Prince Reza Pahlavi: The People of Iran Want Their Country Returned to Them
Prince Reza Pahlavi wrote in a note published in the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, stating that the people of Iran have a message: we want our country returned to us.
He continued by referring to the new wave of anti-government protests that Iran’s various cities have witnessed recently, writing about the killing of Reza Otadi, one of the protesters at Gohardasht in Karaj.
The son of Iran’s last shah, in this article published on Wednesday on the Wall Street Journal website, says that Otadi had only one message on his Twitter account, and that was regime change in Iran.
In his view, this single tweet by Reza Otadi – who is said to have been killed by regime forces’ bullets on the third of August – demonstrates that he understood and expressed the feeling of a nation.
Prince Reza Pahlavi, noting that recent protests are the latest chapter of an approximately forty-year struggle, says that the people of Iran are not only complaining about the country’s dire economic situation.
According to him, people’s protests go far beyond a specific economic or social problem, and they are dissatisfied with social, political, and economic injustices in the Islamic Republic.
Prince Reza Pahlavi says that people’s protests in Iran have targeted the ideology and structure of the Islamic system as the source of the “disease,” rather than its symptoms and resulting problems.
“My compatriots are seeking the end of the Islamic Republic, not just because of its authoritarianism, despotism, and inefficiency; but because it is not only un-Iranian, but anti-Iranian.”
He continues, saying that Iranians in the streets and on social media chant slogans to the effect that, “We will take back Iran, even if we have to die in the process.”
The heir to Iran’s monarchy, which ended in February 1979, says “Iranians want freedom, justice, and opportunity, but at the same time they want the dignity and glory of their country preserved and respected.
According to Prince Reza Pahlavi, the people of Iran want their country’s rich culture and the services that this ancient civilization has provided to humanity to be recognized and respected in the world.
“They want other countries to look at Iran as a friend and trusted partner; whose people control their own affairs and guide the country toward a new chapter in history.”
Continuing his note and referring to the fact that the Islamic Republic governs out of fear of its people, he writes that the regime has responded to recent protests with violence, as it has in the past.
Reza Pahlavi says that for decades I have been calling for the establishment of a secular democracy in Iran and have repeatedly said that the way to achieve this goal is to recognize two “fundamental truths”: first, that the Islamic Republic is an existential threat to Iran and its people, and second, that the Islamic Republic system is not reformable.
Source: Voice of America
