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Can The Last Shah’s Son Return To Iran After Khamenei’s Death

By Samira Vishwas

Political uncertainty has deepened in the country after the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Israeli and American attacks. The death of Khamenei, who was in power for nearly 37 years, has thrown the future of the Islamic Republic into darkness. Meanwhile, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has once again come into the center of discussion.

Pahlavi, 65, welcomed Khamenei’s death, calling it the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic. “With Khamenei’s death the Islamic Republic has effectively ended and will soon be relegated to the dustbin of history,” he wrote on Twitter. He appealed to security forces not to try to prop up the collapsing regime and to engage in a peaceful transfer of power.

Reza Pahlavi is the son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Following the Islamist riots and attacks of 1979, the monarchy was abolished and an Islamic Republic was established under the leadership of Islamic clerics. At that time, 17-year-old Pahlavi was in a military school in the US and since then he has been living in exile in the US for more than four decades.

He has described himself as a supporter of a democratic and secular Iran. He says he is only prepared to play a transitional role if the current regime falls, not to restore absolute monarchy. In recent years he has represented Iranian democratic aspirations at international forums such as the European Parliament, the Munich Security Conference and Israel.

Many protesters chanted slogans in support of Pahlavi during anti-government protests in Iran in previous years. “The protesters are chanting my name and calling for freedom and national unity. I see this not as an invitation to seize power, but as a deep responsibility,” he wrote in The Washington Post.

Recently he released an “Emergency Period Booklet” under the ‘Iran Prosperity Project’, which outlines the strategy, potential crises and solutions for the first six months after the fall of the regime. According to reports, it was prepared with the participation of experts.

Although Pahlavi remains popular among some expatriate Iranians, constitutional monarchists, and liberal democracy supporters, the opposition within the country is fragmented. There is a lack of clear unity between different ideological factions. According to surveys, about one-third of Iranians support him, while about the same number strongly oppose him.

He has supported US President Donald Trump’s actions and advocated international cooperation for change in Iran. “The promise made by the US President to the brave Iranian people has now been fulfilled… This is a humanitarian intervention aimed at the repressive machinery of the Islamic Republic, not the nation of Iran,” he said in a video message. However, Trump had earlier expressed doubts about his leadership. He had said, “He seems very nice, but I don’t know whether his leadership will be accepted in his country or not.”

Pahlavi has repeatedly said that he is ready to lead a transitional government if the public wants it. He has clarified that the new constitution will be prepared through referendum and free elections will be conducted under international monitoring. The transitional government will automatically dissolve after the elections.

At present it is not clear what will be the political direction of Iran after Khamenei’s death. But it is certain that this development has once again brought Reza Pahlavi to the center of international and regional debate as a possible political option.

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