Reza Pahlavi, Son of Iran's Last Shah, Accepts Germany's 2026 Freedom Prize in Frankfurt on Saturday on Behalf of the Iranian People and Says He Will Hold It Until He Can Hand It to Them in a Free Tehran
Saturday, November 7, 2026
Reza Pahlavi, the best-known leader of Iran's opposition in exile, received Germany's 2026 Freedom Prize on Saturday at St Paul's Church in Frankfurt, accepting it on behalf of the Iranian people and saying he will hold it only until he can hand it to them in a free Tehran.
The prize was handed to him by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which is tied to Germany's pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP). The venue carries its own symbolism: St Paul's Church hosted the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848–49, Germany's first elected parliament. The foundation said it was deliberately awarding the prize to the Iranian people, with Pahlavi receiving it in trust until the day it can be presented to Iran's freely elected representatives.
Some 18,000 people rallied in Frankfurt in support, according to police, most of them of Iranian origin. His speech drew chants of “Long live the shah, long live Iran!” from the crowd.
Pahlavi is the son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran's last shah, who fled into exile after being deposed in the 1979 revolution that turned Iran into an Islamic republic ruled by its Shiite clergy.
He told the audience that Iran “is a country not waiting to be taught democracy, this is a country being prevented from practicing it.” “A people ready to die for the right to vote is willing to exercise the right to vote,” he said, adding: “You could not have chosen a people who better understand the meaning of the word 'freedom.'”
He stressed that he accepts the prize only as a trustee until a democratically elected government comes to power in Iran. “I hold it only temporarily,” he said. “One day I will place it in the hands of its rightful owners, not on foreign soil but in the capital, Tehran.” Pahlavi has offered to lead a transitional government if Iran moves to democracy and says he does not aim to restore the monarchy — that decision, he says, would go to a later referendum.
The freedom theme lands against a grim backdrop: rights groups say thousands were killed in the Iranian government's crackdown on protests in January.
The award is not without its critics. Opposition factions accuse Pahlavi of not distancing himself from his father's autocratic rule, and others criticise his vocal support for Israel. Around 200 prisoners held in Iran signed a letter protesting the prize, calling him the symbol of a “bygone dictatorship,” according to Sahar Sanaie of the Society for German-Iranians in Hesse, cited by AFP. Frankfurt's Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens boycotted the event, saying he cannot be considered a legitimate representative of the Iranian people, and the Left Party argued the church could not be used for a political gathering under city statutes.
For ordinary Iranians — including the large diaspora communities in America and Europe whose families still live under the Islamic Republic — the prize keeps international attention on their demand to vote freely. Supporters say attention of this kind is what helps protect protesters and keeps pressure on Tehran.
It matters in Washington, too. America's pressure campaign against Tehran rests partly on the claim that Iranians themselves want the Islamic Republic gone. An 18,000-strong rally behind the best-known opposition figure, in a Western city, is evidence his supporters cite for that claim — while his critics dispute that he speaks for Iranians at all.
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