Prince Reza Pahlavi at Toronto's Cyrus the Great 2 conference: the Islamic Republic is rotting from within

Prince Reza Pahlavi's official YouTube channel has published the video of his speech at the "Cyrus the Great 2" conference in Toronto. Speaking at the conference, held on Saturday 19 September 2026 at Meridian Hall in Toronto before thousands of Iranian Canadians, Prince Reza Pahlavi said the struggle against the Islamic Republic has reached a new phase, in which the government is being weakened from within.

Prince Reza Pahlavi was the keynote speaker at the conference, organised by the Cyrus the Great Cultural and Humanitarian Organization. Ahead of the event, the organisers had announced attendance of more than 3,000 people. Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, was also among the speakers.

Defections within the Islamic Republic's structure

Prince Reza Pahlavi said a number of officials in the Islamic Republic's military and civilian branches are quietly breaking away from the government, and he called this period a phase of active defection; according to him, many of these people have stayed in their posts but no longer carry out their former duties.

He added that, since the Dey uprising, the opponents of the Islamic Republic have rebuilt themselves, adapted their tactics to the new conditions and expanded their networks inside Iran. Reviewing a decade of protest, from the Cyrus Day gatherings in 2016 and the protests of December 2017 to November 2019 and the 2022 uprising after the death of Mahsa Amini, Prince Reza Pahlavi stressed that a change of tactics does not mean a change of goal, and that the goal remains ending the Islamic Republic.

Four principles for cooperation among all forces

Prince Reza Pahlavi called on republicans, constitutional monarchists and Iranians of all political persuasions to cooperate on the basis of four principles: the territorial integrity of Iran, the separation of religion from government, individual freedoms and equality of all before the law, and the people's right to choose their future political system in a free and fair election.

He said the decentralised networks that have taken root in Iranian society show that the opposition is organised and that the Islamic Republic's security apparatus is worried about them. At the same time, Prince Reza Pahlavi warned his supporters not to assume that the collapse of the Islamic Republic is certain or imminent, calling it a complex, multi-stage process. His central message was that the enemy is rotting and hollowing out from within.

Pierre Poilievre's remarks

Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, called at the conference for closer scrutiny of people linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) when they enter Canada, for continued targeted sanctions and for preventing the transfer of assets linked to the Islamic Republic to Canada. Poilievre had earlier, in July–August 2026, invited Prince Reza Pahlavi to visit Canada.

In Toronto, Prince Reza Pahlavi said the Islamic Republic has entered a phase of active defection from within.