Reza Pahlavi
Iran's last crown prince and son of Mohammad Reza Shah (b. 1960), who in exile has become a prominent opposition figure advocating a democratic transition.
Read in context →Biography
Reza Pahlavi (b. 1960) is the eldest son of the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and Empress Farah, designated Crown Prince at his father's 1967 coronation. He left Iran for U.S. Air Force pilot training in 1978 and, following the 1979 revolution and his father's death in 1980, has lived in exile — primarily in the Washington, D.C., area — where he earned a degree in political science from the University of Southern California. He has spent his adult life as a prominent opposition figure advocating a secular, democratic Iran and a transition away from the Islamic Republic, while stating he does not seek to restore the monarchy by fiat but to let Iranians choose their system. He has gained renewed visibility during periods of Iranian unrest and in November 2024 announced a 'five-pillar' transition framework. He is a contested figure: supported by some in the diaspora as a unifying opposition symbol, while critics question the breadth of his domestic backing and his dynastic association.
Quotes & narrations
«The future of Iran must be decided by a referendum and the free vote of the people; the form of the system is for the Iranian nation to choose.»
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Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Reza Pahlavi"
- Encyclopaedia Iranica (Pahlavi family entries)
- NPR/BBC reporting on Reza Pahlavi and Iran protests (2024–2026)