Reza Pahlavi hails Iran’s ‘revolution for and by women’

• Reza Pahlavi is an exiled former monarch of Iran.
• He supports a constituent assembly that would draught a new constitution.
• The shah’s son has no intention of restoring the monarchy.

Reza Pahlavi welcomed the Iranian protests as a historical women’s revolution and encouraged the international community to increase pressure on the clerical authorities.

Pahlavi, whose father was deposed by the Islamic Revolution in 1979, urged better preparedness for a future secular and democratic Iranian society.

Pahlavi, who lives in exile near Washington, told AFP, “It is truly in modern times, in my opinion, the first revolution for the women, by the women — with the support of the Iranian men, sons, brothers, and fathers.” Pahlavi is an exiled former monarch of Iran.

“It has come to the point, as the Spaniards would say, basta — we’ve had enough.”

Since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16 in the custody of Iran’s infamous morality police, purportedly for violating the tight regulations that women wear headscarves in public, dozens of people have been slain in demonstrations in major cities.

In addition to denouncing prejudice against minorities and the LGBTQ community, Pahlavi stated, “The symbolism of today’s repression is represented by women.”

“I think most Iranian women when they look at the freedoms that women in the free world experience and exercise, are asking for the very same rights for themselves,” he said.

His grandfather, Reza Shah, prohibited all Islamic veils in 1936 as part of a Turkish-inspired Westernization campaign.

The previous shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, allowed women to choose whether or not to wear the veil; this practice stopped when the Islamic republic mandated “modesty” rules for women in public.

Pahlavi, the father of three daughters, stated that Iranian culture has progressed significantly since the days of “male chauvinism” and that women’s decisions should be accepted.

“Women may decide to wear or not wear the veil. But it ought to be a choice, a free choice, not imposed for ideological or religious reasons,” he said.

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No intention of restoring monarchy: Reza Pahlavi

Pahlavi, who enjoys widespread esteem in the exile community, has stated that he has no intention of restoring the monarchy, a proposal that has minimal support within Iran.

Pahlavi, in collaboration with the international opposition, supports a constituent assembly that would draught a new constitution.

“There’s no way you can actually have a true democratic order without a clear definition and separation of church from state,” Pahlavi said.

Despite opposition and hostility from the West, particularly the United States, the Islamic republic has endured for over four decades.

However, Pahlavi insisted that the system could collapse at any moment and that the world must be prepared.

“We need to consider the high possibility that this regime will not exist for long,” he said.

“I’ve been saying for some time — it could happen in a few weeks or a few months, and we need to think of the alternative.”

Pahlavi proposed a “managed implosion” and a peaceful transition.

He commended the majority of the robust international responses to the protesters, especially those from Canada and Germany.

However, he demanded additional measures, including the expulsion of ambassadors and the freezing of assets.

“It’s important for more than just giving moral support. These are the kinds of measures that are impactful,” he said.

He reiterated his proposal for a strike fund to pay workers, in the hopes that the nationwide protests will evolve into a general strike.

Pahlavi, while backing negotiation, expressed reservations about a prospective U.S. return to the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran would once again be permitted to sell oil freely on international markets.

Frequently, Western powers feel they can “provide an incentive for the dictatorship to change its behavior, so we can drag them back to being good boys,” Pahlavi added.

He stated, however, that the Islamic republic is founded on the export of an ideology.

“With this regime, you cannot, you cannot have a coexistence.”

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