The Reluctant Prince: Can Reza Pahlavi Lead Iran’s Future? Q&A with Eli Lake

Breaking History

The Free Press

History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As Iran’s regime faces mounting internal pressure, one name keeps resurfacing: Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah. But is he a viable future leader, or simply the most recognizable symbol of a free Iran? In this conversation, host Eli Lake and producer Poppy Damon unpack the strange political moment Pahlavi finds himself in—popular with many Iranians, yet viewed skeptically by parts of the opposition and treated cautiously by Washington. Can he unite the stakeholders to bring about democracy? Or is he likely to get in the way of a future without monarchs? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What happened?
0:05.2	From director Maggie Jelenhall.
0:07.0	We dug you up and brought you back to life.
0:10.4	Starring award winners Jesse Buckley.
0:12.4	What did you want with a dead girl?
0:14.4	And Christian Bale.
0:15.6	I'm the same.
0:16.5	Born from the dead.
0:17.6	A master.
0:18.4	With Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Benning, and Penelope Cruz. The dead have got something to say, and I'm saying it. Every funny screen. The ride in cinemas March 6th. Hello, listeners. Welcome back. This is Eli Lake. This is kind of a bonus episode. We're going to be dropping a few of these every now and again. And right now we're
0:38.2	going to be talking about Iran. It's been in the news. I've been writing a lot about it for the free
0:43.0	press. And it's just a conversation with my producer Poppy Demon. And I think you'll enjoy
0:48.4	and keep your ears glued because sometime in May we will be dropping a well-crafted and long
0:57.7	serious about a topic we can't tell you about just yet, but I think you'll really love it
1:00.7	in this new format for breaking history.
1:02.8	Podcast family, we regretfully are taking a bit of a break.
1:10.5	That's because we need best quality
1:13.8	Any barrelang we make
1:16.7	Expect the best when we deliver
1:21.5	That excellence from sea to the river
1:25.2	Expect the best You know the chatter
1:28.8	You got the only part here
	...

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