Reza Pahlavi's Berlin visit exposes his fading political influence
Iranian Exile Activist and Shah's Son Reza Pahlavi Receives Lukewarm Welcome in Berlin
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Iranian activist and son of the late shah, was greeted with enthusiasm in Berlin on Thursday morning—at least by his own supporters, who cheered his arrival at the Federal Press Conference. The German government, however, did not extend him so much as a courtesy call. To Chancellor Olaf Scholz's administration, Pahlavi apparently does not even warrant half an hour of official attention.
This comes as little surprise. Despite the devastating US-Israeli airstrikes that not only killed former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei but also crippled Iran's infrastructure, the mullahs' regime shows no signs of imminent collapse. Even the US government, which had once floated Pahlavi as a potential successor to the ayatollahs before the war, has long since lost interest in him. Weeks ago, the US president openly questioned whether the Iranian exile was fit for the role—and, like his German counterparts, declined to meet with him. If Reza Pahlavi still figures as a possible transitional leader, it is only in the eyes of his most devoted followers.
What exactly the activist hoped to achieve with his appearance at the Federal Press Conference remains unclear. If the goal was to ingratiate himself with the German media or present himself as a capable statesman, the effort backfired spectacularly. Instead, Pahlavi spent much of his speaking time lecturing the assembled journalists on how to do their jobs.
He began by accusing the German press of failing to adequately cover the situation in Iran, falling for regime propaganda, and giving the impression of living "on another planet." This was followed, in the same scolding tone, by a series of unsolicited tips: "Get out there and find the facts," "Be more investigative," "Talk to Iranian activists for once." Needless to say, journalists tend not to respond well to such condescension.
When pressed on substantive questions—such as how he envisions a concrete transition to a provisional government under current conditions—he offered no real answers. The regime, he insisted, is weaker than ever; European states should cease all dialogue with the mullahs; the Persian nation, he reminded his audience, has liberated itself from occupiers time and again over millennia. What he lacked, however, were actual solutions.
The would-be king, it seems, revealed himself to the press on Thursday not as a monarch-in-waiting but as a court jester—one without even a court left to summon him.
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