![Iranian demonstrators living in Japan rally at Shibuya crossing to show solidarity with the Iranian people and protest repression in Iran, on January 11, 2026, in Tokyo, Japan. [David Mareuil - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AA-20260112-40229603-40229591-IRANIANS_RALLY_IN_TOKYO_AGAINST_REPRESSION_IN_IRAN-scaled-e1768474356904.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice”, but he said he was unsure whether Pahlavi could win enough support inside Iran to eventually take power.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters at the Oval Office, Trump said the Iranian clerical regime could collapse. He also blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the stalemate in talks with Russia over the war in Ukraine, and rejected Republican criticism of a Justice Department investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Speaking about Pahlavi, Trump said: “He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country, and we really aren’t up to that point yet.”
He added: “I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”
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