Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran

Reza Pahlavi
Crown Prince of Iran
Head of the House of Pahlavi
Tenure 27 July 1980 – present
Predecessor Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Heir presumptive Patrick Ali Pahlavi
Born (1960-10-31) 31 October 1960
Tehran, Iran
Spouse Yasmine Pahlavi
Issue Princess Noor
Princess Iman
Princess Farah
Full name
English: Reza Pahlavi
Persian: رضا پهلوی‎‎
House House of Pahlavi
Father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mother Farah Pahlavi
Religion Shia Islam[1]

Reza Pahlavi (Persian: رضا پهلوی‎‎, born 31 October 1960) is the last crown prince of Iran, the former Imperial State of Iran and current head of the House of Pahlavi. He is the older son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi. A resident of the United States, he is the heir to the former Persian throne. Reza Pahlavi is the founder and leader of National Council of Iran, a government in exile of Iran. As Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi left Iran at the age of 17 for air force training,[2] two years before the Iranian Revolution. Reza Pahlavi enjoys immense popularity with Iranian expatriates and some of his own countrymen in Iran.[3] According to Afshin Ellian, an Iranian-born philosopher of law and expert in international law, "in Iran, there are two names known to virtually all, even in the most remote villages. The first name is Khamenei and the second one is Reza Pahlavi."[4] In 2011, Reza Pahlavi was named Iran's Person Of The Year by an online poll conducted by Radio Farda that included thousands of Iranian respondents inside and outside Iran.[5] In November 2014, Reza Pahlavi founded his own television and radio network called OfoghIran.[6]

Biography

Reza Pahlavi in 1973 as Crown Prince of Iran

Reza Pahlavi was born in Tehran, Iran, the eldest legitimate son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran and Farah Pahlavi, the Shahbanu of Iran. Reza Pahlavi's siblings include his sister Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi (born 12 March 1963), brother Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (28 April 1966 – 4 January 2011), and sister Princess Leila Pahlavi (27 March 1970 – 10 June 2001), as well as a half-sister, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi (born 27 October 1941).

Accepted into the Imperial Iranian Air Force as a junior officer following secondary schooling, he left Iran in 1977 at the age of 17 for air force flight training in the United States. He spent a year at Williams College in the United States, but was forced to leave because of the turmoil in Iran. With the monarchy overthrown and an Islamic Republic established, Reza Pahlavi did not return to Iran.

He obtained a BSc degree in political science by correspondence from the University of Southern California, because Williams did not offer that option.

The Crown Prince successfully completed the United States Air Force's Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) Program at the former Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. Shortly thereafter, at the start of the Iran–Iraq War, Reza Pahlavi, wrote to General Valiollah Fallahi, Chief Commander of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, offering to fly and fight as a pilot for the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. His offer was rebuffed.[7]

On the death of his father on 27 July 1980, Reza Pahlavi became the Head of the House of Pahlavi.

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has written three books on the state of Iran.

Iranian Imperial Family

HIM Empress Farah

HIH Prince Gholam Reza

  • HIH Prince Bahram
    HIH Princess Iman
  • HIH Prince Bahman
    HIH Princess Shohreh
    • HIH Princess Nazbanoo
  • HIH Princess Maryam
  • HIH Princess Azardokht
  • HIH Prince Patrick Ali
    HIH Princess Sounia Maryam
    • HIH Prince Davoud
      • HIH Princess Solvène
    • HIH Prince Houd
    • HIH Prince Muhammad Yunes

Family

Reza married Yasmine Etemad-Amini on 12 June 1986. Yasmine, a graduate of the George Washington University School of Law, worked for ten years as a lawyer for the Children’s Law Center as a legal advocate for at-risk youth. Yasmine also founded the Foundation for the Children of Iran in 1991, a non-profit foundation that provides health care services to Iranian children or children of Iranian origin.

In 2004, Reza Pahlavi was named as the "unofficial godfather"[8] of Princess Louise of Belgium, the eighth granddaughter of King Albert II of Belgium. The decision to choose him was criticized by the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Politics

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi sworn in as Head of the House of Pahlavi in 1980 at Koubbeh Palace, Cairo.

Reza Pahlavi II has used his high profile as an Iranian abroad to campaign for human rights, democracy and unity among Iranians in and outside Iran.[9] On his website he calls for a separation of religion and state in Iran and for free and fair elections "for all freedom-loving individuals and political ideologies". He exhorts all groups dedicated to a democratic agenda to work together for a democratic and secular Iranian government.[10]

According to Reza Bayegan, Reza Pahlavi believes in the separation of religion from politics. However, he avoids the "Islam bashing" that Bayegan writes occurs in some circles of the Iranian opposition. Rather, he believes that religion has a humanizing and ethical role in shaping individual character and infusing society with greater purpose.[11]

Some of Iranian clergy, such as Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, who oppose the politicization of Islam, support Reza Pahlavi.

The People's Mujahedin of Iran's most important competitor among Iranian exiles is Reza Pahlavi.[12] Massoud Rajavi, leader of Mujahedin , who once spoke against US then-president Bill Clinton for visiting Reza Pahlavi in a restaurant, asked Reza Pahlavi for his support. Massoud Rajavi directly asked Reza Pahlavi to help the People's Mujahedin of Iran for its removal from terror list of United States Department of State.[13] The European Union, Canada and the United States formerly listed the MEK as a terrorist organization, but this designation has since been lifted, first by the Council of the European Union on 26 January 2009 (following what the group called a "seven-year-long legal and political battle"),[14][15][16] then by a decision by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton[17] on 21 September 2012 and lastly by a decision by the Canadian government on 20 December 2012.

Religion

When interviewed about religion, Pahlavi said, "That's a private matter; but if you must know, I am, of course, by education and by conviction, a Shia Muslim. I am very much a man of faith."[18] Iranian writer Reza Bayegan also notes that Crown Prince Reza is deeply attached to his Shi'a Muslim faith. He has performed the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca.[11]

2011 comments

In February 2011, after violence erupted in Tehran, Reza Pahlavi II said that Iran's youth were determined to get rid of an authoritarian government tainted by corruption and misrule in the hope of installing a democracy. "Fundamental and necessary change is long overdue for our region and we have a whole generation of young Egyptians and Iranians not willing to take no for an answer", he told The Daily Telegraph. "Democratisation is now an imperative that cannot be denied. It is only a matter of time before the whole region can transform itself."[19]

Monarchy

Crown Prince Reza with Persian Community in the Netherlands, May 2012

Following in a line of Persian dynasties stretching back 3,000 years, the Pahlavi dynasty was founded early in the twentieth century. The 1979 revolution replaced the monarchy with an Islamic republic. After the death of his father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, he symbolically declared himself Shāhanshāh (literally King of Kings in Persian) at the age of 21.[20] He remains crown prince according to the former Constitution of 1906, as he is required to take the oath in the Iranian Parliament first.[21] His press releases refer to him as either "Reza Pahlavi" or "the former Crown Prince of Iran".

On his website, Reza Pahlavi has said that the state of Iran should become democratic and secular, and human rights should be respected. Whether the form of government would be that of a constitutional monarchy or a republic is something that he would like to leave up to the people of Iran.[22][23]

Succession

Reza Pahlavi II is first in the line of succession to his late father, while his younger brother Ali-Reza Pahlavi II was second in line until his death in January 2011. His first cousin Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi is now next in line to the throne.

Titles, styles and honours

Styles of
Crown Prince Reza of Iran
Reference style His Imperial Highness
Spoken style Your Imperial Highness
Alternative style Sir
Standard of the Crown Prince

Titles and styles

National honours

Foreign honours

Publications

Business and legal issues

Reza Pahlavi is the owner of Medina Development Company. He and his company were engaged in a civil lawsuit against a family member in the 1990s culminating in a favorable judgment in May 1997.[29]

Ancestry

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://payvand.com/news/08/may/1063.html
  2. ↑ . Rezapahlavi.org. Retrieved on 2 January 2013.
  3. ↑ http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-shahs-son-emerges
  4. ↑ http://www.biyokulule.com/view_content.php?articleid=4814
  5. ↑ http://www.rferl.org/content/farda_audience_late_shah_pahlavi_son_iran_person_of_year/24523974.html
  6. ↑ http://ofoghiran.tv/?page_id=191
  7. ↑ An Interview with Reza Pahlavi. Mideastnews.com. February 2002. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
  8. ↑ The Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the child being baptized, does not accept non-Catholics as godparents, given the religious nature of the role, so Pahlavi's role was downgraded to unofficial, not formal.
  9. ↑ Prinz Reza Pahlavi über den Iran: "Dieses Regime ist äußerst anti-religiös". (interview with Reza Pahlavi, in Geman) Zenit.org (31 March 2010). Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
  10. ↑ Reza Pahlavi. The Challenge Of Implementing Democracy And Human Rights In Iran. The International Society Of Human Rights – Bonn, Germany, 27 March 2010. Rezapahlavi.com
  11. 1 2 Reza Bayegan. "Reza Pahlavi and the Question of Religion". Payvand.
  12. ↑ http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/whos_afraid_of_the_iranian_opposition.html
  13. ↑ http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=7833
  14. ↑ Runner, Philippa. "EU ministers drop Iran group from terror list". Euobserver. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
  15. ↑ "EU removes PMOI from terrorist list". UPI. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
  16. ↑ John, Mark (26 January 2009). "EU takes Iran opposition group off terror list". Reuters.
  17. ↑ Shane, Scott (21 September 2012). "Iranian Dissidents Convince U.S. to Drop Terror Label". The New York Times.
  18. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/magazine/28fob-q4-t.html?_r=0
  19. ↑ Iran's Crown Prince calls on West to support anti-government protests. Telegraph. 16 February 2011. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
  20. ↑ 'It is my duty' Rezapahlavi.org. 24 September 2010
  21. ↑ Iran's 1906 Constitution and Its Supplement, Rights of Members of the Assembly fis-iran.org
  22. ↑ April 2011 Q&A, Question 4 rezapahlavi.org
  23. ↑ December Q&A, Question 7 rezapahlavi.org
  24. ↑ "PALHAVI S.A.I. Abdolreza, Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" (in Italian). Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  25. ↑ Boletín Oficial del Estado
  26. ↑ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (pdf) (in German). p. 458. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  27. ↑ IRAN l'heure du choix. Amazon.fr. ISBN 2207261034. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
  28. ↑ Reza Pahlavi´s Web site. Rezapahlavi.org. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
  29. ↑ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Claude M. Hilton, District Judge. (CA-95-1423-A, BK-93-11245). uscourts.gov (1997)

External links

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Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran
Born: 31 October 1960
Titles in pretence
Preceded by
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi		 — TITULAR —
Shahanshah of Iran
Light of the Aryans
27 July 1980 – present
Reason for succession failure:
Monarchy abolished in 1979		 Incumbent
Heir:
Patrick Ali Pahlavi
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