Amid the widespread anti-government demonstrations in Iran, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late Shah of Iran, who was deposed in the 1979 revolution, is trying to position himself as a vital figure in his homeland's future.
In a message to the protesters, Mr Pahlavi, 65, has called for people to seize the centres of their towns, and said he was preparing to return to Iran soon.
"Our goal is no longer merely to come into the streets; the goal is to prepare to seize city centres and hold them," he said on X.
Who is Reza Pahlavi?
Born in Tehran on October 31, 1960, he is the eldest son of the late Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and Empress Farah Pahlavi.
He was officially named crown prince in 1967. In 1978, at the age of 17, he went to the US for pilot training at the Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas.
His father was ousted the following year in an Islamist uprising in which Shiite clerics established Iran's theocratic government.
The Shah, once backed by Western allies, struggled to find refuge in another country and ultimately died of cancer in Egypt.
Since then, Mr Pahlavi has lived in the United States. He studied political science, married Yasmine Etemad-Amini, a lawyer and fellow Iranian-American, and raised three daughters, Noor, Iman and Farah.
On April 17, 2023, Mr Pahlavi visited Israel in "an effort to rebuild the historic relations between Iran and Israel". He attended a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, visited the Western Wall, and met with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has been criticised for his support of Israel, especially after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June last year. He was labelled a "traitor" by many Iranian opposition figures, including several high-profile political prisoners in Iran.
Mr Pahlavi supported the previous protest movement that rocked the Islamic Republic following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested for allegedly violating Iran's dress code, in 2022.
During the current protests, some protesters on the streets have shouted slogans such as "long live the Shah" in support of Mr Pahlavi, although most chants have called for an end to rule by the clerics or demanded action to fix the economy.
On Thursday, Mr Pahlavi said he was "preparing to return to the homeland so that at the time of our national revolution's victory, I can be beside you, the great nation of Iran. I believe that day is very near."
The US President Donald Trump, who has warned Iran's leaders not to use violence against the protesters, said on Thursday that he was "not sure that it would be appropriate" to meet Mr Pahlavi, suggesting that he was waiting to see how the crisis played out before backing an opposition leader.
