The Chris Cuomo Project - What Happens If Iran’s Regime Falls

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Cameron Khansarinia (Chief of Staff to Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last monarch and a leading figure among opposition groups) joins Chris Cuomo to break down whether regime change in Iran is actually possible — and what could come next. Khansarinia explains why he believes the current moment presents a real opportunity for change, arguing that many Iranians oppose the regime but lack the conditions to act. He outlines how opposition efforts are being organized, what role Reza Pahlavi is trying to play, and why some believe a transition is more realistic than it appears from the outside. Cuomo presses him on the biggest risks: whether the opposition is truly unified, what happens if the regime collapses, and whether outside pressure from the U.S. or Israel helps or complicates the situation. The conversation also explores how ordinary Iranians are experiencing the conflict — and how different that reality is from what Americans typically see. Join The Chris Cuomo Project on YouTube for ad-free episodes, early releases, exclusive access to Chris, and more: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscuomo/join Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Support the Freedom From Religion Foundation and help protect the separation of church and state—visit https://ffrf.us/chris or text CHRIS to 511511. Go to https://leesa.com and use promo code CUOMO for 30% off mattresses plus an extra $50 off, exclusive for listeners. Get 25% Off Cowboy Colostrum with code CUOMO at https://cowboycolostrum.com/cuomo Slow the growth of greys and get 15% off by using code CUOMO at https://Arey.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When WestJet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. You want to hear a crazy notion? why are the Iranian people literally happy that they are being bombed?

Think about that. There are so many unanswered questions to understand what America is doing in the region. I get why it seems like, hey, I thought we were supposed to be done with foreign interventions and forever wars. Then why did Donald Trump jump into this one? There are answers that we need to have. why the Iranian people wanted this, what the chances that they really take out the regime on their own, why the prince, the son of the former Shah, Reza Polavi? Why is he popular in Iran? How realistic is it that he could come back to save his people? I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the

Chris Cuomo Project. Always good to have you here. This is a really important conversation because the situation in Iran is not ending anytime soon. There is a man that can answer all of these questions and help us understand what many are fighting about back here at home. His name is Cameron Kanserina, and he is the chief of staff of the prince who's been living in exile for the 47 years that the Ayatollahs have been in power.

And he wants to come back. He says he wants to lead the final battle. Why? How likely is it? Where does it lead? Here are the answers. Cameron, can you help us understand what the status is of the appetite for revolution, for overthrowing this regime among not just the Persian, but the Iranian people? Chris, it's very good to be with you. Thank you for having me on. It's almost difficult to analyze. or describe the sentiment of the people of Iran. And I want to try and break it down a little bit

because it really is an almost unimaginable sensation and feeling that people are having, especially for those of us sitting in the free world in America and in the UK somewhere, that you would be not only happy about, but really thrilled that your country is being bombed. And that's because for 47 years, in order to understand why people have this sense,

I think you really have to understand the nature of this regime. And you've talked a lot about this on your program, Chris. You've had so many Iranians come on and talk about this regime. But a regime that has really from its very first days taken the country hostage. It has not acted like a real government. It has acted more like an invading occupier. It, from its very first days, the very first thing it did was change the progressive family laws that made women equal to men in society.

It took the age of marriage of women from 18 years old to eight or nine years old, eight or nine-year-old girls. That was the first thing that this regime did when it came into power was say, it's okay to marry eight or nine-year-old girls. And for 47 years, it has jailed, detained, tortured, raped the Iranian people. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been slaughtered. And so that's why, after all this and the people on their own, Unfortunately, I would argue, because of years of appeasement policies have been unable to overthrow this regime.

That's why people are celebrating the fact that President Trump and the Israelis took this action, what they see as a humanitarian intervention to overthrow this regime, because the regime was so repressive. We saw just weeks ago that it slaughtered more than 30,000 innocent protesters. And so what they see and what they feel is the guys with the guns who have been shooting them for 47 years are now being shot back at. That's how they feel. That's the overwhelming sensation

that we get from the streets of Iran that finally somebody has come to our aid and is hitting the bad guys. So the president of the United States has been pretty clear that he's not in the business of regime change. He's saying that the Iranian people have to rise up

and there's some reporting that they're working with Kurds somewhat on the U.S. and Israeli side to try to build them up. But do you believe that, you know, we're not seeing mass protests right now. We're not seeing what would look like the people taking that opportunity. Am I missing something or is there a context that matters? I think the important context, Chris, is timing.

I think that the people of Iran have proven that they're not asking for their freedom or their country back on a silver platter. You covered it extensively. In January, they went out in their millions and more than 30,000 gave their lives. for freedom. So I think that the people of Iran have proven that they're willing to fight for it, just like, you know, the American founding fathers who fought for the freedom of the United States. The people of Iran, too, are willing to go to the streets. They're willing to give their lives for their liberty. But I think that they're quite clever about the timing of it. They're not going

to go to the streets on any given day if they're going to face another massacre. So I think they're waiting, they're preparing, they're getting ready for the final battle, Prince Rezapain-Lavi, who called the people into the streets on January 8th and 9th has told them, for now, stay home, take care of yourselves, make the necessary preparations. And when the regime's repressive apparatus has been sufficiently weakened, then it will be time to go back to the streets. And that's what's been the most interesting development of the past few days, Chris, has been the Israeli strikes and the continued strikes on the regime's besiege, which are basically street thugs who patrol.

They have checkpoints where they harass women for not covering their hair. They beat innocent bystanders. They prevent people from going to protests. So with those street thugs now being directly targeted today, with Ali Larry Johnny, the person who was directly responsible for the January 8th and 9th massacre being eliminated, we're getting closer and closer to that point. So the president is right.

At the end of the day, the people of Iran will have to be the boots on the ground. They will have to rise up and take their country back. back, I think that they're waiting for the right moment to do so. And I do think that that moment is approaching. I'll talk to you about the role of the prince and your role by extension and what you believe is to come and why he wants to do that and why he's right to do that. But in terms of thinking through where we are, so you're saying they're waiting for their moment, there's organizing, there's activity going on. Okay, good. Which is the next question, do they have a realistic chance, or do you have to pin hope on someone within the IRGC or the military saying,

okay, we want to be part of the future, we're going to leave the regime behind? And would you trust that? Well, it's an excellent question. And indeed, I know we'll talk more about the prince and his vision later, but your question is a key part of how he sees the future and what he's actively working on. It's always been one of national amnesty. of avoiding the mistakes of transitions and regime change in our region in the past, for example, the disastrous debathification process that we saw in Iraq, where the armed forces, the Republican Guard, the Ba'ath Party members were just really in the first days of the fall of the Saddam regime were all sent home.

You send home all the guys with guns, and those guys come back in a few days, and they start to cause problems for you. So the transition plan that the Prince and our team have put together, is based on learning from mistakes from the past and ensuring that we don't repeat them. So he's called actively and repeatedly to members of the armed forces to defect, to join the people. We saw in January and we continued to see actually from the body

of the armed forces, be it the police, even the IRGC, the besiege, people refusing to show up to work, refusing to come into the streets and shoot their neighbors or their friends who are protesting. And I do believe that going forward, especially as more and more of the regime sort of arch criminals are eliminated, you will see an opening for some senior leaders who say, I don't want to go down with the sinking ship,

and I want to be part of the future Iran. And if they're willing to do that, the princess said openly and repeatedly that they would be welcome to do so. Now, those whose hands are bloodied with the Iranian people's blood will have to pay, not in kangaroo courts, but in legitimate, transparent courts before the Iranian people, for the crimes that they've committed. But there absolutely is an opening

for those within the regime who want to leave to come and be a part of the future Iran. And the goal of the transition that is the Princeton divisions it is stability and ensuring that those who want to be part of the solution can be. But the time to make that choice is limited. That choice is not one that lasts for weeks and months.

They really have to make an ethical, moral, and national decision to decide that they're with the people and not with the regime. And to remind, or, maybe introduce people to the reality. This regime is not organic to the country. What does that mean? When the Shah and the prince and his father,

when that regime was deposed, these came in as insurgents. They are not organic to Iran. What does that mean and why does it matter? That's exactly right. I mean, we talk so here's an example. talk so much about the IRGC, this terrorist organization that operates as a parallel military infrastructure in Iran. It doesn't even have the word Iran in its name. It's not the Iranian

Revolutionary Guard Corps. It's the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. From its very first days, this regime tried to, we're on the cusp of No Rus, the Iranian New Year. One of the first things that Khomeini, the first supreme leader of this regime trying to do was ban the celebration of Noruz, an Iranian cultural herald. that has gone back 2,500 years that transcends all Iranian religions, Iranian Muslims, Christian Jews, or Oastrians, atheists all celebrated. But they viewed that. They viewed Iranian national identity and heritage

as being in profound contradiction with their revolution. For them, it was not the Iranian Revolution. It was the Islamic Revolution, and they didn't see themselves as being bound to Iran's borders. In fact, in the constitution of this regime, The regime and its officials are commanded to export the revolution. They see themselves as being the representatives of God on earth. They're not bound to Iran.

In fact, they are commanded to try to overthrow neighboring governments and expand their revolution to those countries. So you're exactly right. It's not organic to Iran. And that's why people view it really as an occupying force. This is a very dark, dark parenthood. Right. In what is a beautiful history of Iran, which has spent 2,500 years. It's Iran, as you know well, as a diverse country. And it's been a nation state for 2,500 years, unlike many countries in the Middle East, which were pretty much drawn up in the aftermath of the fall of the Ottoman Empire by the Brits and the French. I mean, Iran has existed as one nation with remarkable and beautiful diversity. And they've all been held together by their Iranian national identity. And that's what we're seeing a resurgence of now in the face of this regime. Jim. Support comes from the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Why? Because that doesn't mean that they're

anti-religion. That means that they are pro-freedom. And that's the way our country works. We're a secular society. You can't have the government tell you what to believe. The First Amendment is not just about press. It's not just about protest, okay? You have the establishment clause in there. And that means that there is a clear line in our constitution between church and state. No faith gets to lead. We are not a theocracy. So how do we keep that from happening? When you look at these Christian nationalists and these fringe movements on the right, you need an advocate. The freedom from Religion Foundation is that advocate. They exist to enforce the boundary between church and state, schools, courts, government.

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are available both in-store and online, though some may vary. Freedom's. So let's flip it now. And the concern would be you've had two generations of regime. The country is not as you remember it anymore. And while there are many people who oppose this regime, it's not all of them. It may not even be a majority. You've got 90 million people. The regime has a lot of support. They've been in the streets also. And there's no guarantee that if the regime is taken out, it is replaced by something resembling a democracy. Well, I would disagree that it may not be a majority. I think it's an overwhelming majority of Iranians who are against this regime. Of course, it has some supporters, as you say, it's a huge country, 90 million people, even five or 10 percent, let's say, if this regime has

supported, it's nine million people. It's a lot of people that we're talking about. And that's why the prince's narrative of national reconciliation is so important. The Iran that he's fighting for, the vision that he has, is one that in the future Iran, those citizens would be able to live peacefully, as long as they are not taking up arms or trying to cause chaos or harass or attack their fellow citizens. So if they want to go in the future of Iran and vote for some religious, personal religious party, they'll be well within their rights to do so. It's only within a national democratic framework that all Iranians can live in peace and in coexistence. And I do think that after 47 years of brutal dictatorship and also brutal theocratic dictatorship,

even the most pious of Iranians recognize that religious government is not the way to go. And that may be surprising for some people to hear about a country in the Middle East. But we have some of the most well-known clerics in Iran. There's a gentleman by the name of Mollavi Abdul-Hamid. He leads the Sunni Islamic community in Iran. Iran's, as you well know, a majority Shiite country when it comes with Islamic population. But this cleric in the Sistanan province commands millions of supporters. And he now openly talks about the importance of secular governance.

He effectively backed the prince's call for action on January 8th and 9th. So even among the pious, even among those who believe in the Islamic faith, in fact, perhaps especially among them, because they see what damage has been done to their faith by a theocratic dictatorship that has forced political Islam on people, they recognize that the solution to the future is secular democracy. And I think that that's when that the vast majority of Iranians are behind. I think, again, they've proven it time and time again when they come to the state. streets. The fear of Islamism, as opposed to of Islam, which is a distinction we're still struggling with in the West, certainly in America, our current president who's helping you outwardly and inwardly was quoted as saying Islam hates us. And while it may not be a zealot theocracy, sympathetic population, it is overwhelmingly Muslim. And there is a concern that that

leads you in one direction. You can't find me a state that is the majority Muslim, that is a democracy and that doesn't have any of the problems that go along with Islamism. Why shouldn't that be a concern in Iran? I think it's because they've had it effectively. Iranians have had this quite literally, and it's terrible to say, had that beaten out of them over the past 47 years, they have literally been beaten in the streets. Women have been beaten every single day for 47 years for refusing to cover their hair. Men have been beaten for showing their legs in public for wearing shorts instead of long pants.

So Iranians have been forced to suffer through four decades, nearly five decades, of Islamism. And they've paid the price for it. And so they know the value, even if they weren't alive prior to revolution, they make a very simple comparison and see what the lives of their parents were like before and what their lives are now.

And they clearly say, I want that. I want to be free. I want to be able to be a citizen of a country where I feel respected, where I feel I'm treated with dignity. And that's what's been lost for the past 47 years. But just a brief comment on the demography of Iran. It's very interesting to know, and likely, again, because of theocratic nature of this regime, it may not even be fair to say in the future that Iran is a majority Muslim country. We are singing huge swaths of the country go towards.

different religions, there's been a huge rise in atheism. It is reported in some circles that the fastest pace of growth of Christianity anywhere in the world is in Iran. There are hundreds of underground churches. Unfortunately, pastors and secret worshippers are repeatedly, and on a daily basis, arrested. Some are even killed for the crime of so-called apostasy, according to the Islamic Republic. So we see a huge number of increasing Christians. There's, of course, still a Jewish population in Iran, many turning to the pre-Islamic faith of Zoroastrianism. The Baha'i faith continues to be heavily persecuted. So I think after this many years of religious discrimination, the future of free Iran will really have a flourishing of so many faiths. And once again,

our hope is that those people, those citizens of the country, irrespective of their faith, will be able to live side by side in peace. It is a unique, well, I think it's unique on one level because nobody ever gets asked, especially in that region, about, you know, if you were to go to Israel, for example, people aren't walking around celebrating Judaism and saying, hi, I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew. They are Israeli. They see this as territorial and ethnic and cultural. And yes, there's a religious component, but they're not the most religious society, although they do have their own problem with the Hasidum. and their encroachment on the power structure there. Similarly, in Iran, you know, Cameron's not making this up.

Six in ten in the most recent surveys, and remember how risky it is to admit what they're about to admit. They say, I don't identify as Muslim anymore. That's how I was brought up, but that's not how I see myself. Think about saying that when you know this regime will kill you. So it's a pretty honest number. So six out of ten, so that is very unique. and it is a pushback against the concerns,

even if they're ignorant ones in the West, about Muslim equaling extremism. So that is interesting. So now we go to the Prince, and you have three levels of challenge there. The first one is, again, giving voice to what that population was, even in the 70s and 80s,

one of the challenges for the Prince to overcome is, he's a little friendly with the West. This guy's a little friendly with his. He's a little too friendly with America. And that is a real point of opposition for the prince. And does that speak to the big concern, which is, oh, you guys are anti-Western? Well, it's interesting, Chris, as I said at the beginning, it's shocking press for some people to understand how Iranians view this current military intervention against the regime.

It also may be shocking for your viewers to realize, I think, how so many Iranians think about the United States and think about Israel. After 47 years of anti-American, anti-Israel propaganda, I mean, students, everyday people in Iran are forced every day to go to school or at work in Chen, death to America, death to Israel, death to the Shah, for example. And it's really been those three things which have made a resurgence in recent years. I would say, I don't know if there's polling about this, but probably there is no country in the Middle East where the United States and Israel are so popular as it is in Iran. And I think that's for multiple reasons. The first of which is those have been the two countries who have been willing to stand up to this regime. You don't see, for example, I don't know, the United Kingdom or France being particularly popular in Iran. Maybe there's a neutral view of them.

But that's because Kier Stomer or Emmanuel Macron have not taken a particularly strong position against the Islamic Republic. If anything, they've been the main advocates of appeasing this regime. So there's something to be said for the fact that Americans and Israelis have so consistently stood up to this regime that the people say, we like that. Those guys are on our side. In fact, in the recent protests we've had in Iran, we see people painting over street signs and renaming them, you know, Donald Trump Street or B.B. Netanyahu Avenue. because they appreciate the fact that somebody's finally turning and hitting back at the people who've been hitting them for so long. So maybe in some circles, and maybe in the intellectual circles somewhere in Iran, but I really don't think that that's a concern.

I was just talking to a family friend the other day who was finally at some personal risk, able to escape Iran over the border and come out and was tended to be a left-leaning person in Iran. and you know kind of the guy who you know has read all the books and knows everything very erudite very sophisticated prided himself on his on his liberalism and said i was so wrong because for so for so many years i thought that the americans and the israelis were with their pressure on the regime were helping it stay in power and we had to do some sort of reform and i was so wrong what i've seen what i saw that they did to our countrymen on january 8th and 9th when they lost when they attached military-style weapons on the top of cars and just slaughter people,

the only way you can take that out is with the military intervention that we're seeing right now. So that may have been a concern at some time, Chris, but at this point, I frankly don't think it is, and I think people appreciate the fact that the prince, having lived for the past 47 years in exile, appreciates the Western values. And if anything, they're also inherently Iranian, ancient Iranians. values of human rights, of democracy, and they view him as someone who can bring those back to Iran. Support comes from Lisa, okay? Now, I dig it. Why? Blends elegance and precision. I dig it. Why?

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Go to Lisa.com and you will get an extra 50 bucks off if you use the promo code Cuomo, okay? Exclusive for my listeners. So, L-E-E-E-S-A.com promo code Cuomo plus an extra 50 off. Not bad, right? And show me some love. Tell them after checkout. I heard about you from Cuomo. The attack that hit the school and killed all the schoolgirls, how damaging is that to the cause of military intervention?

What is your level of concern that right now a lot of innocent people are being killed in Tehran because that's the nature of war and that's the nature of a regime that insinuates itself among the communities? What is your concern there? It's absolutely heartbreaking. It's devastating to see innocent lives taken like that. But there's a few things to say. The first of which is, as you said, unfortunately, the regime has dragged us to this point of conflict. In fact, the prince has for years said it.

He's advocated for so long against military intervention. He said, if you continue to appease this regime, if we do not help the people of Iran rise up and overthrow the Islamic Republic, we will be forced into a situation of war. This regime, with its nuclear blackmail, with its threats to its neighbors, is going to drag America and the region to conflict. And that's exactly what we saw happen. And unfortunately, it leads sometimes to tragedies like that.

It's devastating, but that's where the Islamic Republic has brought us in. And you're also exactly right that the Islamic Republic is, in fact, trying to make things like this happen. And so many photos and videos have come out of Basij, IRGC, police trucks in hospitals, in schools, in girls' schools. That's where they're hiding their forces. They're almost inviting these attacks. And I have to give credit and appreciate the president and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who, from everything that we've seen, are taking as much caution as possible to avoid civilian casualties. it's really the regime that is inviting this and trying to have its own innocent civilians

use as human shields and cause more chaos. But as you said, let's not forget that it was the regime that dragged us here in the first place. What do you say to Americans who are pro-Iranian freedom but see Israel as being an oppressor? And that now America has been duped by Israel. And even though they are bombing a regime, which they will believe is bad, This is still bad that they're doing it because they are hurting the people. Is that a misguided sympathy? It's misguided.

And I would urge anyone who thinks that way not to think about everything through your own narrow political perspective. Don't think about Iran just through the perspective of Israel. Think about it if you want from your own perspective as an American. Or if you want, for a second, put yourself in the shoes of an Iranian who says, as I've described, that they've been jailed, they've been tortured, they've been raped for 47 years, and somebody is intervening to help. And it's been only two countries, we have to be honest, that have stood up to this regime. And that's been Israel, and that's been the United States. So anyone is welcome, of course, to have their own view of Israel and its policies. I think the Iranian people's view

is positive because it's come in and it's helped them in their time of need. When they were being slaughtered, only two countries stood up and said, that's not right, we want to help these people. And so if they have some negative views of Israel or bias towards Israel, try and put that aside and try and think besides the fact that I think that they're wrong, but try and think about it just from the Iranian people's perspective and what it means to them and why they've welcomed this intervention. Then secondly, is think about it if you want just as an American. Imagine what a free Iran would mean.

Imagine what an end to all these decades of terrorism against the United States. I saw Secretary Rice the other day say on a podcast, something between 70 and 75 percent of the American soldiers who were killed in Iraq, likely were killed by IEDs that can be traced back to the Islamic Republic. So this regime is not just waged war on the people of Iran. It's waged war on the United States for 47 years. Everyone will remember the very second thing it did after it changed the age. of marriage for young girls in Iran to nine years old. It took American diplomats hostage at the

embassy for 44 days. It's been waging this for ever since it came to power. Yeah, and killed a bunch of U.S. troops in another country in Lebanon. They were able to find a way to insinuate themselves and do what they do best or worst, which is export terror. The second level of pushback to the prince is he's a prince. And if they're going to move away from this regime, and towards democracy, why would they stop at monarchy? It is a reminder of a past that was maybe not seen as toxic as the regime, but was also something that was scrutinized. So three things to say there, Chris. The first of which is Iran has had a history of 2,500 years of monarchy. So it's something very familiar, intimately familiar to Iranians. And it's a desire of many people on the streets

across the country. One of the most common slogans we heard in the protest was Javi Shah or Long Live the King. The second thing to say is that there is no inherent contradiction between monarchy and democracy, particularly constitutional monarchy. You look at the United Kingdom, you look at Japan, you look at Spain, you look at Belgium, many of the most advanced democracies in the world, in fact, are all constitutional monarchies. It's not where you have a monarch making decisions about date-to-day policies, but rather a symbol of national unity, and particularly in a country like Iran, which is so diverse and which has had the institution for so long, that may be of value. But that's up to the people to decide. And that leads me to the third point, which is the prince

himself is not advocating necessarily for the return of monarchy. What he is advocating for is a process. And what he is offered is his leadership in the transitional period to free and fair elections in which the people of Iran will be able to go to the ballot box and decide, first and foremost, do they want a constitutional monarchy, as we see in the United Kingdom or Spain or Japan again, or do they want a republic? As you see in the United States or France or Germany, that will be the Iranian people's sovereign right to make. The last level of pushback is the prince wasn't in power, his father was. But the father had a controversial reputation as well. They were allegations of human rights abuse. He had his own thug squad, the scanza, and that that was wrong too. That's how the

regime had a chance to get in because the people were so disgusted by the Shah. Is that fair criticism? I don't think that's a fair description. Look, it goes without saying that any government, and any regime, any leader is not above critique. Mistakes are not something that only opponents make. But I think it's very fair to say that the people of Iran overwhelmingly, particularly the youth, those who didn't live at that time, have very fond appreciation for both the late Shah and Reza Shah, was the founder of the Pan-Havid dynasty.

One of the most common slogans we hear is, Reza Shah, bless your soul. people are chanting, they're tattooing the face of the late Shah or Reza Shah or their signatures on their trucks, on their bodies, on elsewhere, because they viewed the Laid Shah and Reza Shah as synonymous with progress, with Iranian national identity, that what they did was for the betterment of the country. And that's why you see such high support for the prince and for his family across Iran and particularly among the youth. Support comes from cowboy colostrum.

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That's A-R-E-Y.com. And use the code Cuomo, and you'll be all set. And when they ask, tell them, Cuomo sent me. Lebanon, Hezbollah. It is brutal. It is bloody. and it's probably going to be a protracted conflict. Is there a concern that Iran,

the situation there may become less kinetic? They're going to come forward and say, we want to negotiate, okay, because they're getting pounded. And America has an interest in doing that because of the Strait of Hormuz. And they're concerned that it takes very little to be very disruptive there.

So that quiets down, and then the focus will shift to Hezbozbo's, And again, Americans will ask themselves, why do we care about this? Why would we be involved? Bad enough, we were involved in Iran with a so-called non-interventionist president. And now Lebanon, Hezbollah, really? What do they need to know? All I can say about that is two things.

Is the way to end the constant crisis and worry over the Strait of Hormuz is for this regime to finally be gone. We talked about it's hostage taking. it's now trying to take the Strait of Hormuz hostage. When this regime is gone, Iran won't be synonymous with hostage taking. It'll be synonymous as it once was with peaceful relations, with prospering the Middle East, with ensuring that it can work with its regional partners, the Saudis, the Israelis, and others.

And as it relates to Lebanon, the reason that Lebanon is in this catastrophic state that it is today is because of the regime in Iran. Hezbollah literally the party of God, as they call it, was created by the Islamic Republic to subvert Lebanese sovereignty, to build a state within a state, to terrorize the Lebanese people, and take that country hostage. And its bills have been paid by the regime in Iran

at the expense of the Iranian people for the past 47 years. So the way to end the conflict and the crisis in Lebanon, along with the one in Yemen, along with the one in Iraq, all lead through Iran. And when the regime in Iran is no longer there to pay the bills for these terrorist groups, and Iran can be a factor for stability, those crises will immediately fall by the wayside.

Critics say, hey, you know, this was a revolution in 79 that led to the regime coming in. This was what the people wanted. They were upset at the Shah. They thought he was too Western, too oppressive, and there was a whole list of complaints, and it wasn't the Scanza.

It was Savak, S.A. V-A-K was what was identified as his kind of thug squad, and that this was what the people wanted. So who is America to come in there and mess with what their own history dictated? Well, the people of Iran have been the ones fighting this fight. They're not asking America to fight their fight for them. They gave, as we discussed earlier, 30,000 young lives in the fight for freedom. And what they're asking for is help. They're not asking America or Israel or any country.

to determine their future for them. They're fighting for their own future. They're fighting to take their country back to determine their own path going forward, but they're asking for help in that fight, just like Americans had the help of Lafayette and the French in the fight for their independence and their revolution. Iranians, too, are looking for fights,

and they're thankful that they have the friendship and the support of the United States and Israel in their fight. Is it unfair to compare the Ayatollah to the Shah in terms of being a different flavor of the same ice cream? It's absolutely unfair. Those two could not be further from the truth. In fact, so many of the claims made about the Savak and what happened during the reign of the Shah,

the Islamic Republic itself, in fact, when it came to power, commissioned a study by a gentleman called Emory to look into what they claimed with the mass crimes of the Shah. And they found out themselves that so many of the claimed tens of thousands of political prisoners did not even exist. They could only find several hundred people who had been killed during the reign of the Shah. More than half of them were armed militants who had been killed during shootouts with police. They had taken guns, bombs, approached police or government offices firing.

And so, of course, in any situation, the police would shoot back. So the comparison is not one that is fair. It's not accurate. And I think, again, you see on the streets of Iran the people making the judgment when they chant, long live the Shah. They're answering that very question. And the prince is willing to go back to Iran, even though it will be a very volatile situation for a very long time. And for the regime and its sympathizers, life is cheap and there's big bloodlust. That is a huge risk he would be taking.

Well, he's dedicated his life to Iran. the service of his people, knowing that we would get to this moment. And in fact, he said in an interview with an Iranian, a Persian-language television station beaming into Iran just two days ago, that I'm not only preparing to come back to Iran, I'm preparing and prepared to come back to Iran, even before this regime ultimately collapses to lead the final battle against this regime. So he's given his life to this cause. He's dedicated 47 years in exile to fight for freedom, And he will be back, and he's willing to give even his life, as we all are in this cause. Cameron, thank you very much for the perspective and the analysis and the information about the Prince.

I absolutely welcome the cause of freedom at the determination of the Iranian people. And I hope we get to see it soon. I hope so, too. Thank you for your time, Chris. Really interesting to think about that, that you're so desperate for better, that you're willing to have your home bombed and that you are grateful to America, to Israel is the only two to step up and want to do something about this. But is it enough? And is it worth it for America? And will it really lead to something better? Those are very vexing questions, especially when you've got to balance what we're doing abroad with all we're not doing at home. These are tough, but it's easy to have sympathy.

and maybe we should for a people yearning for freedom. And America did have a hand in destabilizing the Shah's rule in the late 70s. Sure, they had helped install him. They had fought to keep him, but they were also part of the destabilization. And that's why there was some animus towards America. Is that really over? I mean, these are tough questions. It would be a real political suicide mission.

for this administration to create change in Iran that winds up leading to something worse than what we have there right now. That's tough to imagine, but crazier things have happened. Who had President Trump bombing Iran on their bingo card? Not me. Thank you for subscribing and following. Thank you for being with us here at the Chris Cuomo Project. And looking at YouTube for the subscription that works for you.

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