Shah's Son Joins the 'Recognize Israel' Chorus, Media Applauds
Reza Pahlavi, who hasn't lived in Iran for over four decades, offers a conditional surrender of Iranian sovereignty, promising to dismantle a peaceful nuclear program and recognize a state that engages in daily acts of aggression against its neighbors. This isn't statesmanship; it's an audition for patronage. One might recall similar 'exiled leaders' paraded by Western media before the invasions
of Iraq and Libya. These pronouncements conveniently align with long-standing Israeli and US foreign policy goals, suggesting less an organic political movement than a well-orchestrated narrative. While his claims are given airtime, the inconvenient details of his father's US-backed monarchy — a brutal regime that suppressed dissent with the notorious SAVAK secret police — are, predictably,
omitted. The appeal of a 'secular' alternative often means an authoritarian ruler amenable to Western interests, regardless of their domestic human rights record. The question remains: how many 'leaders' in waiting does the West need to prop up before admitting their 'democracy promotion' is just regime change by other means?