Some of my contacts who helped me research this article would face execution were they based in Iran, thanks to a new “espionage” bill passed unanimously a few days ago by Iran’s supine, theocratic, sick joke of a parliament in the wake of the Israeli micro-war . As part of this new law, “espionage” and collaboration with Israel, the US, or other hostile states such the UK are now classified as ridiculously mediaeval-sounding “corruption on Earth” – a charge that automatically carries the death penalty.
The bill also criminalises sharing images or videos with foreign media and producing content that authorities claim threatens national security or public morale, with penalties ranging from lengthy prison sentences to execution. The current so-called ceasefire, which many hoped might be a trigger for regime change from the streets, has in fact sparked a spree of state-sponsored killings and torture on a scale rarely seen, even in Iran.
According to eye-witnesses anyone leaving their homes in Tehran is immediately swooped upon by the Revolutionary Guard’s infamous Basij militia – their chances of returning home uninjured, or indeed at all, very slim.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his vast network of murderous secret police have launched a 21st century version of The Terror in revenge for their humiliation at Israel’s hands.
The medieval theocracy has never been so weak or so vulnerable and the Iranian people and reports suggest organised resistance on the ground is much closer to toppling this murderous regime.
But these are very dangerous times for ordinary Iranians.
This, however, has not stopped would-be leaders such as Reza Pahlavi, the self-styled “Crown Prince of Iran” (who, of course, lives in America) from calling for rank and file Iranians to sacrifice themselves for him.
He recently tweeted: “All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put this nightmare to an end… may I be with you soon.”
That’s big of him.
Pahlavi, known mockingly as “Baby Shah”, is the son of the deposed and despised Shah of Iran – an Anglo-US puppet installed to protect British oil rights in the 1950s, because the first ever actually democratically-elected Iranian government had nationalised Anglo-Persian Oil (now known as BP) and that had annoyed the powers that were in London and Washington.
As ever in the Middle East, we do not come out of things smelling of roses.
From the 1953 coup d’etat to being kicked out in the 1979 revolution (which installed the Ayatollahs) Pahlavi’s father did indeed modernise Iran – but he also built up one of the world’s most feared secret police (called the SAVAK) who would execute and torture political opponents and civillians, using red-hot pokers, electricity, and sodomy to destroy opposition to the Shah.
When he was finally deposed in 1979 he fled to the USA (he had been backed by the CIA) – after transferring $4bn stolen from the Iranian people out of the country, according to the New York Times.
The son of this hideous, murderous man is now vying to return as leader. And this week, thanks to his expensive PR team, senior British politicians who really ought to know better (including David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Priti Patel) met with Pahlavi Jr for talks apparently about his “succession”.
The 64-year-old monarchist has softened his position on fully reinstating the (his) monarchy in recent years saying he is now leaning towards a full-blown democracy – but he still talks-up his terrible father, and has a distinctly uneasy relationship with the Ayatollah’s Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).
There is a reason the last street uprising in Iran – which was viciously quelled by the IRGC – chanted “down with the oppressor, whether the Shah or the Ayatollah”.
It is hard to see why the rank-and-file Iranian would want anyone with familial links to a corrupt, deposed dictator anywhere near the reins of power.
Not all Brit politicians are in thrall to the self-styled “Prince”.
As Pahlavi met with a handful of politicians in our own Houses of Parliament days ago Tory MP for Harrow East and Chairman of the 1922 Committee Bob Blackman told me: “It is troubling to hear that Reza Pahlavi claims to be in contact with members of the IRGC and its paramilitary Basij. In 2022, the people of Iran clearly stated their rejection of all forms of dictatorship, whether under the Shah or the mullahs. This is why I signed the statement to support the Iranian people’s aspirations.”
On the Labour side Lord Steve McCabe added: “Reza Pahlavi is an irrelevant figure. He appears to romanticise his father’s dictatorial rule, which was overthrown by the Iranian people in February, 1979.
“I believe we should support the Iranian people’s expressed desire to oppose all forms of dictatorship.
“I am also deeply troubled by Pahlavi’s calls for members of the IRGC, a well-known terrorist entity, to join him. His political activities in the UK, should be closely monitored under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which recently came into effect, as his support for members of the IRGC would appear to raise some security concerns.”
And the crossbench peer Baroness O’Loan added: “I was one of nearly six hundred members of both houses of Parliament who signed a statement supporting the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy, calling for the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist entity. It is troubling to hear that Reza Pahlavi says he has been in direct contact with IRGC commanders and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry who have enabled the Ayatollah’s Regime’s decades of violence and repression of the people of Iran both inside and outside the country.
“The people of Iran are seeking a peaceful democratic way forward, free of the fear of the IRGC and those who have brought death and devastation to Iran.”
In a just released white paper, titled, Reza Pahlavi: An Alternative or an Obstacle to Change in Iran,” Free Iran Scholars Network (FSIN) fellow and Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources from Tehran University, Dr. Khalil Khani, underscored: “The 1979 revolution was not a call for theocracy, nor was it a cry for monarchy. It was a mass rejection of both. It was the birth of a people’s demand for justice, liberty, and sovereignty.
“The future of Iran lies not in the shadow of old thrones or turbaned tyrants. It lies in the hands of the Iranian people — those who fight for democracy, for human rights, and for a secular republic. Any path forward must reject both the mullahs’ oppression and the Shah’s legacy. To get close to either is to walk back into darkness.”