Belgian foreign minister cautious on inviting Prince Reza Pahlavi to parliament

Maxime Prévot, Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, has taken a cautious position on the proposal to invite Prince Reza Pahlavi to the country's Chamber of Representatives. The Belga news agency reported the position on Tuesday, 20 October 2026; it is the Belgian Foreign Ministry's answer to a parliamentary question about the invitation.

The details of the Belgian foreign minister's reasoning, and whether he opposed the invitation or only called for further study, had not been fully published at the time of this report. The final decision on the invitation rests with the Bureau of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.

Reformist Movement proposal to invite the Prince

The proposal to invite Prince Reza Pahlavi was made by Georges-Louis Bouchez, leader of the liberal Reformist Movement (MR) party. It was discussed on Wednesday, 14 October, at a meeting of the presidents of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, but because the matter was deemed sensitive, it was decided to seek the Foreign Ministry's view before any action.

Bouchez met Prince Reza Pahlavi in Paris this summer and said Belgian diplomacy should engage with him. His party has also called for the expulsion of the Islamic Republic's ambassador, the severing of relations with that government, and the cancellation of the prisoner transfer treaty between Belgium and the Islamic Republic, the treaty that earlier opened the way to the release of Assadollah Assadi, the Islamic Republic diplomat convicted in the bomb plot case.

The Prince's speech at the Belgian Royal Military Academy

The Foreign Ministry's cautious position comes as Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken had earlier announced that Prince Reza Pahlavi would speak on the Middle East at the Belgian Royal Military Academy on Friday, 6 November. In response, the Prince thanked the Belgian defence minister and said his speech would focus on the Islamic Republic's threat to European security.

Prince Reza Pahlavi had also previously met representatives of several Belgian parties in the Belgian parliament building in February–March 2023. His renewed presence in Brussels, amid the war and the wave of executions in Iran, again puts to the Belgian government the question of how far it is willing to hold formal talks with the leader of the Islamic Republic's opposition.

Belgium's foreign minister is cautious about inviting Prince Reza Pahlavi to parliament, while the defence minister of the same government has invited him to speak at the Royal Military Academy.