Prince Reza Pahlavi: Iran's Moderate Supreme Leader
Prince Reza Pahlavi wrote an article titled "The Moderate Supreme Leader of Iran" that depicted the false structure of Ali Khamenei.
The "Bartle Bull" article, written by Prince Reza Pahlavi, titled "Iran's Moderate Supreme Leader," was published in the Wall Street Journal, which paints a picture of Ali Khamenei as the totality of the Islamic Republic and a government that is nothing more than a show.
The full text of the article "Bartle Bull" written by Prince Reza Pahlavi is below:
“This regime presents itself as Iran’s guardian, while plundering the country’s oil resources for a small, closed group and failing to provide the most basic water infrastructure for the Iranian people. Instead of spending the national wealth on its citizens, the ruling clerics have spent billions of dollars on a nuclear weapons program. This regime hates the very civilization it claims to lead. For nearly half a century, the ruling class has attempted to destroy Iran’s cultural, intellectual and moral foundations and replace them with imperialist ideas of jihad and conquests from Najaf to Karbala. In its blind fanaticism, it even suppresses the annual commemoration of one of the most prominent figures in Iranian history, Cyrus the Great, calling it a “Zionist conspiracy.”
Every Iranian knows the leader of the Islamic Republic well. Mr. Khamenei himself knows him best: a mediocre cleric who rose to power through political games, without any particular academic or moral credentials. As Bartle Bull has pointed out, his entire path has been built on the distortion of religion to justify power.
For years, Iranian dissidents have tried to make this reality known to the world. The regime has survived not on the basis of genuine popular support, but through internal repression and the diversion of ideas by external crises. But the West, due to its bitter memories of “nation-building,” often confuses Iran with its neighbors.
My homeland is a modern country with a largely young, educated, and American-loving population. Iranians who migrate to the West shine brightly in the markets there. Iran’s history, literature, culture, and political traditions align with and respect America and its allies. These characteristics are deep-rooted and have existed not only before the Islamic Republic, but will persist after it.
However, Iran’s per capita GDP is shamefully only $4,500, when it should be $45,000. With its natural resources, human talent, and international connections, Iran should be on par with the most successful countries in the world, but instead, it languishes in poverty.
However, I am confident that this will not be the case forever. Khamenei’s mediocrity is not an accident, but the essence of the system. This regime exalts the small and the wrong, silences the bold, and punishes the worthy. This system cannot be reformed, because it was never built to succeed. Eventually, it will collapse, and then Iranians will be able to achieve their dreams of dignity, freedom, and the right to build a future in their own name.
"When the Khamenei regime is consigned to the dustbin of history, the United States and the international community will find no better friend in peace and prosperity than Iran."
