Iranians Visit Israel to Plan for the ‘Cyrus Accords’

The “day after” the fall of the faltering Iranian regime, Iranian technocrats living in exile abroad want to be ready to take part in a new government. These are people who support a secular democracy, with Reza Pahlavi becoming a figurehead monarch, on the model of British royalty. They want Iran to renew the close ties Iran had with Israel in the pre-Khomeini period of its existence. Seven of the most prominent Iranians in exile — not political figures but scientists and economists — have just been visiting Israel to discuss with Gila Gamliel, the minister of innovation and technology, areas in which in that future collaboration between the two former-and-future friends will be most fruitful. More on this promising visit can be found here: “Iranian delegation meets Innovation Minister Gamliel to discuss ‘day after’ in Iran, water crisis,” Jerusalem Post, September 4, 2025:

A high-level Iranian opposition delegation sent by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi met with the Innovation, Science, and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel this week to discuss plans for a post-Islamic Republic Iran, as well as a resolution to Iran’s ongoing water crisis.

“The moment will come when the Iranian people will decide on their fate, and we will be here for them,” Gamliel stated.

Gamliel thanked “the amazing delegation that came here today in order to come and receive and learn all the technologies and all the developments and to really prepare Iran for the next day.”

“We carry a message of peace, friendship, and solidarity at this hard time,” said Dr. Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iranian economist leading the seven-member delegation.

“Our group of Iranian economists and scientists is here to continue [maintaining the bond between Israel and Iran] at a time when the regime in Tehran has created a severe water crisis, electricity shortage, and a collapsing economy.”…

The Iranian regime is facing the greatest challenge to its continued rule since it began in 1979. The Israelis and the Americans destroyed most of the nuclear weapons project on which Iran spent in direct costs over $30 billion, with indirect costs (including sanctions impact) potentially reaching $500 billion. Now that project lies in ruins. Those hundreds of billions of dollars have gone up, quite literally, in smoke.

Iran is enduring its greatest drought in modern times, with devastating effects both on agriculture, and on the production of hydroelectric energy; there are daily power blackouts all over Iran. These daily cuts in electricity, with times that change each day, make it impossible for Iranian manufacturers to properly plan their production schedule.

Because of mismanagement by the mullahs, and the colossal losses from the now-devastated nuclear project, Iran’s economy has suffered tremendously. At least 35% of Iranians now live below the poverty line. Some studies claim that as many as 80% of Iranians now live in poverty. In 1979, when the new regime of Khomeini began, the exchange rate was 70 rials to one dollar; today the exchange rate is 42,000 rials to the dollar.

Both Jews and Persians, two peoples keenly aware of their ancient shared history, often allude to the Persian King Cyrus, who is known for freeing the Jewish people from the Babylonian Captivity in the 6th century B.C. After conquering Babylon, the Persian king issued the Edict of Cyrus, a decree that allowed the exiled Jews to return to their homeland in the Kingdom of Judah. and to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem. This event, described in the Hebrew Bible, is referred to by the Jews as the Return to Zion, began a period of resurgence for the Jewish people in their land. Ever since then King Cyrus has been revered by Jews. And Persians are well aware of the Jews’ reverence for their celebrated king.

Whatever regime follows the current one in Iran, it is almost certain to be a friend to the Jewish state. After all, no country has done as much to weaken the mullahs’ rule as Israel.

Now a delegation of Iranian exiles, not politicians but technocrats — economists and scientists — has been visiting Israel to discuss planning for “the day after” the regime falls. Israel is ready to provide assistance in every area, from the husbanding of water resources through drip irrigation, desalination plants, and the production of water from the ambient air with the WaterGen machines invented by Israeli scientists, to sharing Israeli advances in solar energy; and in military technology, that might be provided to Iran on “the day after” the current regime falls, with such advances as the Iron Dome and Iron Beam anti-missile systems, the improved Merkava tank, the repurposed armored personnel carriers, or APCs, that the IDF now fills with explosives and sends into battle, without human crews, as “suicide vehicles,” and the latest Israeli improvements to the drones it has made such effective use of in Gaza.

All this Israel is prepared to share with a secular Iran on the “day after” the mullahs are deposed, and the Cyrus Accords are instituted. And what does Israel ask in return? Only one thing: friendship.