TEHRAN – On June 16th, an X user shared an AI-generated picture of the deposed Shah's son, Reza Pahlavi, seated on a throne, and said, "He will bring Iran freedom and prosperity!" His father, Mohammad Reza Shah, fled Iran twice during his reign: first, when the MI6 and CIA were conspiring to overthrow the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mosaddegh in 1953, and a second time, when he admitted hearing "the voice" of the people's revolution in January 1979.

The founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza Khan, fared no better. He was expelled from the country by Allied forces who, upon invading Iran in 1941, began seizing the Iranian people’s food supplies. British and soviet forces created a devastating famine that contributed to the deaths of approximately 3 to 4 million Iranians.

Yet in 2025, as the X user talked about what she called the “golden” days of the Pahlavi era, all that dark and painful history was brushed aside. She called on the Iranian people to join hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is a convicted war criminal, and set off riots across Iran while Israel bombed the country. In another post, she shared a picture of the deposed Shah's granddaughter, asking if people wouldn't want such a "pretty princess" to become their future queen. The deposed Shah's granddaughter does not speak Persian. Her social media is filled with pictures taken at beaches, clubs, and luxury villas.

The replies to the user’s posts were divided into two distinct groups. Accounts similar to the user’s praised her for her “courage” and “wisdom.” They, too, were advocating for the return of the Pahlavi family and had reached their peak activity during the 12 days of Israel’s aggression against Iran. The original user and the majority of these supporters had been mostly inactive in previous months.

The other group of responders reacted with disbelief, and even profanities. They wrote that Israel did not care who governs Iran; they wanted the country in pieces, with or without the Islamic Republic. Some accused the user of being an Israeli agent in disguise. "How can you stand alongside someone that has killed thousands of kids Palestinian children wishes to do the same to your country? How do you even call yourself an Iranian?” one person replied. It has now become clear that the user asking Iranians to back Israeli attacks against their soil was not only non-Iranian but probably not even human.

50 inauthentic X profiles conducted an AI-enabled influence operation in harmony with Israel’s war on Iran back in June, to incite Iranian audiences to revolt against their government, according to research by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab. The researchers concluded that the operation was directly conducted by an unidentified agency of the Israeli regime, or a subcontractor working under its close supervision. These accounts promoted Reza Pahlavi as a political alternative to Iran's current leadership.

The Tehran Times understands that the United States and certain European countries have funded similar operations, particularly since the fall of 2022, calling for people to rise against the Iranian government. The suggested alternatives, however, are not always the same. Some promote the notorious terrorist group, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization, as an alternative. A few other names are also circulated, and many foreign-funded operations advocate for the separation of various Iranian provinces.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life in Iran, there is little discussion of the Western-based opposition, their bellicose calls, or their laconic plans for the country's "future." While the recent revelations did not alter this general lack of attention in daily life, they did create waves of anger and mockery on social media. In recent days, Iranians took to platforms like X and Instagram to ask the opposition "why they keep fooling themselves and the Westerners."

“I can’t believe Israel and the West are still trying to sell us these people,” said a man in his early 20s in an Instagram story. He has a comedy page with over 40,000 followers. In another story containing what appeared to be an explanation of his earlier remarks, the young man said he does not “care about the Islamic Republic” but would never topple the government for a “bunch of traitors that beg others to attack their people.”

Many Iranian opposition figures residing in the West backed Israel’s war against Iran, calling it a chance to “break free.” This made them even more unpopular, as Iranians inside Iran found it difficult to resonate with the message while fearing for themselves and their loved ones during Israeli and U.S. bombardments.

“Western policymakers continue to rely on data and narratives from the opposition, which has been isolated from Iranian society for years and is incapable of understanding the country's social realities,” wrote Fars News Agency in a commentary discussing the recent saga. “But the more time passes, the more it becomes evident that the opposition truly has nothing. They lack backing in Iran and don't even want to fight for what they believe in. They use Western funds to attain luxurious positions and use bots to spew disinformation.”