to President Trump is that I'm here to echo and join millions of my compatriots inside and outside of Iran to thank him for having done and having the courage to do what is not easy, but intervene. And he will go down in the annals of Iranian history as the most-celebrated foreign leader that changed the ballgame and changed the world as a result.”
The Pahlavi dynasty was overthrown during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Reza Pahlavi’s father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled the country and Ayatollah Khomeini assumed power.