Saturday morning, Iran’s Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi, issued a public statement where he stated his support for the new Iranian protests. In his statement, the Crown Prince highlighted the courage of the Iranian people. The Crown Prince released the statement from his home in the United States where he lives in exile.
The Crown Prince said: “Dear compatriots I wanted to give you my respect for your courage, your bravery, and the sacrifice from of all our countrymen in the four corners of Iran. From the farmers of Esfhan to the baazaris (merchants) of Baneh and Marivan”.
It was in January and February of this year that the extensive demonstrations started which were organised by the royalists to overthrow the dictatorship in Iran and implement a new and modern monarchy by western standards.
The International Monarchist Conference reported in February that in almost all of the protest monarchist slogans where shouted. This was also confirmed by various French newspapers in the days following the protests. Thousands of people participated while they were chanting: “Death to Hezbollah, long live Reza, king of kings!”
In a recent interview with Radio Farda, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi accused the Iranian government of being resistant to change and called for a complete overhaul of the national order. “Iran needs an overall change,” he said, “All Iranians want change, and it is time for change. The Green Movement in 2009 was a clear reflection that the people of Iran were, and still are, quite unhappy with the Islamic regime and its constitution.”
Also, the Crown Prince’s mother, Iran’s last empress, Farah Pahlavi, has commented on this case. The Empress said, “I am certain that light shall prevail over darkness”.
Pahlavi’s father, Mohammad Reza Shah, took power following a coup in 1953. Under the Crown Prince’s father’s secular and pro-Western rule, Iran experienced a rapid modernisation programme. The current government of Iran came to power following the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the Pahlavi dynasty overthrown in favour of a theocratic Islamic state.
Monarchist parties and organisations are strictly prohibited by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and monarchists and their sympathisers are subject to imprisonment if discovered.