Alex Shams in the Boston Review:
While Netanyahu and Trump bombed Iran, dozens of prominent Iranian Americans waved Israel’s flag and pled for harder strikes. Among those welcoming the attacks was sixty-four-year-old Reza Pahlavi, son of the king (shah, in Persian) whom Iranians overthrew in the revolution of 1979. “This is our Berlin Wall moment,” he declared.
Pahlavi has neither accomplishments nor grassroots popularity to draw on, but he does have a famous name and immense family wealth. In early 2023, he tried to build a coalition with opposition Iranians outside the country, but it promptly collapsed. Nonetheless, Pahlavi is fond of pretending that his “restoration” to the crown is a fait accompli. He spent the twelve-day war in June insisting that the Islamic Republic was on its last legs and that he would return to Tehran on the back of U.S. tanks and Israeli missiles, going so far as to boast of plans for his first hundred days in office.
More here.
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