Iran Realities And Perspectives
REZA PAHLAVI (رضا پهلوی): Press Conference – Paris, France / Opening Remarks

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Thank you for coming. Thank you for your time, and attention to the cry for freedom and democracy in Iran. The past three weeks, my brave compatriots have paid in blood the price of ripping the façade of acceptability of the regime in Iran, and its legitimacy to speak for the people of Iran abroad. The ensuing murderous oppression can silence the streets, and media blackout can reduce world attention. In the West you may see headlines declaring the end of the protests. Some will say a family quarrel inside the Islamic regime is over and Mr. Ahmadinejad will govern Iran for another four year term. But they misread the situation. Although more demonstrations may pop up, and the 10th anniversary of the student uprising on July 9th is a date to watch, phase one, that is election-related mass demonstrations is over. But let me clarify what phase two, which is the phase of national resistance, will look like:

Viewed as a usurper in his second term, Mr. Ahmadinejad's increasing insecurity at home will compel him to invent foreign enemies, further isolating Iran. Compounded with low oil prices, the need for slower liquidity growth to limit spiraling inflation, with massive capital flight and a drained stock market, and a further hemorrhage of skilled managers, just to name a few problems, he will face insurmountable obstacles in running the day to day affairs of government. He will need a minimal cooperation of the people for the ship of state to sail on. Instead he will find burgeoning resistance everywhere, until his government grinds to a halt.

Disappointed and alarmed, influential clerics, important parliamentary factions and other institutions will question his ability to cope and undermine his authority from within the Islamist state. That final paralysis will mark the end of the second phase.

It is hard to predict the third phase. Will a part of the Revolutionary Guards move in to fill the vacuum created by a collapse of authority and a functioning government? If so, the regime will be reduced to an unsustainably narrow base of support, expediting its fall. Will strikes spread and re-energized mass demonstrations sweep the country, compelling the authorities to yield to public pressure toward a new democratic order? No exact scenario can be written at this stage, but the end is clear.

Fast rewind to today, let's acknowledge that the path is perilous. The regime has just appointed a three-man commission to punish those involved in recent demonstrations. The commissioners are men responsible for tortures and summary executions of thousands of my countrymen some twenty years ago. After all of these years, the sounds of rape, torture and dying in Iran's prisons haunt my countrymen. And now those men are back. Ladies and Gentlemen: >>> Reza Pahlavi | Thursday, July 02, 2009

Wife of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi: Yasmine Etemad Amini
Yasmine Etemad Amini was born in Tehran, Iran on July 26, 1968. Her family left Iran in the late 1970's in response to the turmoil that plagued the country. Her early years were spent in California in the U.S. with her parents.

In 1986 she met Prince Reza Pahlavi. Following a brief courtship, they were married on June 12, 1986. Despite the many responsibilities of her new role, Princess Yasmine continued her education, receiving a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in political science from George Washington University in Washington DC - Consequently, she received her doctorate in jurisprudence (JD) from George Washington University and was admitted to the Bar in 1998.

Princess Yasmine's professional career culminated in a position as an attorney at The Children's Law Center. This exceptional organization provides legal protection to abused children. The Law Center is recognized for its important work in protecting some of the most vulnerable members of society.

Princess Yasmine Pahlavi lives in the United States with her husband and her three daughters, Princess Noor, born on April 3, 1992 and Princess Iman born on September 12, 1993 and Princess Farah, born on January 17th, 2004. As the spouse of Prince Reza Pahlavi the well being of her compatriots in her homeland is a matter close to her heart as it is to many of the members of the Diaspora. She has also dedicated her life to her own children, as well as the children in her motherland, and those in her immediate community, reflecting her personal and profound commitment to future generations and the opportunities for civil and peaceful coexistence for all people. [Source: The Foundation for the Children of Iran] | Undated

BBC Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi: Interview with BBC World Service

A Royal 'We Shall Overcome' for Iran
REZA PAHLAVI (رضا پهلوی):It seems somewhat unlikely that a resident of Potomac will be the next ruler of Iran. But Reza Pahlavi, son of the shah and the country's former crown prince, is not ruling out anything.

As Tehran's streets fill with death-to-the-dictator chants, Pahlavi went to the National Press Club yesterday and, in front of 17 television cameras, said he would serve if elected.

"My sole objective is to help my compatriots reach freedom," Pahlavi said. But if and when that happens, he went on, "I'd like to be able to be in my country one day, come behind such a podium, talk to my people and every other candidate . . . let the people decide."

Whatever the Iranian demonstrators are seeking, there is little evidence from their Twitter feeds that they are seeking the restoration of the monarchy -- and Pahlavi, who was a teenager getting flight training in Texas during the Islamic revolution, was shrewd enough not to propose it. "This is not about restitution of an institution," he said. But should a democratic Iran "choose to have me play a more prominent role," he added, "let that be their choice."

That will be for another day. Yesterday, the 48-year-old son of a dictator was merely voicing his hopes that what his countrymen have begun over the last 10 days will become a revolution. "However, I often don't use the word 'revolution,' because I think revolution has a very negative connotation in everybody's collective memory."

Particularly Pahlavi's. His family had lived a life of great extravagance until Ayatollah Khomenei deposed the shah in 1979, a year after Jimmy Carter hailed the monarch as "an island of stability." Even yesterday, the former crown prince was defensive about those days. "They had orders not to hit -- fire on people," he said of his father's troops, who, whatever their orders, managed to kill thousands.

The Pahlavi family's love of the ballot box also is somewhat recent; his father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was installed in a CIA coup in 1953 in place of Iran's democratically elected government. But the younger Pahlavi spoke yesterday of the good old days of his father's rein. Before he came out to speak, somebody fiddled with the Iranian flag behind him to reveal the pre-revolution lion symbol. Pahlavi talked about how, under his father, Iran would have had nuclear fuel and reactors by 1983. "The regime is responsible for us having lost that right, and only them," he said.

Still, there could be no doubting the former crown prince's passion. As he spoke of Iran's "cry for freedom and democracy," he was himself, within minutes, crying for his beloved country. "No one -- no one -- will benefit from closing his or her eyes to knives and cables cutting into faces of mouths, of our young and old," he said, and then, choking up, he took a sip of water. "Or from bullets piercing our beloved Neda," he went on, before a sob escaped his mouth at the mention of the girl shot in the protests. Some in the audience applauded to buy him time as he took out a handkerchief to wipe his face. Finally, gripping the lectern determinedly, he vowed that "a movement was born" that "will not rest until it achieves unfettered democracy and human rights in Iran."

The exiled prince accused Iran's supreme ruler of "an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man," and he spoke, perhaps a bit prematurely, of "this sinking Titanic that the regime is." The Revolutionary Guard Corps, he claimed, is becoming sympathetic to the demonstrators. "This is well beyond elections now," the optimistic exile said. "The moment of truth has arrived in Iran." >>> Dana Milbank, Washington Post | Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Shah's Son Backs Iranian Protesters
Reza Pahlavi, Iran's former crown prince, becomes emotional as he talks at the National Press Club in Washington about the uprising in Iran over the disputed presidential election. Photo: TIME
TIME: Thirty years after his father was overthrown by a popular uprising, the former crown prince of Iran has a unique perspective on the demonstrations gripping Iran these days. On Monday, at a Washington press conference, Reza Pahlavi, the onetime heir to the peacock throne, condemned Iran's controversial presidential election of June 12 as "an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man" and called on the Tehran regime to allow for "freedom, democracy, human rights [and] the right to choose." Pahlavi believes that the situation in Iran has eroded dramatically, charging that the issues go "well beyond election. This is about the sanctity of the ballot box and the legitimacy of the regime as a whole."

It was the first public appearance since the protests in Iran for the man who was once next in line to be Shah. Speaking with nearly unaccented English, the graduate of the University of Southern California seemed proud to support the movement that is "already invested with the blood of my brave countrymen." Confident that the opposition will succeed, he believes that the upheaval "will not rest until it achieves unfettered democracy and human rights in Iran." >>> By Sophia Yan | Monday, June 22, 2009

Pahlavi Calls Vote 'Fraud': Iran's former crown prince and a leading advocate for civil disobedience, Reza Pahlavi, calls Iran's election a "fraud."

CNN: Fighting Tears, Shah's Son Calls Crisis a 'Moment of Truth'

WASHINGTON -- The son of the former shah of Iran called Monday for solidarity against Iran's Islamic regime, warning that the democratic movement born out of the election crisis might not succeed without international support.

"The moment of truth has arrived," Reza Shah Pahlavi said at Washington's National Press Club. "The people of Iran need to know who stands with them."

Pahlavi has lived in exile since 1979, when his father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was overthrown during the Islamic Revolution. Under the shah's regime, Iran saw nationalization of its oil and a strong movement toward modernization. Still, his secular programs and recognition of Israel cost him the support of the country's Shiite clergy, sparking clashes with the religious right and others who resented his pro-West views.

The son now lives in the United States with his family, where he spends much of his time talking about the Islamic regime in Iran.

During his remarks, he broke into tears when he spoke of "bullets piercing our beloved Neda," a woman killed Saturday by Iranian police at a protest in Tehran, whose death has become a rallying cry among demonstrators in Iran.

The Iranian regime, he said, was a "sinking Titanic" that might not survive the demands for democracy and human rights reverberating through the country.

Citing anecdotes from people inside the Iranian establishment, Pahlavi said he had heard that security forces have begun to distance themselves from the regime.

"It has already started," he said, citing reports that members of the security forces have gone home after their shifts ended and changed into plain clothes to join the protesters.

"Many, many elements within the security forces, within the Revolutionary Guard, are showing discontent," Pahlavi said. "There is an amazing reflection that is happening. ... This is a movement that has blown out of proportion." >>> By Elise Labott, CNN State Department Producer | Monday, June 22, 2009

Schah-Sohn erwartet Machtwechsel in Teheran
TAGES ANZEIGER: Der frühere Kronprinz von Persien, Reza Pahlewi, sieht die Tage des Regimes im Iran gezählt.

Die Protestbewegung im Iran habe genügend Schubkraft entwickelt, um das Regime ins Wanken bringen zu können, sagte der 48-jährige Reza Pahlewi dem deutschen «Handelsblatt». «Wir haben bereits in vielen Ländern einen Prozess des zivilen Ungehorsams erlebt, wie wir ihn auch heute in Iran sehen, und das war dann nur das Vorspiel zu einem fundamentalen Wandel.» >>> vin/ap | Donnerstag, 18. Juni 2009

HANDELSBLATT: Thronfolger träumt vom Sieg: Schah-Sohn plant Umsturz im Iran

Resa Pahlavi, Sohn des letzten Schah im Iran, will nach 28 Jahren im Exil an die Spitze der Oppositionsgruppen rücken, um den Widerstand gegen das iranische Regime zu organisieren. Seine eigene Rolle in einem neuen Iran lässt er jedoch offen.

HB INNSBRUCK. Von ganz links und schräg unten aus gesehen, reckt sich der Habsburgische Doppeladler direkt über dem Haupt Seiner Majestät. Natürlich ist das garantiert ein Zufall, aber eben einer mit Symbolgehalt. Der Mann sitzt in einem wie ein Glaswürfel konstruierten Gebäude gegenüber der alten Hofburg von Innsbruck. Beifall von vielleicht 20 Gästen, vorwiegend Österreichern und zwei, drei Iranern hat ihn an diesem Morgen, an dem die Berge rundum schon tief verschneit sind und Innsbruck verschlafen wie das Tor zur Provinz daliegt, begrüßt. Reza Pahlavi strahlt.

Reza – wer? Der 48-jährige Mann im taillierten Nadelstreifenanzug, dessen dunkles Haar so akkurat sitzt, als hätte heute Morgen noch sein Hoffriseur Hand angelegt, trägt eine Anstecknadel am Revers mit den Farben des Irans: Grün, Weiß und Rot. In der derzeit verwendeten Version der Flagge lassen sich oberhalb und unterhalb des weißen Streifens der Ruf „Gott ist groß“ lesen sowie das stetig wiederholte Datum der Rückkehr des Religionsführers Ajatollah Khomeini. In der Fahnenmitte befinden sich eigentlich vier angedeutete Halbmonde, die für die Ausbreitung des Islams stehen. Ein Schwert demonstriert Stärke. Bei Reza Pahlavis Version prangt anstelle des Halbmonds und der Schrift ein goldener Löwe auf der Anstecknadel.

Pahlavi ist der Sohn des letzten Schahs von Iran, der den gleichen Namen trug. Der Thronfolger ist auf Einladung des renommierten Management Center Innsbruck hierhergekommen, um vor handverlesenen Gästen seine Vorstellung über die Zukunft jenes Landes auszubreiten, dessen Regime durch sein Atomprogramm, seine Attacken gegen die USA und Israel und seine Äußerungen zum Holocaust die Welt in Atem hält. „Demokratie ist – bei Gott – auch das Beste für uns“, sagt Pahlavi. >>> Von Pierre Heumann und Oliver Stock |Mittwoch, 31. Oktober 2007

Shah's Son Sees Iran Protests as Threat to Regime
REZA PAHLAVI (رضا پهلوی): WASHINGTON - The growing street protests over Iran's disputed presidential election mark the biggest threat to its ruling clerics since they took power in 1979 with the U.S.-backed shah's fall, the shah's son said on Tuesday.

Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran who now lives in the United States, said the protests almost have reached the level of a revolution that could usher in major reforms.

"It is clear that the genie is out of the bottle," Pahlavi, 48, said in an interview with Reuters Television.

But he declined to predict whether the end result would be the toppling of the political leadership of Shi'ite Muslim clerics installed after his father lost power.

"Today, the people are, in reality, challenging the whole system," added Pahlavi, who describes himself as an advocate for democracy and human rights in Iran.

He said he does not believe the protests are only over the disputed election, but reflect a widespread desire for reform and more freedoms three decades after the revolution.

Supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidate, Mirhossein Mousavi, have taken to the streets to dispute the outcome of last week's election in which hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei favored Ahmadinejad.

"Today, especially the younger generation has had it. They are risking their lives in the streets of Iran to demonstrate to the regime that they are not going to take it any more. But (they are) also telling the whole world, 'Hey, what are you going to do? Are you going to finally side with us, or are you continuing to focus only on the regime?'" he added. >>> By Will Dunham, Reuters | Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Reza Pahlavi Speaks Out on Ahmadnejad (October 2007)

Reza Pahlavi: Statement on the Latest Developments in Iran
Reza Pahlavi: (رضا پهلوی)
REZA PAHLAVI: Today the world is witnessing the demonstrated anger of millions of Iranians against a regime that denies their most basic rights, including the right to choose leaders who could improve their abysmal condition.

There is no exit from this condition, so long as one man appropriates onto himself the “power of god” and controls the judiciary, the media, the security forces and, through direct and indirect appointees dictates the only candidates claiming to represent an impoverished and disenfranchised people.

Today I stand united with my fellow Iranians and call for the end of the Islamic Republic, or any other prefix in front of the name of my beloved Iran that indicates theocracy or any other form of disregard for democratic and human rights.

I caution the world that offering any incentives or “carrots” to the theocracy under these circumstances is an affront to the people of Iran. This is not a time for short-sighted, self-defeating tactical games. This is the time for the free world to stand true to its principals and support the people of Iran’s quest for democracy and human rights. [Source: RezaPahlavi.org] Saturday, June 13, 2009