Rising Lion: Never Surrender
Introduction: Dark Currents Beneath the Ceasefire and the Dawn of Restoration
This is the third installment in our series, following “The Return of the Crown: The End of Iran’s Theocracy” published after Israel’s June 13, 2025 airstrike on Tehran, and “The Only Option: Why the West Must Facilitate the Restoration of Iran’s Shah” released on the eve of U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. As predicted in our previous analysis, the theocratic regime’s “philosopher-king” system has temporarily accepted a ceasefire under military pressure, but its ideological foundations remain unshaken, actually triggering an even more radical backlash.
On June 21, 2025, U.S. B-2 stealth strategic bombers precisely destroyed Iran’s core nuclear facilities, forcing Tehran’s regime to accept a U.S.-Qatar brokered ceasefire on June 24. However, this seemingly humiliating ceasefire has not extinguished their provocative ambitions, but rather ignited an even fiercer ideological counteroffensive. Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, defying reality, boldly declared that “the enemy has been defeated,” while the Revolutionary Guard continues to intensify its anti-Western narrative offensive. This perfectly validates the core argument of our previous articles—pure military strikes can only weaken their hard power but cannot shake the remarkably stable institutional foundations of the theocratic state.
I. The Ideological Infiltration War: Cross-Border Undercurrents of Flags and Discourse
On June 29, 2025, during the “Queer Liberation March” in New York City—a Pride event advocating anti-war and social justice—a remarkable scene unfolded: participants were seen waving Iranian flags while chanting radical slogans like “anti-imperialism” and “resist hegemony.” Related videos quickly went viral on Reddit’s r/ProtestFinderUSA forum, sparking widespread attention.
While this incident was not organized by mainstream Pride officials, the fact that Iranian flags and political slogans could infiltrate a LGBTQ+ rights event clearly demonstrates that Iran’s ideological offensive has successfully leveraged social media platforms and Western radical groups to conduct cross-border symbolic intervention. This phenomenon perfectly validates the core thesis of our previous articles—Iran’s theocratic regime’s real danger lies not in its “anti-Western” stance, but in its explicit policy of “exporting the Islamic Revolution.” Their discourse warfare has quietly crossed borders, deeply penetrating Western society, launching a covert battle for civilizational narrative dominance.
II. Trump’s Policy Shift and the Historic Maturation of Restoration Timing
The Trump administration’s Iran policy is undergoing a crucial transformation from tactical pressure to strategic regime change. On June 23, Trump explicitly called for “regime change” in Iran on his Truth Social platform; on June 29, he went further to declare that Iran’s regime “no longer has any future.” This policy stance aligns perfectly with the geopolitical landscape analyzed in our previous articles—U.S.-Russia understanding on Ukraine provides Trump with greater strategic space for Middle Eastern action.
At this critical historical juncture, His Royal Highness Reza Pahlavi’s advocated restoration plan of “separation of religion and state, national referendum” suddenly possesses unprecedented strategic feasibility and urgent necessity. As demonstrated in the second article of our series, monarchical restoration is not simply institutional revolution, but institutional evolution—through precise authority replacement (monarch replacing Supreme Leader), achieving a smooth transition from theocracy to secularism while maintaining the basic framework of existing political institutions.
According to exclusive reports from Kayhan London, an exile anti-government media outlet that has long monitored Iranian politics, several mid-level Iranian military officers have proactively contacted representatives of His Highness through third-party intermediaries to discuss specific pathways for regime transition. While we cannot independently verify the accuracy of these reports, if such secret military contacts do exist, it would mean the restoration movement has preliminarily established the technical possibility of a coup within Iran’s regime structure and built basic secret channels for communication with external forces.
III. Strategic Advantages of Institutional Transition: Why Restoration is the Only Viable Option
Trump administration’s explicit stance on “regime change” requires us to reexamine the feasibility of various alternative options. As thoroughly analyzed in our second article, why is Pahlavi dynasty restoration the only viable alternative?
First, Iran’s existing “philosopher-king” theocratic republican system possesses extraordinary stability. It successfully combines the legitimacy foundation of democratic institutions, the decision-making efficiency of centralized systems, and the spiritual appeal of religious authority. Any simple popular republic would be unable to resist theocratic restoration—religious forces could regain political dominance through elections, lacking transcendent authority to counter religious influence.
Second, monarchy possesses unique replacement value. Like the Supreme Leader, a monarch has supra-factional symbolic status and historical legitimacy to exercise final arbitration power. More importantly, this institutional transition can achieve the minimal change principle—maintaining the existing democratic system completely unchanged, merely replacing the theocratic core (Supreme Leader) with secular authority (monarch), while president, parliament, and judicial systems maintain their original operational modes.
Third, monarchy naturally possesses “anti-theocratic antibody” functions. Secular monarchy and religious theocracy form fundamental opposition; the monarch’s very existence negates the political dominance of religious leaders and provides institutional immunity against religious extremist restoration.
IV. Supporters’ Historical Mission: From Theoretical Advocacy to Practical Action
On June 18, 2025, His Highness issued an important political appeal through his X platform, solemnly emphasizing that “overthrowing theocratic despotism has become the historical duty of this era”; on June 23, His Highness formally released the “Iranian Democratic Transition Blueprint” in Paris, proposing a precise institutional design that maintains democratic political structures while replacing only the supreme authority.
This important political message triggered unprecedented dissemination enthusiasm within the global Persian-speaking community, with #FreeIran and #RezaPahlavi quickly becoming trending social media hashtags. Multiple exile media outlets and supporter organizations have reported that intelligence system insiders and mid-level military officers have publicly expressed support for the restoration movement.
At this critical historical moment, the core mission of supporter groups has shifted from theoretical advocacy to practical action:
- Continuously expand political influence: Through various media platforms and political channels, demonstrate to the international community the institutional rationality and practical feasibility of monarchical restoration;
- Maintain domestic and international momentum: Actively mobilize and fully support social media amplification, effectively maintaining domestic public opinion heat and overseas community cohesion;
- Secure government-level support: Fully leverage the political influence of host country governments to seek public support or preliminary contact with potential regime alternatives;
- Build international legitimacy foundation: Establish institutional connections with regional monarchies (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, etc.), forming a strategic vision of regional monarchical alliance.
Conclusion: The Historic Turning Point from Theoretical Advocacy to Practical Action
Iran’s theocratic regime’s stubborn provocative posture has not moderated despite suffering military devastation, but has further intensified the aggressiveness of its ideological export. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is steadily pushing the policy boundaries of “regime change,” with international geopolitical dynamics providing a rare strategic window for political transformation. Against this historical backdrop, secular monarchical restoration is no longer merely a theoretical option, but has entered the historical countdown phase.
As argued in our previous articles, the core of this transformation is not institutional revolution, but institutional evolution. From theocratic republic to constitutional monarchy, this is a precise institutional adjustment, not fundamental political reconstruction. Pahlavi dynasty restoration represents the return of institutional rationality—maintaining the strategic value of the “philosopher-king” model, eliminating theocratic drawbacks, achieving secular transition, and ensuring religious forces cannot regain power.
In this great transformation movement concerning Iran’s national destiny, each of our historical roles is:
- Firm ideological conviction: What we advocate is modern constitutional democratic order—secular monarchy that carries historical tradition, maintains national unity, and resists religious restoration;
- Steady and forceful advancement: Through community networks and media platforms, make key military forces and international political circles clearly recognize the practical feasibility of institutional alternatives;
- Perfect institutional design: Provide necessary legal basis, legitimacy blueprint, and operational institutional tools for smooth regime transition.
As His Highness solemnly declared: “Our goal is not to return to the past, but to make Iran once again a steadfast guardian within the world’s civilizational order.”
Let us unite at this critical moment in history to jointly advance Iran toward a bright future of secular constitutionalism. The dawn of restoration has appeared, and the transition from theory to practice is underway. History’s call has sounded—let us respond to this great era with practical action.
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