Interesting interview with the former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the late deposed Shah of Iran..
Exclusive: Iran – Springboard to Freedom in the Middle East?
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002
(Editor’s note: first in a series.)
Unlike Iraq’s saber rattling Saddam Hussein, Iranian leaders have openly sponsored annual summits for terrorists, provided chemical weapons to the Palestinian terrorists, contributed hundreds of missiles to Iranian-sponsored terrorists in Afghanistan, and even threatened to nuke Israel -- so why is it not at the top of America’s War on Terrorism short list?
Cynics may suggest that Iraq is simply a softer target, but former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the late deposed Shah of Iran, tells NewsMax in an exclusive interview that it is because President Bush understands that Iran is on the cusp of a social explosion that will, hopefully sooner than later, sweep away the insular, militant ruling mullahs and catapult Iran towards a destiny of leading the way to reforms and freedoms in the Middle East.
Given the above, is Iran properly included in the Axis of Evil?
"President Bush was accurate in his assessment of the regime in Iran,” Pahlavi tells NewsMax. "There is no question about the clerical regimes record of terror -- both at home against the Iranian people and internationally…
"There is no question the clerical regime has been aggressively pursuing weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that the regime has been ruthlessly oppressing the people while shamelessly looting and plundering our national assets, resulting in half the population living under the poverty line…
"There is no doubt that the clerical regime’s fingerprint is on so many acts of terror abroad and has persistently financed, equipped, harbored and trained terrorists on its own soil and abroad…
"There is no doubt that hundreds of dissidents have been assassinated by regime elements while thousands of people have been executed at home, and, under a so-called moderate administration…
"Today more than 84 newspapers have been shut down, not a single opposition party is allowed to express an opinion, and more than 680,000 political prisoners are languishing in jail.”
An Evil Regime
"So is the clerical regime evil?” Pahlavi asks. "Seventy million people in Iran will tell you so. As for where the regime ranks vis-à-vis other regimes with similar credentials, I prefer to remember the days when my homeland used to be ranked among progressive, civilized and developing nations.”
Since 9/11 and the inclusion of Iran in the infamous Axis of Evil, the stock of former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has risen markedly, making it harder to get an interview with this earnest, imposing and Westernized 44 year-old visionary that Ebrahim Yazdi, the leader of Iran’s Freedom Movement party, worries is being groomed by the U.S. as an alternative to the current rulers in Iran.
Perceiving the late Shah as a despot, Yazdi wants nothing to do with a potential return of the country’s former royal family to power.
But Pahlavi tells NewsMax that his crusade of over 20 years is not to return Iran to those halcyon days of constitutional monarchy:
"There are a multitude of political constituencies in Iran. Despite my last name and the institution I obviously represent, my effort has not been on behalf of or about any particular political constituency in Iran. This effort is not about me, nor is it about the restitution of an institution.”
Pahlavi's Mission
His Majesty, as some of the Iranian people address him, adds, "My political mission in life will be accomplished the day the Iranian people go to the polls and cast their votes in a free and all-inclusive national referendum. It is the people of Iran -- all 70 million of them -- who will choose the form of democratic and representative government they desire.”
Since 1984, however, Pahlavi has been doing the bulk of his leading from the U.S. where he has been living relatively quietly until 9/11 pushed the volatile Middle East into daily headlines around the world.
"Not a day goes by without my calling, faxing and e-mailing my compatriots in Iran and around the world,” Pahlavi tells NewsMax. "Since the launching of my website some, 20 months ago, it has received over 40 million hits. We are flooded with contacts, messages and advice from Iranians, including many from the regime itself.”
And are people listening?
"Is my message resonating in Iran? Yes. Why? It’s resonating because it has been about the legitimate aspiration of the people of Iran. It has been about giving the people a chance to choose and decide for themselves. It has been about opportunity, a better life and a better future -- free from intimidation, coercion and suppression. My voice is their voice, and thus, we all speak the same language: of self-determination, of equality, of freedom!”
Reluctant to criticize the Bush administration in any way, Pahlavi asks only that President Bush "stays on message”: the Iranian people are not America’s enemy, he says, the ruling regime is.
So what are Pahlavi’s thoughts about America's looming military intervention in neighboring Iraq?
"Clearly, the scenario of regime change in Iraq is drastically different from the one in Iran. The former might indeed include the contemplation of a military intervention, but the latter does not. The best method in the case of Iran can be summarized in one-word: empowerment -- of the people that is -- who will bring change by their own hands without foreign intervention.”
"In the big picture," Pahlavi adds, "it is vital for the world to clearly understand that, while regime change in Iraq will put a much welcome end to a brutal and dangerous military dictatorship, a regime change in Iran will have implications far beyond our region or our time. It will completely reverse a sinister domino effect of extremism and radicalism that emanated from Tehran, since the clerical regime’s inception in 1979.”
Are there any circumstances that could arise in Iran that could lead the U.S. to exercise preemptive military strikes there?
"As an Iranian, I shudder to even contemplate the thought of military strike against my homeland,” responds Pahlavi. "So I would say no. However, the most effective preemption against all the evil the clerical regime has been unleashing is an unwavering, more vocal and tangible support for the Iranian people.”
His Majesty adds, "Key regime figures have repeatedly admitted in recent months that the regime is in deep crisis. The US is finally finding its voice and posture against the regime -- one that ties naturally to the same aspirations for liberty and justice among Iranians. Therefore, US policy of voicing support for the people needs to stay the course, and the administration should not fall for any ‘time-buying’ deals this desperate regime might offer it.”
Those "key regime figures” apparently include members of Iran’s Interior Ministry for the ruling mullahs who discovered in a recent survey that only six percent of the sampled 16,000 people in Tehran said they were satisfied with the regime. The other 94 percent said they were unhappy with it. And most disturbing, 45 percent said it was impossible to reform the system and it must be scrapped.
The former Crown Prince perceives gold in those hills, and when he ventures to comment about how the U.S. may be squandering a titanic opportunity to propel change, he does it by suggestion rather than criticism.
It’s fine to have a sympathetic and understanding president in the White House, but if push came to shove, Pahlavi would like to see a more defined and progressive American Iranian policy.
The skilled American-trained jet fighter pilot and graduate of the University of Southern California believes that the U.S. should, for example, be actively funding efforts such as the opposition television and radio broadcasts.
He wants the stigma of the embassy hostage crisis (1979-81) to finally dissipate, replacing it with his fond memories of Iran as a civilized member of the world community, a beacon of friendship in a hostile region -- a light that will one day again dispel the darkness in the Middle East.
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