Israel supports exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi as Iranians trust and back him, Science Minister Gila Gamliel told Iran International, in the first explicit endorsement by an Israeli cabinet member of the exiled prince’s push for regime change.
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said Iranian border guards reported seeing drones crossing from Azerbaijani territory.
“Border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran explicitly said that the Zionist regime used Azerbaijan’s border to infiltrate drones into Iran,” Azizi during an interview with state media.
He added that the matter had been raised by Iran’s presidency and foreign ministry with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who had requested documentation.
“Now, whether we provide documents is one issue, but the reality itself is undeniable. Our border guards clearly said: ‘We were there and with our own eyes we saw that Israeli drones entered Iran from Azerbaijani soil,’” Azizi said.
The comments follow a phone call in late June in which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged Aliyev to investigate reports that Israeli drones and micro-UAVs had entered Iran from Azerbaijan during the conflict.
According to Iran’s readout of the call, Aliyev denied that Azerbaijan had allowed its territory to be used in attacks against Iran, describing such actions as a “red line.”
Iran has long voiced unease about what it sees as Israel’s security and intelligence presence in Azerbaijan.
In February, Kamal Kharrazi, a senior foreign policy adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said countries “should take their neighbors’ sensitivities into consideration,” expressing concern over Israel’s activities in the South Caucasus state.
Azerbaijan, for its part, has consistently rejected allegations of hosting Israeli military bases or permitting its territory to be used against Iran. Its officials have occasionally accused Iranian clerics and state-linked media of spreading inflammatory rhetoric.
In January, Azerbaijan summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Baku to protest alleged anti-Azerbaijan content in Iranian outlets.
Despite recurring flare-ups, Tehran and Baku have maintained cooperation in areas such as cross-border trade, energy swaps, and infrastructure projects, including the Rasht-Astara railway.
But mistrust persists, particularly over the Zangezur Corridor linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan through Armenian territory, a project Iran fears could undermine its regional influence.
A US-brokered peace deal last month between Armenia and Azerbaijan granted Washington leasing rights to develop the Zangezur transit corridor, now renamed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
While Iranian officials continue to accuse Baku of tacit collaboration with Israel, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Israel said in 2023 that his country “would not let Israel’s military use Azerbaijan as a base for a possible attack against Iran.”
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree made the announcement in a prerecorded message aired on al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel.
Maritime security firm Ambrey said the Liberian-flagged Scarlet Ray, owned by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer, fits the Houthis’ targeting profile “as the vessel is publicly Israeli owned”.
The Houthis started attacking vessels in the Red Sea region in November 2023. The group has since launched scores of drones and missiles towards Israel in addition to targeting around 100 international ships, resulting in the sinking of four vessels and the deaths of at least eight mariners, according to the Associated Press figures.
The attack in the crucial shipping route comes just hours after the Yemeni militia raided offices of the UN’s food, health and children’s agencies in Yemen’s capital, detaining at least 11 employees, as the rebels tightened security across Sana’a after the Israeli killing of their prime minister and several cabinet members.
Hans Grundberg, the UN envoy for Yemen, said on Sunday: “I strongly condemn the new wave of arbitrary detentions of UN personnel today in Sana’a and Hodeidah … as well as the forced entry into UN premises and seizure of UN property.”
He demanded that they be “immediately and unconditionally” released.
The Houthis have previously detained dozens of UN workers in Yemen and others linked to aid groups, leading the UN to suspend its operations in the Houthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen after the rebels detained eight UN staff members in January.
The raids on Sunday followed the killing of the Houthi prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi, and several of his cabinet members in an Israeli strike on Thursday, which the group said will be met with retaliatory action.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned that the response will be wider than simply its allies in Yemen, branding the killings a "war crime against humanity ... with full US support".
“It will ignite greater anger and expand the geography of resistance," the statement said.
Gamliel said Israel backs Prince Pahlavi, calling him a figure trusted by the Iranian people.
“The choice belongs to the Iranian nation, but we see that Iranians believe in Reza Pahlavi and support him. We in Israel also support him, because we see the people of Iran standing with him,” she told Iran International’s Babak Es'haghi.
Pahlavi traveled to Israel in 2023 at the invitation of then-intelligence minister Gamliel and met Benjamin Netanyahu. However, this is the first time a Netanyahu cabinet member is publicly expressing Israeli support for Pahlavi to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
In June, Israel commenced heavy bombing of Iran’s nuclear and military sites and was preparing a final wave of attacks aimed at toppling Iran’s ruling system when US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, The Washington Post reported in July, citing Israeli and American officials involved in the operation.
Sporadic protests have erupted in parts of Iran after the 12-day war with Israel, mainly over water and power shortages and poverty, but their scope has remained limited.
“No one expects people to take to the streets in the middle of a war," Gamliel told Iran International. "But we showed them their government is very weak. We are dealing with a regime that harms both its people and the world.”
“I firmly believe that when the Iranian people decide on change, we will stand with them with all our strength and goodwill," the Israeli minister said.
Asked about Israel’s vision for relations with Iran following a possible regime change, she said: “We see a future where the two nations cooperate. We have solutions for many of Iran’s problems in agriculture, energy, water, and technology.”
Both Netanyahu and former prime minister Naftali Bennett have previously expressed readiness to help Iranians with water and electricity crises after a regime change.
Prince's team in Israel
Gamliel made the remarks after hosting a delegation of experts dispatched by the exiled prince to Israel.
“The delegation sent by Prince Reza Pahlavi came to receive this knowledge and expertise. We hope one day to continue this cooperation in Tehran,” Gamliel said. “The Iranian people are not alone. We are here to respond, to offer solutions, and to build a better shared future.”
She invoked historic ties, saying: “We truly believe Iranians and Israelis must return to cooperation dating back 2,500 years, when Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to build the Second Temple. Together with Prince Reza Pahlavi and the Prime Minister, we aim to reach a Cyrus Accord —like the Abraham Accords—binding our nations politically, historically and culturally.”
Pahlavi’s senior adviser Saeed Ghasseminejad echoed that message, calling the Cyrus Accord “a symbol of historic Iran-Israel bonds” that could evolve into strategic partnership. He said Israel’s expertise in technology, management and policymaking could help future Iran tackle crises from water shortages to energy and infrastructure.
Pahlavi himself thanked Israel on X, writing: “Thank you, President Isaac Herzog and Minister Gila Gamliel, for welcoming my delegation of experts at a time when the Iranian people are suffering from a severe water crisis, electric shortages, and a collapsing economy. This mission is part of the Iran Prosperity Project, a blueprint for Iran’s rebirth aimed at unlocking our nation’s full potential after the fall of the Islamic Republic.”
He added that Iranian and Israeli experts would not only address the hardships brought about by the Islamic Republic but also “lay the groundwork for the future Cyrus Accords between Israel and a free, democratic, and prosperous Iran—strengthening the deep ties between our nations, envisioned by Cyrus the Great 2,500 years ago."
