Prince Reza Pahlavi: Neither reconciliation with the Islamic Republic nor war, I have always defended the third way, which is based on exerting maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic and maximum support for the Iranian people. Prince Reza Pahlavi continued his speech at the Friedrich Neumann Foundation's 2026 Freedom Award ceremony at the historic Paulskersche Church in Frankfurt, emphasizing the historical roots of freedom in Iran, describing constitutional thought as still alive in Iranian society and saying that the ideal of the sovereignty of the constitution and the political constitution the ideal of the sovereignty of the constitution and the constitution. The people continue the struggles and protests of the Iranians today. In this context he said: "The constitutional thought, which means that political power is limited to the constitution and originates from the will of the people, is still alive in Iran. This ideal continues in the presence of every young woman who passes through the checkpoint without a hijab, every worker who goes on strike and every student who refuses to be silent. In another part of his speech, Prince Reza Pahlavi, in response to the notion that democracy and human rights are imported concepts that belong to the West, stressed that Iranians should not be taught these values by foreign countries.
According to him, "No one is required to bring democracy to Iran or teach the people of Iran. Human rights are not something we should import from outside and freedom is not a foreign concept to us. We Iranians are the inheritors of a civilization that was a pioneer in formulating ideals such as human rights, individual freedom and human dignity." He also saw that the Islamic Republic stands in contradiction to the historical and cultural values of Iran and said: "The Islamic Republic is not the legitimate government of Iran, but is the opposite of all the values that Iran and its people represent." One of the important topics in Prince Reza Pahlavi's speech was the simultaneous criticism of the appeasement policy of Western governments towards the Islamic Republic and opposition to war and foreign military intervention. He said he has opposed two approaches for years: first, the policy of appeasement with the government of the Islamic Republic, which gave him financial resources and international legitimacy, while that government continued to oppress, imprison and kill its own citizens, and second, war, because, he said, no Iranian wants to see his land bombed.