THE TELEGRAPH: Reza Pahlavi believes it’s time the West prepares for the imminent collapse of the Islamic Republic and supports the rising tide of dissent
Reza Pahlavi was seven when he grasped something was different about him.
Riding in a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Tehran after his father’s coronation in 1967, he noticed that the crowds were not only cheering his parents’ carriage, “I realised they were cheering me,” he recalls. “That was the moment it clicked, that I’m special, or important. It triggered something in my head.
“There was the people’s enthusiasm, love and affection, but at the same time an expectation of what it means to be a crown prince. [And it made me think] what does it entail in terms of all the dedication, sacrifice, responsibility and limitations that you have to accept because of that elevated expectation?”
The adoration did not last. In 1979, Pahlavi was driven into exile by a popular revolution sparked by his father’s misrule. The uprising ended with the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Yet Pahlavi, 64, still speaks with the self-confidence of one raised to rule. And he now predicts a revolution similar to the one that overthrew his father. » | Roland Oliphant, Senior Foreign Correspondent | Sunday, February 23, 2025
