Reza Pahlavi was solely 16 years previous when Iran’s 1979 revolution toppled his father’s 40-year rule. The eldest son of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, he was the primary within the line to inherit the oil-rich thousand-year-old empire.
Now on the age of 65, practically half a century after the unravelling of his birthright, his wait might lastly be coming to an finish.
“This is the last battle. Pahlavi will return!” was one of the standout chants from nationwide protests that gripped Iran on Thursday night time after the exiled former crown prince exhorted his compatriots to hit the streets.
“Javid Shah (long live the king)!” cried the protesters. “Reza Shah, God bless your soul!”
Thursday’s protests have been the end result of days of demonstrations that started in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar in opposition to financial grievances however have shortly taken on an anti-regime focus. Pahlavi, who is based mostly within the US, has sought to place himself as a de facto chief.
Support for the deposed monarchy is taboo in Iran, a legal offense, and a sentiment lengthy frowned upon by a society that staged a well-liked rebellion to overthrow the Shah’s dictatorship.
It is unclear what is perhaps driving the renewed pleasure for the royal household and its titular head in exile, analysts say. Do Iranians genuinely assist the restoration of the monarchy or are they only fed up with their repressive theocracy?
“Reza Pahlavi has indubitably increased his clout and has turned himself into a frontrunner in Iranian opposition politics,” mentioned Arash Azizi, a tutorial and creator of the ebook “What Iranians Want.”
“But he also suffers from many problems. He is a divisive figure and not a unifying one.”
For many years, the Islamic Republic has neutered its home opposition, imprisoning its critics together with former presidents. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the final word authority in Iran, circumscribes the powers of elected officers and views his mandate because the guardian of the regime, stamping out challenges to its rule.
This has empowered the exterior opposition, rising out of Iran’s massive diaspora and pulling figures similar to Pahlavi out of relative obscurity. Pahlavi first burst into the highlight after Iran in 2020 unintentionally shot down a industrial flight after it took off from Tehran sure for Ukraine. The incident galvanized the exterior opposition prompting them to coalesce right into a council that had Pahlavi as a outstanding member.
Disagreements between the patchwork of Iranian dissidents led to the council’s early demise. But Pahlavi endured as essentially the most well-known face of the opposition. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been his most high-profile backer. It’s an alliance that has polarized Iranians (Israeli strikes pummeled elements of Iran throughout a 12-day battle between the 2 international locations last June).
US President Donald Trump’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro additionally might have energized an opposition hoping for a fast decapitation of the regime. Social media footage confirmed a protester altering a avenue title to “Trump Street.”
But analysts say these hopes might have been misplaced. Trump “is weighing his options and has no desire to lend credibility to someone before they’ve proved they can win,” mentioned Azizi.
“Pahlavi personally doesn’t have qualities that appeal to Trump. He is rather bookish and lacks the kind of personal charisma that could appeal to someone like Trump,” mentioned Azizi. “He will have a hard time winning over Trump.”
Pahlavi has been non-committal about moving into the fray. He has mentioned he is keen to guide Iran in a transition in case protesters achieve ousting the regime in these demonstrations, the fifth anti-regime protests in practically a decade. But he is sparse on the small print of his plans and his critics say his inexperience might quickly flip in opposition to him.
“He talks of being a transitional leader and having a transitional assembly, but who is going to be in the transitional government, who is going to run in the assembly, who are your candidates,” mentioned Vali Nasr, an Iran professional and professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
“It’s one thing to look at crowds and say it would be great if Iran goes back to the Shah’s period but in terms of real mechanisms, how would he do that?”
The rallying round Pahlavi is the surest signal, analysts say, that Iran’s Islamic Republic seems to have hit a dead-end. Its economic system has buckled underneath years of corruption and sanctions, and it has struggled to shake off its pariah standing regardless of the efforts of a slew of reformist governments. Young folks have chafed underneath conservative rule and the stifling of political freedoms. And if the regime tries to violently quash the rebellion, because it has accomplished beforehand, then it risks drawing Trump’s wrath.
“Iranians aren’t opting for (Pahlavi) because he is present in the community but because they are despondent,” mentioned Nasr.
Pahlavi capitalizes on that nostalgia for a pre-Islamic Republic period. “Many older Iranians remember the day I was born and what a national frenzy there was,” he advised The Wall Street Journal this week. “But now at the age of 65 … the young Iranians call me father. And that’s the best thing.”