The self-declared shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi has claimed he is a “steward of a national transition to democracy” amid the escalating protests in Iran against the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

After founding the Pahlavi dynasty, Emperor Reza Khan sought to reduce the influence of the Shia clergy and other religious authorities and to create a modern, centralized nation-state.

An exiled prince and an ex-president are among the top contenders who could ascend to power in Iran if its Islamist regime topples after over four decades of repressive rule, experts told The Post.

Reza Pahlavi was only 16 years old when Iran’s 1979 revolution toppled his father’s 40-year rule. The eldest son of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, he was the first in the line to inherit the oil-rich ...

President Donald Trump was hesitant to fully support exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi as the next leader of the country if the current regime falls, saying, “We really aren’t up to that point ...