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Reza Cyrus Pahlavi (Persian: ,رضا پهلوی, born October 31, 1960) is the elder son of late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Shahbanu Farah Diba Pahlavi. He is referred to by supporters as His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahlavi II.

Biography

In 1978, he moved to the United States to complete his higher education. He was trained as a jet fighter pilot and is a political science graduate of the University of Southern California. He has not returned to Iran since the 1979 revolution.

After the revolution, Reza Pahlavi lived in exile in Morocco, Egypt until 1984. Since then, he has been living in the United States. Currently, he lives in Potomac, Maryland, with his wife Yasmine Etemad Amini and their three daughters, Noor, Iman, and Farah.

In 2004 Reza Pahlavi was named as the "unofficial godfather" of Princess Louise of Belgium the eighth granddaughter of King Albert II of Belgium. The decision to choose him was criticised by the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic.

Family

Since the death of Leila Pahlavi (March 27 1970 – June 10 2001), Reza Pahlavi's siblings include Farahnaz Pahlavi (March 12 1963), a brother Ali Reza Pahlavi (April 28 1966), as well as a half-sister, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi (October 27 1940).

Monarchy

The Iranian monarchy was overthrown after the revolution of 1979 and replaced by an Islamic republic. Although the most prominent royals now live in exile, some Iranians still regard Pahlavi as the current Shah of Iran. After the death of Mohammad Reza Shah, his eldest son Reza Pahlavi symbolically declared himself Shahanshah at the age of 21, but now his press releases refer to him as "the former Crown Prince".

Offer to fight in Republic's air force

In 1980, at the start of the Iran-Iraq war, Pahlavi, a fighter pilot, wrote to General General Velayatollah Felahie, Chief Commander of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, offering to fight in the air force for Iran in the war. The offer was rebuffed.

Prospects of a royal restoration

In an interview with David Frost on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme, Pahlavi defined his aims with the words "I think that the choice of future government should be left to the Iranian people to decide in a free election. What form it ultimately take is up to them, the issue, the essential point for me is that there is no way that we can achieve the aspirations that we have as a nation unless we have the separation of church and state and under the current regime clearly we don't have that." Reza Pahlavi has clearly stated though that in his opinion a constitutional monarchic system will better serve democracy in Iran rather then a republic system.

Critics are dismissive of the prospective return of a Pahlavi to the throne. "Speaking purely theoretically, everything is possible," prominent pro-reform journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin told AFP. "After all, look what happened in Spain after the fall of General Franco — a king replaced him. But if we look at the reality of Iranian society today, the hypothesis of a return of the monarchy is very far from reality. The revolution and the Islamic republic have reinforced the foundation of a republican system in Iran, and there are very few people who want a monarchy. The overwhelming majority of people are against it."

Others are less dismissive. Rob Sobhani, an academic and political activist told the BBC "I think there's a role for all dissidents, including the son of the Shah - because Iran today is thirsty for leadership, Iran is thirsty for someone with vision. I think what's lacking in Iranian politics today is someone with a vision. I think if that individual - a man or a woman - appears on the scene and grabs the attention of the Iranian people, with a vision of what he or she would like the country to move towards, they will certainly be the beneficiary of that goodwill, that thirst for a leader."

Pahvahi maintains a hope that opposition groups such as the nationalist and the communist parties are also against the current regime can be united to bring down the regime.

Reports do however speak of a growing curiousity about Pahlavi. A Wall Street Journal report in November 2001 quoted a 17 year old Iranian student as saying ""We didn't know who he was. But as soon as we heard him, we felt it was our own words that we couldn't say. He said them beautifully."

Politics

Reza Pahlavi has used his high profile status as an Iranian abroad to campaign politically for human rights, democracy, and unity to Iranians in Iran and outside it. On his website he calls for a separation of religion and state in Iran and for free and fair elections "for all freedom-loving individuals and political ideologies". He exhorts all groups dedicated to a democratic agenda to work together for a democratic and secular Iranian government and states that "I intend to lead this movement".

Pahlavi has used media appearances to urge Iran's theocratic government to accept a referendum that used independently verfiable international standards and observation mechanisms. He has also urged Iranians to engage in a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience, starting with non-participation in elections of the Islamic republic (elections he views as "undemocratic"), followed by peaceful demonstrations and strikes. He is, however, an outspoken opponent of any foreign military intervention for regime change in Iran, believing that the people of Iran alone have the power to bring about change in their governmental system and society.

On 5 August 2005, Pahlavi wrote to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, to criticise the decision "not to call for a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran during the last meeting of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights."

In the letter, he wrote

Many if not all the political prisoners in Iran are brutalized and held in solitary confinement in spite of the numerous specific recommendations of the United Nations to stop and put an end to such inhuman practices. Unfortunately the Islamic Republic of Iran has so far ignored these recommendations as well as all the urgent appeals made by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Despite the threats, human rights activists in Iran continue to fight for their freedom and human rights at the risk of imprisonment, torture, disappearance and death. I salute their courage and dedication.

Criticism of motives

Criticism of Pahlavi exists beyond the current ruling elite in Iran. One American left wing publication stated that "some of the statements attributed to Pahlavi suggest that there's a dangerous streak of kingly greed that fuels his motives and that he merely covets the throne for personal reasons and, in order to get it, is willing to sell out the Iranian people in the process . . . As if to echo the neo-conservatives, Pahlavi argued for the political and economic boycott of Iran using the Iraqi model, in order to undercut the Iranian regime while seemingly ignoring the dastardly effects that action would have on the people he wants to "liberate"." It also accused him of " a backroom deal by garnering political support and funding from the US Congress for private Iranian-American satellite companies in California and US government sponsored external radio programs such as Radio FARDA, geared to reprogramming Iranians under 30 years of age."

Quotes

• "Don't appease the dictators. They only understand the language of power."

• "It is the real content of the political system that matters, not the name. I would like to openly declare that, if, in a free referendum, the people of Iran would choose the future government of their country to be a democratic republic, I will have achieved more than ninety percent of what I hoped for. I expect, however, every patriotic Iranian republican to think in the same way if the people's choice is a constitutional monarchy."

• ""Women's rights are human rights ... Under the clerics, however, the Iranian women have suffered the most by having been subject to the most humiliating social restrictions and laws."

Footnotes

1. The Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the child being baptised, does not accept non-Catholics as godfathers, given the religious nature of the role, so Pahlavi's role was downgraded to unofficial, not formal.
2. AFP report 6 September 2004
3. Middle East News
4. Interview with Sir David Frost, "Breakfast with Frost" 20 January 2002
5. Interview with Human events online
6. AFP interview with Iranians on the issue of the possible return of the monarchy
7. BBC News 30 July 2003
8. Interview with Human events online
9. Middle East News
10. Reza Pahlavi website
11. BBC Radio
12. Reza Pahlavi interview
13. Reza Pahlavi interview
14. Reza Pahlavi interview
15. Letter to Kofi Annan
16. ibid
17. Counterpunch
18. ibid
19. counterpunch website
20. Middle East News

Further reading

Reza Cyrus Pahlavi, Winds of Change: The Future of Democracy in Iran, Regnery Publishing Inc., 2002, ISBN 0-89526-191-x.

See also

• Pahlavi dynasty
• Mohammad Reza Shah (His father)
• Reza Shah (His grandfather)

External links

• Reza Pahlavi's Website
• Reza Pahlavi interview with AFP
• Reza Pahlavi criticising the Islamic Republic in a speech in Georgetown University, 2000

• 1960 births
• Living people
• Iranian royalty
• Pretenders