Reza Pahlavi, the 64-year-old son of the deposed Shah of Iran, has an interesting resume to demonstrate his qualifications for the job of heir to the Peacock Throne. Since his father fled Tehran as the 1979 revolution overthrew his tyrannical rule, Reza Pahlavi has lived in languid luxury. Every time the ruling autocracy of the mullahs appears to be under threat, he occasionally breaks surface to trumpet his claim to the monarchy. The fact that during repeated recent nationwide uprisings in Iran, the crowds have chanted: “Down with the dictator, be it the Shah or the Sheik,” seems to have passed him by.

Let us look at the Clown Prince’s resume. His father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was a cruel dictator, detested by the majority of Iranians. His regime was notorious for its severe human rights abuses, corruption, and economic exploitation of Iran’s resources. In 1975, he formally banned all political parties other than his own, prompting further crackdowns on dissent by his reviled secret police force, the SAVAK. According to some estimates, the number of political prisoners in the country swelled to thousands, with many of them being subjected to torture and execution. Dissidents, artists, writers, and journalists were among those persecuted and silenced.

Parviz Sabeti, the notorious SAVAK boss who escaped Iran before the fall of the Shah, has appeared at Clown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s infrequent rallies, boasting of his SAVAK exploits. Indeed, three political prisoners from the time of the Shah have now filed a U.S. lawsuit against him, accusing him of crimes against humanity. Worse still, Reza Pahlavi has stated that he is in communication with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the hated paramilitary Basij, who he believes will be required to maintain order following the overthrow of the current theocratic regime.

Reza Pahlavi has also lived up to his late father’s expectations as a Westernized socialite. The Shah’s policies aimed at modernizing Iran were viewed as imposing Western cultural values at the expense of Islamic and traditional norms. This alienated religious leaders and many socially conservative Iranians, laying the foundations for the current government. While 95 million Iranians have suffered 46-years of crushing oppression and economic destitution since the 1979 revolution, the Clown Prince has enjoyed a life of Western luxury, with properties and possessions amassed on the back of the billions of dollars looted from the Iranian people by his father, who was a maestro of the art of embezzlement and the illicit amassing of wealth. Reza Pahlavi’s affluence has never been properly explained.

With echoes of the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen – “The Emperor’s New Clothes” Reza Pahlavi strides around the world’s capitals like a naked sovereign, parading vanity and guile in equal measure, desperate to reclaim his father’s throne. His attempts at organizing rallies and demonstrations have been risible, with a trickle of supporters and occasional B-list celebrities who quickly quarrel and fragment, accusing Pahlavi of controlling and authoritarian behaviour. Sniffing at the possibility of regime overthrow in 2022, Pahlavi claimed to have united a dubious coalition of exiled Persians in Washington DC, including obscure politicians, minor celebrities, and anti-regime football stars. The group, called the Georgetown coalition, disintegrated within weeks of being formed in a storm of acrimonious tweets and accusations, in which members accused him of being intolerant of differing views and trying to impose his will on the so-called coalition.

In a recent interview, Pahlavi declared that he would have no truck with the main democratic opposition movement to the mullahs. They have no desire to be associated with the toxic legacy of the Shah. The main democratic opposition movement has been advocating a secular and democratic Iran since before the 1979 revolution, playing a pivotal role in toppling the Shah before establishing itself as the primary opposition to the fundamentalist mullahs’ regime. The main democratic opposition movement has presented a 10-point plan for Iran’s future after the ayatollahs’ overthrow, which calls for free and fair elections, the separation of religion from the state, and the protection of women’s and minority rights. This plan has garnered strong support from a diverse range of prominent Western elected officials and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Where the vast majority of Iranians have made clear their aversion to both the crown and the turban, there is no place within the plan for a naked emperor.

Reza Pahlavi is nevertheless being expertly exploited by the mullahs, who infiltrate frequent anti-regime protests inside Iran with agents who chant pro-monarchy slogans to sow confusion and persuade the demonstrators that the downfall of the present regime could lead to the restoration of the hated Shah. Pahlavi and his dwindling bunch of supporters are naively playing the role of useful idiots for the regime. The mullahs see this as an excellent way of sowing discord within the opposition inside Iran, who have guided and coordinated opposition to the theocratic regime from the outset. The reality is that during all the nationwide public protests in 2022, when the IRGC and their Basij paramilitary thugs murdered 750 people and arrested a further 30,000, support for Pahlavi was nonexistent. Indeed, the would-be King has remained largely invisible in opposition circles for the past 46 years.

George Washington famously said, “Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people. The general government can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any despotic or oppressive form so long as there is any virtue in the body of the people.” There are 95 million virtuous people in Iran who long for regime change and long for a secular democratic republic. They do not want a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or another despotic tyranny. There is no place in Iran for a Clown Prince.