Reza Pahlavi, who as a boy was groomed to be the next shah of imperial Iran but has spent nearly five decades in exile, has emerged as a rallying figure in the protests shaking the Islamic republic.

The chant of "Pahlavi will come back!" has become a mantra for many of the protesters, while the US-based 65-year-old has urged nightly actions in video messages.

Pahlavi's prominence in the protest movement has surprised some observers.

Pahlavi has during the latest protest wave shown an "ability to turn out Iranians in the streets," said Jason Brodsky, policy director at the US-based group United Against Nuclear Iran.

"There have been clear pro-Pahlavi chants at the protests. Does that mean every Iranian protesting wants a return of the monarchy? No, but there is a nostalgia for the Pahlavi era that has been building for some time," he added.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Pahlavi said he was "prepared to return to Iran at the first possible opportunity".

He has not set foot in his home country since before the Islamic revolution that ousted his father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979 and ended thousands of years of monarchy dating back to Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, and beyond.

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© Al Monitor