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Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran. (Archives)
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Last update - 09:58 10/06/2007
Shah's exiled son: Israel should take Ahmadinejad's threats seriously
By Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondent

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran, suggests taking Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threat to annihilate Israel very seriously. However, he suggests refraining from military action against his country.

That's not what scares the regime there," he explains. "What scares it are the opponents from within, who should be strengthened. An attack from outside could give this regime carte blanche to do anything, and even lead to a nationalist awakening that would bring into its camp people who do not belong to it now."

Pahlavi spoke with Haaretz at a gathering in Prague of dissidents from 17 countries that was sponsored by the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center. For the past 19 years he has lived in Washington, where he married a woman of Iranian descent and fathered three daughters. He operates from the exile he entered at age 19 like a bench player who practices determinedly for the moment when he is called to step back onto the court. Two years ago he even went on a hunger strike to demand the release of political prisoners, even though he cannot escape the fact that during his father's reign there were many political prisoners in Iran.
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I am not saying there were no mistakes made under the previous regime," he says. "But you have to remember the context of that time. Those were the days of the Cold War, and there was in Iran a sense that the Soviet Union wanted to turn us into its satellite. I can understand why the public went along with the revolution, but I also know that no one wished for the tragic result of today."

Iranian exiles, who come from polar opposite groups, have a complicated attitude toward the Shah's son, and their interests truly overlap only in the desire to overthrow the current regime.

Asked whether he supports a return of the monarchy, Pahlavi replies diplomatically. "The people will decide," he says. "One of the options is indeed a parliamentary monarchy. That suits the character of our people. In heterogeneous societies, the monarchy is a symbol of unity".

Pahlavi says he has been feeling encouraged lately, especially following the recent statements on Iran by France's new president.

"It is possible that the divide-and-conquer system that sabotages the efforts to eradicate such regimes is now being replaced by greater unity," he says hopefully. "We have in Iran now an inquisition like the one they had in Europe and that was followed by the Renaissance. We are not far from that. Iran needs a further push, additional pressure on the regime by means of sanctions that hurt the system without hurting its citizens.... The Iranians must become convinced that the world is serious enough not to abandon them along the way."

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the Shah's son is accorded a wary respect. He wasn't an original invitee to the conference, which was organized by Natan Sharansky, Vaclav Havel and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and whose high point was an appearance by George Bush en route to the G-8 meeting. With so many conflicting interests among the regimes the human rights crusaders hailed from including Egypt, Sudan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others it was hard to spot the unifying political interest, aside from the participants' subjective feeling that they represent absolute good opposing the absolute evil in the world. At times, the uniting factor was anger at Bush, like that which linked Garry Kasparov, a vehement Putin opponent, and Saad al-Din Ibrahim, a noted freedom fighter from Egypt and longtime opponent of Mubarak's. For years they have felt that Bush betrayed them along the way, based on erroneous considerations, and they got a chance to tell him so during a brief meeting with the U.S. president in Prague.

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  1.   merit to this approach but not seeing much done on it military 05:51  |  ralph 10/06/07
  2.   Sneh on Iran nuke in 1992 06:27  |  ted 10/06/07
  3.   IAF training 06:34  |  Natallie Durson 10/06/07
  4.   Uprising among all sections of Iranian society... 06:38  |  Maureen Ann 10/06/07
  5.   Maureen: perhaps you sympathize for the puppet 06:55  |  Richard S 10/06/07
  6.   Either attack Iran, or Iran attacks... CHOOSE ! 07:24  |  amir 10/06/07
  7.   `Maureen 07:45  |  gary 10/06/07
  8.   STOP IT, BEFORE YOU GET HURT 08:17  |  indrajaya 10/06/07
  9.   Amir What concrete information do you have 08:47  |  spyguy 10/06/07
  10.   Gary in Oz - Better get used to being on your 08:49  |  spyguy 10/06/07
  11.   Shah`s exiled son 09:15  |  Ahmed M Ibrahim 10/06/07
  12.   iran 10:05  |  ELLIOTT 10/06/07
  13.   For Amir # 6 10:24  |  Clickfool 10/06/07
  14.   For Spyguy # 9 10:32  |  Clickfool 10/06/07
  15.   spyguy#10 10:35  |  gary 10/06/07
  16.   Indrajaya 10:35  |  Sarah 10/06/07
  17.   Eventually someone will attack 10:39  |  Jerusalemite 10/06/07
  18.   #3 MORE MILITARY ADVICE FROM NATALLIE 11:03  |  paul harris 10/06/07
  19.   Maureen Ann-# 4-The US puppet 11:09  |  Daniel Leopold 10/06/07
  20.   Iran was a civilized prosperous country under the Shah 11:11  |  Daniel Leopold 10/06/07
  21.   spyguy #9 11:13  |  Raj 10/06/07
  22.   CFOOL.ISRAEL "scheming to topple Sadaam"? Proof please? 11:19  |  PETER SM 10/06/07
  23.   Knesset 11:26  |  Clive Blackwell 10/06/07
  24.   #8 Indrajaya, how fitting it is for Israelis to be 11:32  |  Leo 10/06/07
  25.   # 11, AHMED M. IBRAHIM 11:33  |  indrajaya 10/06/07
  26.   INDRAJAYA.#8. Go "advise" some unarmed Papuans.! 11:33  |  PETER SM 10/06/07
  27.   # 16, SARAH 11:37  |  indrajaya 10/06/07
  28.   Hi Daniel Leopold. 11:44  |  Maureen Ann 10/06/07
  29.   27 Indrajaya 11:59  |  Sarah 10/06/07
  30.   #4, "it is a universal truth" 12:25  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 10/06/07
  31.   Only half of the printed article 12:26  |  Sarah 10/06/07
  32.   Life a Bowl of Cherries under the Shah (2nd attempt) 12:31  |  Clickfool 10/06/07
  33.   MAUREEN N CHINA and Russia are very concerned with Irans re 13:00  |  PETER SM 10/06/07
  34.   ClickfooL 13:24  |  Sarah 10/06/07
  35.   #32 13:36  |  Moshe 10/06/07
  36.   Why??? 13:56  |  Iranian 10/06/07
  37.   Where is Reza`s Army? 14:11  |  Ronnie Wolman 10/06/07
  38.   #33PeterSM. It is all about... 14:18  |  Maureen Ann 10/06/07
  39.   honesty and hipocrisy 14:32  |  zelig 10/06/07
  40.   What a confused Article?! 14:35  |  Boozaglow 10/06/07
  41.   For Sarah # 34 14:52  |  Clickfool 10/06/07
  42.   THE BOY SHOULD TAKE IT UP WITH FRANCE 14:53  |  paul harris 10/06/07
  43.   lack of a capable oppposition 15:01  |  kia 10/06/07
  44.   merica has invaded 2 countries 15:17  |  Dr David I. Gross 10/06/07
  45.   To clickfool@41 15:22  |  DontGeneralize 10/06/07
  46.   like all exiles 15:39  |  ravi 10/06/07
  47.   Shah`s son 15:55  |  David 10/06/07
  48.   Israel`s Cronies 16:09  |  MA 10/06/07
  49.   Chalabi - Nuf Said 16:51  |  Jane 10/06/07
  50.   Reza-boy 17:08  |  david 10/06/07
  51.   The boy who would be King 18:12  |  tadchase 10/06/07
  52.   #14 18:43  |  Moshe 10/06/07
  53.   Very valuable advice 18:48  |  Fortuna Benmayor 10/06/07
  54.   Clickfool #14 Re Israel Scheming with Bush 19:01  |  Eli 10/06/07
  55.   Very interesting to see the haters flock to this article. 19:50  |  Fortuna Benmayor 10/06/07
  56.   the picture 20:33  |  mo 10/06/07
  57.   IAF TRAINING. 20:35  |  DANNY. 10/06/07
  58.   #13 CLICKFOOL, FORGET ONE MINUTE ISRAEL AND... 20:43  |  MOSHEH 10/06/07
  59.   NO 30. 20:44  |  DANNY 10/06/07
  60.   Shah`s exiled son 21:11  |  Brod 10/06/07
  61.   Fifth Columnism taken to the extreme 21:33  |  Hannah 10/06/07
  62.   Please, Befriend Israel. All Enemies of Israel Soon Are to Burn 21:45  |  Ibn Boo-Boo 10/06/07
  63.   To Israel 21:58  |  Yosemite 10/06/07
  64.   #60, Brod 22:19  |  Hannah 10/06/07
  65.   #61 WHAT IS ZIONIST DREAM HANNAH IS IT WET OR DRY ? 22:19  |  paul harris 10/06/07
  66.   CORRECTION ! 22:51  |  Nina Karam 10/06/07
  67.   This is not about scaring them. This is about WAR. . 22:57  |  Ethan 10/06/07
  68.   Why so, Ibn Boo-Boo? # 62 23:06  |  Clickfool 10/06/07
  69.   Scare tactics totally inadequate. Use the neutron bomb. DO IT! 23:08  |  Ethan 10/06/07
  70.   Ethan,Is it Hot today in Miami? 23:20  |  Ronnie Wolman 10/06/07
  71.   Shahs Iran 23:24  |  sweis Melbourne 10/06/07
  72.   Natallie Durson 00:18  |  rich 11/06/07
  73.   #4 Maureen Ann - Do you require your 00:34