Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the US, has previously called on protesters to topple the Iranian government

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah, has told Russian pranksters that Europe should join the US-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

Pahlavi, 65, who has resided in the US for decades, called on protesters to topple the government in Tehran during a violent uprising in December.

In a prank call with Vovan and Lexus earlier this week, in which the Russian duo posed as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Pahlavi said that "Europe should join the crusade against the [Iranian] regime." He also expressed hope that the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic would help dismantle the government that toppled his father's rule in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In recent weeks, Pahlavi has proclaimed that he is willing to return to his home country and lead a "transitional government," insisting that the current Iranian authorities have no legitimacy.

Speaking to Newsmax on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that, though "not involved" in the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, European "allies are basically, on a massive scale, supportive of what the [US] president is doing and are also enabling what the US is doing now in the region."

The UK and Spain initially refused to allow the US forces engaged in the operation against Iran to use their respective military bases. London, however, made an about-turn following a rebuke from US President Donald Trump.

Madrid also recently announced that it would deploy a warship to Cyprus to protect a British Royal Air Force base from Iranian strikes, in coordination with Italy, France, and the Netherlands.

The US and Israeli militaries launched massive airstrikes on Iran last Saturday, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior Iranian commanders, as well as hundreds of civilians, with attacks continuing to date. Tehran has retaliated by firing barrages of drones and missiles at Israel, as well as US and UK military installations across the Middle East.