[11] In 1981, it was reported that he had dropped out of the program and continued his studies privately with Iranian professors, with a focus on Persian culture and history, Islamic philosophy, and oil in Iran.

Still, he chose to remain silent and made no reaction when President Abolhassan Banisadr was deposed, and the assassination of tens of officials including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti took place in June.

[16] In 1982, Yaakov Nimrodi told BBC in a radio interview that along with Adolph Schwimmer and Adnan Khashoggi, he was involved with Pahlavi and Gen. Said Razvani to scheme a coup d'état and install him in Iran.

[17] According to Samuel Segev, the plan had the approval of both the CIA and the Israeli cabinet, but it was abandoned when Menachem Begin resigned in 1983 and the new leadership "thought Israel should not be involved in a new adventure".

[22] In February 2011, after violence erupted in Tehran, Pahlavi said that Iran's youth were determined to get rid of an authoritarian government tainted by corruption and misrule in the hope of installing a democracy.

"[24] In a presentation at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in December 2018, Pahlavi called for the non-military support of those in Iran who were trying to replace the Islamist regime with a secular democracy.

[25] During anti-government demonstrations in Iran in 2022 following the Abadan building collapse, Pahlavi predicted that the Islamic regime would collapse in the near future as events such as the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, bans on importing foreign COVID-19 vaccines and tests into the country and rising food prices had led to unnecessary deaths and would provoke further anger at government mismanagement from the population.

He also urged members of the Iranian armed forces who oppose the Islamic Republic but work for the government to engage in peaceful disruption and called for a coordinated front against the regime.

"[26] In a February 2023 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Pahlavi called on the British and European governments to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arguing such a move would be "pulling out the biggest tooth the regime has."

In the interview, he also argued his belief that the Islamic Republic was more likely to fall in the near future than it had been in previous decades as Iranian reformists had switched tactics to wanting to completely overthrow the regime as opposed to changing it.

He acknowledged many Iranian dissidents wanted him to play a central role in creating a new government but reiterated that he would leave it to the people of Iran on whether to restore the throne and that he would not run for political office if the regime fell.

Pahlavi also predicted that the greatest challenge for a new secular, liberal democratic Iran would be the question of controlling the military and seeking justice against officials in the regime.

He called for the right to Internet access to be restored to Iran to help communication between dissident movements and for non-violent tactics to be used in bringing down the Iranian regime.

[30][31][32] He also paid a condolence call to the bereaved Dee family at their home in the West Bank settlement of Efrat on Tuesday, after the deaths of sisters Maia and Rina and their mother Lucy in a deadly terror shooting during the Passover holiday.

[36] During 2017–18 Iranian protests, some videos on social media showed demonstrators chanting slogans in favor of Pahlavi's grandfather and calling for his return.

He also noted that a number of Iranian dissident activists and celebrities including Dariush Eghbali (who had been imprisoned under the Shah's rule), actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, actor Hamid Farrokhnezhad and Olympian Kimia Alizadeh have come out in support of Pahlavi being a figurehead to unite anti-regime movements.

Tehran based intellectual Khashayar Dayhimi opined "I believe that, if there was a referendum today and Reza Pahlavi was on the ballot, he'd easily win because people don't know anyone other than him.

[42] A 2013 survey of Iranian-Americans conducted by George Mason University's Center for Social Science Research found that 85% of respondents did not support any Iranian opposition groups or figures.

[43] In a recent attempt in 2023 to garner support for Reza Pahlavi as a representative for transition, a petition was created on the platform Change.org that has amassed over 460,000 signatures.

It seeks your friendship.”[49] In an essay for The Daily Telegraph, he called for the IRGC to be designated terror group by British government for its funding of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, as well as their suppression of Zan Zendegi Azadi.

[55][56][57] Bob Woodward wrote in 1986 that the Reagan administration authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to support and fund Iranian exiles, including Pahlavi.

[58] The Tower Commission report, published in 1987, also acknowledged that the CIA was behind this event[59] while a group in Paris calling itself 'Flag of Freedom' had taken responsibility for the act in September 1986.

[60] James Mann wrote in February 1989 that when he asked the CIA about whether they helped Pahlavi, they refused to comment, and a spokesperson of the agency told him, "We would not confirm nor deny an intelligence matter".

[63] However, in 2017 he told Jon Gambrell of the Associated Press: "My focus right now is on liberating Iran, and I will find any means that I can, without compromising the national interests and independence, with anyone who is willing to give us a hand, whether it is the U.S. or the Saudis or the Israelis or whomever it is.

"[64] Empress Farah According to a People article published in 1978, Pahlavi dated a "blond, blue-eyed Swedish model he met in Rome".

[68] In 1981, UPI reported that Pahlavi attended the elite Gueziro Club in Cairo to watch tennis and was occasionally seen in discotheques at hotels in the vicinity of the Nile.

[71] In 1991, District Judge Albert Vickers Bryan Jr. argued that Pahlavi "had little knowledge of how his estate's money was spent and could not be held personally accountable for employment agreements with servants", declaring the case dismissed.

[74] The court asked Ansari to provide a complete accounting of his money handling, but he alleged that the documents had been destroyed to prevent a potential seizure.