Royal Rehabilitation and the Perpetual Push for Intervention
In Munich, coinciding with recent protests, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah, urged a “global day of action,” seeking external pressure against the Iranian government. This appeal coincided with former US President Donald Trump’s renewed statements advocating for “regime change” in Iran, further pushing a narrative embraced by such exiled figures on the international stage. This performance
of discontent is not novel. The Pahlavi family, ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has long been a recipient of Western support. The last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was installed and maintained through a 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup against the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, primarily to secure British and American oil interests. For decades, the Shah's government
was infamous for its brutal SAVAK secret police, directly supported by the US and Israel, which suppressed dissent with extreme prejudice. The current solicitations for intervention echo past geopolitical maneuvers where appeals from deposed elites serve as pretexts for foreign interference. The consistent drumbeat for “regime change,” often framed as support for human rights, conveniently ignores
the historical record of Western powers backing authoritarian figures when it suited their strategic and economic interests, only to abandon them when public sentiment shifts or new opportunities arise. The objective remains the same: to destabilize and ultimately control a sovereign nation, regardless of the will of its people. This recycled playbook of leveraging exiled figures to lobby for