The last shah with his wife, Farah, and the crown prince, Reza Pahlavi

The man who would have been shah is preparing for the next Iranian revolution 40 years after the tumultuous overthrow of his father.

Reza Pahlavi, who was in Texas as an 18-year-old air cadet when his family lost its grip on power, says the mood of the country is as unhappy now as it was in the months leading to the Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s former crown prince, who lives comfortably in exile with his wife and three daughters in suburban Maryland, has revealed that he is helping to create a “coalition of the willing” among opposition groups that will soon present a plan to manage the transition if — he believes when — the mullahs lose power.

Mr Pahlavi was exiled after the 1979 Islamic revolution ROGER ASKEW/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Iran has been experiencing increasingly bold street protests