One person who could not be more pleased with the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States is Prince Reza Pahlavi, who had been living in exile ever since the Islamic Revolution overthrew the reign of his father, the last Shah of Iran. Pahlavi is very keen to overthrow the mullahs and replace their rule with a Parliamentary Monarchy with respect for Human Rights and a modern free market economy. He hopes that Trump will take a harder line with the mullahs than his predecessor, according to the Associated Press.
The new president could hardly take a softer line Obama turned a cold shoulder to freedom protestors in 2009 and 2010 and signed an agreement with the theocratic government in Tehran that he claimed stopped their nuclear weapons program but actually likely enabled it.
Obama’s desire to appease the mullahs was breathtaking, bringing to mind how democracies in the 1930s tried to stave off Adolf Hitler by giving him what he wanted.
But are Iranians pining for a return of the King? Pahlavi thinks so and points out to demonstrations that have taken place around the tomb of the first King of Persia, Cyrus the Great. He notes that his royal house fostered economic growth fueled by oil revenues which contrast with the backward policies of the mullahs who are addicted to funding terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction to destroy what they perceive to be the enemies of Islam.
Truth to tell, most young people in Iran, who have lived all their lives under the heel of the mullahs, would like to live in an ordinary country where one can make a homemade music video without fear of being whipped to death for it.
The question is whether or not the prince in exile is the man who can help give them that country.
The Trump administration will likely start offering covert assistance to the Iranian opposition if it hasn’t already. The long-term solution to the Iranian problem is regime change. As long as the mullahs run things, Iran will remain an implacable enemy of civilization.
One also cannot doubt that if Prince Reza ascends the Peacock Throne no one in the White House will shed any tears. The prince’s father, for all of his faults, was a warm ally to the United States. Iran under the last Shah was an island of stability and modernity in a turbulent Middle East. That it could be so again is something that should be fervently wished for. But it will likely be a long, hard slog to get there.
