Does a video show Iran's crown prince-in-exile Reza Pahlavi being cheered in Cairo, Egypt, as protests in Iran intensified in January 2026? No, that's not true: The video shows Pahlavi being cheered in Oxford, England in February 2023. A news report from that day said thousands of Iranians living in the United Kingdom converged on Oxford to show their support for the him.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, where it was published on January 1, 2026. The caption read:
🚨 BREAKING 🇮🇷🇪🇬
Iran's crown prince-in-exile Reza Pahlavi is being cheered by crowds on the streets of Egypt, as supporters hope he could one day return to take his place as the monarch of Iran.
This is what the thumbnail from the video shared in the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/warsurveillance)
A reverse image search found the video (archived here) where it was published on X on February 27, 2023. The caption, which was written in persian, translates into English as:
I came to Oxford on behalf of all the supporters of @PahlaviReza
❤️🥰🌹
A longer video of the event was posted on TikTok (archived here).
A news report (archived here) published on February 27, 2023, confirmed details of the event.
Reza Pahlavi (archived here) is the son of Iran's Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, removed from power in 1979. In early January 2026, Iran experienced mass protests for roughly a week (archived here).
