Reflections | What Iran’s former crown prince can learn from an exiled royal’s plea to Chinese emperor
A Persian prince’s attempts to restore his family’s throne from abroad highlight how political legitimacy is tough to forge in faraway lands
In a recent interview, Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran who is living in exile in the United States, described the death of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as a moment that could mark the end of what he calls a monstrous era of repression. Many Iranians, he said, greeted the news of Khamenei’s assassination with elation, sensing a rare chance to reclaim their country.
Pahlavi is careful to insist that he does not seek to be king or president, but a transitional figure who will guide Iran towards democracy. He has also called for Iran’s nuclear programme to be “totally dismantled”.
For years, he has sought to cast himself as a unifying figure for opponents of the Islamic Republic.
Pahlavi is not the first exiled royal from that part of the world to imagine a return. Fourteen centuries ago, another Persian prince aspired to do the same.