His portrait is brandished by a hooded protester in northern Tehran. His name is chanted by a crowd in the holy city of Mashhad. “This is the last battle, Pahlavi will return!” »say dozens of protesters gathered in the cradle of Shiite Islam, where Imam Reza has rested for twelve centuries. The name of the son of the last shah of Iran and heir to the crown, Reza Pahlavihas been chanted across the four corners of Iran since the start of the protest movement on December 28.
“For the first time, the people are no longer only launching slogans against the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, but also in favor of a personality, Prince Reza Pahlavi, underlines from Tehran Ashkan*, a supporter of the return to the monarchy overthrown by the 1979 revolution. Through him, a growing number of Iranians, disappointed by the absence of the slightest reform within the regime, are seeking above all to return to a political system centered on modernity, which had as its priority the national interests of Iranians and not the ideological interests of the Islamic Republic. »
Heavy legacy
Often criticized for not having stood out from his father’s autocratic regime, sometimes mocked for never having held a real job, the Shah’s son is today taken seriously. It even appears to directly influence current events in Iran. On January 7, from Washington where he lives in exile, Reza Pahlavi gave his instructions directly to the Iranian population on his X account. “My compatriots, despite the regime’s repression, your resistance is admirable”he says to the camera in a white shirt and tie, a “Western sign” banned in the Islamic Republic.
“Today I share with you my first call to action, and I invite you to launch slogans on Thursday January 8 and Friday January 9 at 8 p.m. sharp, whether in the streets or from home. » The call hits home. Simultaneously, tens of thousands of Iranians are coming out to demonstrate in 46 cities, across 21 provinces. The words “Long live the Shah!” » resonate from Tehran to Ahvaz (south), from Rasht (north) to Khomein (center), the birthplace of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
Despite the fierce crackdown ordered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, demonstrations continue, along with calls to protest from the crown prince. “The pro-Pahlavi slogans in the protests are just the tip of the iceberg and his support is actually more important”assures Ashkan. According to the latest study by the Group for the Analysis and Measurement of Attitudes in Iran (Gamaan), the crown prince would be the preferred political figure in Iran, receiving 31% of the votes in a representative sample of 20,492 people surveyed in June 2024.
“This figure is not surprising, because Reza Pahlavi is the only candidate of the 21% of respondents who support a return of the monarchy, explains Ammar Maleki, founding president of this independent research center based in the Netherlands. On the contrary, other political groups, such as the Republicans or the Federalists, do not have a specific personality. »
« Ni Mollah is a chah
In Tehran, however, Taraneh*, an early demonstrator, displayed her skepticism as to the real extent of the support given to the shah’s son. “If there are pro-Pahlavi demonstrators, they are only a minority whose voice is amplified by Western media, insists the 30-year-old young woman who continues to take to the streets despite the risk of being killed. We have nothing to lose, and above all want a normal life, without mullah or shah. »
This unprecedented shift in favor of the son of the last shah of Iran is in any case savored by those close to him. “Without doubt, Reza Pahlavi has never been so supported in Iran as in recent days, not as a representative of the monarchy, but as a symbol of national unity”underlines his former advisor Mehrdad Khonsari, a former Iranian diplomat who supported the crown prince from 1987 to 1991.
“The importance given today to Reza Pahlavi is more cultural than political. Deep within traditional Iranian culture, the figure of the Shah, who has existed for more than 2,500 years, retains a preponderant place within the population, as a reassuring personality, holder of a heritage that counts. This today makes him a pivot in the current crisis for larger-scale actions. »
An air of revenge
The tide seems to be turning for the heir of a family condemned for nearly half a century to helplessly observe the decline of his country from abroad, and marked by mourning. In ten years, Reza Pahlavi lost his brother Alireza, and his sister Leila, in quick succession, to depression, who ended their lives – the first in Boston in 2001, the second in London in 2011 –, plunging the Pahlavis, first and foremost Farah, the shahbanou (the shah’s wife) into immeasurable pain.
How far away it seems, the time when the crown prince had the greatest difficulty in the world to make himself heard, starting within the Western chancelleries. On February 21, 2023, wishing to carry the voice of the Iranian people in France five months after the outbreak of the “Woman, life, freedom!” movement. » in Iran, the shah’s son had only been received by a handful of French parliamentarians – senators Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio (LR) and André Vallini (PS) or the Republican deputy Olivier Marleix – and no government official. Shortly before, Emmanuel Macron had welcomed with great fanfare to the Élysée those who were symbols of opposition to the regime: Masih Alinejad, Shima Babaei, Ladan Boroumand and Roya Piraie. “The dominant idea has always been that no Iranian opposition based abroad had popularity in Iran,” explains a diplomatic source on condition of anonymity.
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The one who has always lived in his father’s shadow seems to have his revenge. The Shah’s son was only 17 years old and was in the United States when the revolution broke out in 1978 which led to the fall of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Then training as a US Air Force fighter pilot in Colorado, he was not able to return to Iran before his father’s forced departure in January 1979. He died of cancer in Cairo, a year and a half later.
At the age of 19, the crown prince was anointed “shah in exile”, a title that makes his supporters dream, but also makes his detractors smile. “If Reza Pahlavi refers a lot to his grandfather Reza Shah, who founded the Pahlavi dynasty thanks to a military putsch in 1921, he has neither the networks nor the military base essential to overthrow a regime by forceunderlines Ahmad Salamatian, former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs during the first months of the Islamic Republic. Surrounding himself first of all with those nostalgic for the old imperial regime, he was unable to bring together a real political staff capable of influencing the interior of Iran. »
The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) kept him even further removed from the first post-revolutionary years. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Southern California in 1985, he married Yasmine Etemad-Amini the following year, from a wealthy upper-middle-class Iranian family. The couple had three daughters (Noor, Iman and Farah), and settled in a suburb of Maryland, in a wealthy but discreet residential area of Potomac. It is there, a few steps from the American federal capital, that Reza Pahlavi establishes his headquarters, and works on the “political transition” in Iran, based on secularism, multipartyism and peace with its neighbors.
“Reza Pahlavi is a very intelligent person, who understands and analyzes very well the reasons for the fall of his father, namely individual power and the absence of political plurality, assures his former advisor. However, despite the ups and downs he has experienced over the past forty years, he has never given up the fight, which testifies to his seriousness. »
“Reza Pahlavi understood that the majority of Iranians today want power to be transferred to the people in Iran”
Mehrdad Khonsari
A sign of his political transformation, the son of the Shah of Iran has evolved in his public discourse, no longer calling, as he did for forty-three years, for the return of the monarchy to Iran. Surrounding himself with a young guard of ambitious forty-year-olds who cut their teeth with the reformers of the Islamic Republic before choosing exile, he now advocates the establishment of democracy by referendum. At 65, the opponent simply says he is ready to lead a political transition before the organization of free elections.
Opposition coalition abroad
“Reza Pahlavi understood that the majority of Iranians today want power to be transferred to the people in Iran, Pursuit Mehrdad Khonsari. He does not want to repeat the errors of the Islamic Republic and wishes to move towards a national amnesty. »
As a gesture of good faith, the crown prince agreed on February 10, 2023 to join an opposition coalition abroad – notably composed of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, the journalist Masih Alinejad and the writer Hamed Esmaeilion – whose charter is based on a list of seventeen common values with a view to moving from an Islamic Republic to a democratic Iran. Alas, the body imploded with a bang barely two months later.
“On the one hand, Reza Pahlavi promotes broadly democratic and liberal policiesunderlines historian Arash Azizi, lecturer at Yale University, in the United States. On the other hand, he has many extreme right-wing, chauvinistic and aggressive supporters and advisors who do not want him to work with those who do not share his views. »
Travel to Israel
His most notable trip took place in April 2023 to Israel, where he was received by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His main interview with a head of government. A meeting that his adversaries still criticize him today, pointing out the fact that he is one of the rare Iranian opponents to refuse to condemn Israeli military intervention during the Twelve Day War in June 2025.
“The 2023 visit did not represent official support by the Israeli government of Reza Pahlavi, but rather was a personal political initiative by former Intelligence Minister Gila Gamlielpoints out an Israeli diplomatic source. There is no alliance between Israel and Reza Pahlavi. And it is in any case up to the Iranian people to choose their leaders. »
In fact, it is the name of Reza Pahlavi which is chanted today in the Iranian streets. The crown prince is trying to take advantage of this and appeal to Donald Trump.
For the moment, the American president does not say he is entirely convinced by Reza Pahlavi’s profile. He nevertheless indicated that he was ready to intervene on behalf of the demonstrators with targeted strikes against the regime. Aware that the future of their foe – and of Iran – is today partly being played out in Washington, the Shah’s son’s teams are leaving nothing to chance. They found a new slogan: “Make Iran great again!” (Make Iran Great Again!)”
*For security reasons, the first name has been changed.
