Israel's retaliatory operation deep inside Iranian territory, carried out in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' missile attack on Israel, has shown that after four decades of rule, billions of dollars spent, and years of bluster and boasting, the Islamic Republic has left Iran's skies defenseless against the air force of a country far smaller and far less populous than Iran.

The destruction of the Islamic Republic's radar systems, air defenses, and missile facilities is, in effect, a humiliation of the armed forces of a country whose air force and air defenses were once the envy of the region. Iran's air power before the catastrophe of 1979 was the product of a sound economic and foreign policy that placed peace through strength at the center of its conduct. Today's disgrace and misery, by contrast, are the result of four decades of the Islamic Republic's warmongering and bluster, compounded by its corruption and economic incompetence — a situation in which the era of stoking conflict through proxy terrorists is drawing to a close, and Khamenei is moving step by step closer to a direct war that he cannot win; a war that is neither national nor patriotic.

The Iranian people know that the Islamic Republic is a mortal threat to the welfare, dignity, and freedom of Iranians, and to the very existence and territorial integrity of Iran. As long as the Islamic Republic exists, the threat of war exists, and it will grow greater and more dangerous with every passing day. The solution is to overthrow this anti-national regime and to restore a national government in Iran grounded in human rights, democracy, and the national interest.

My message to the military and security forces is clear: sooner or later, the great Iranian nation will once again take to the streets to reclaim Iran, just as it did in December 2017, November 2019, and the Mahsa uprising. On that day, if not for human dignity and the national interest, then for the sake of your own future and that of your families, stand with the nation — because the Islamic Republic's legacy is misery for Iran, and death and humiliation for you, whereas our national revolution will bring prosperity and life to all Iranians.

Long live Iran,
Reza Pahlavi