Some call him an Emperor, some a Crown Prince and by his Iranian followers, he is referred to as His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah II. Still, the Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi has now called for a monarchist revolution in his birth country of Iran and calls for Trump and American help to transform the dictatorship to a parliamentarian monarchy.
Since Donal Trump won the American election last year, Pahlavi has given a growing number of media interviews. He also informs the media that he has sent several letters to the Trump administration. “This regime is simply irreformable because of the nature of it, its DNA, is such that it cannot,” said the exiled Crown Prince recently to the Daily Mail.
Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, meeting the Persian-Dutch Community in The Netherlands in 2012. Photo: PersianDutchNetwork via Wikimedia Commons.
It should be said that the Crown Prince wants to have a peaceful revolution that will be carried out by the Iranian people, and he does not envision an armed revolution with foreign military troops on the ground. Asked how his envisioned peaceful revolution could play out in Iran, Pahlavi said it would need to begin with the labour unions starting a nationwide strike.
Pahlavi’s father, Mohammad Reza Shah, took power following a coup in 1953 engineered by Britain and the United States. Under the Crown Prince’s father’s secular and pro-Western rule, Iran experienced a rapid modernization programme financed by oil revenues. The Crown Prince is clear in his statements; he does not want the same thing to happen again. “Western governments need to keep their distance and not threaten military action,” said His Imperial Highness.
The Crown Prince posing together with his father and mother following his father’s coronation. Photo: Iranian.com via Wikimedia Commons.
The Crown Prince searches to get assistance from any nation to implement the revolution – even Israel. “My focus right now is on liberating Iran, and I will find any means that I can, without compromising the national interests and independence, with anyone who is willing to give us a hand, whether it is the U.S. or the Saudis or the Israelis or whomever it is,” he said.
The Crown Prince left Iran at the age of 17 for air force training at Reese Air Force Base in Texas, two years before the Iranian Revolution. In exile, he has founded and led the National Council of Iran, a government in exile of Iran. His Imperial Highness has also established the television and radio network, OfoghIran.
I wouldn’t put a lot of money on this one. Pres Trump has other matters on his mind these days