Previous | Next :: The Return of The King?: Waiting in the Shadows Reza Pahlavi Crown Prince of Iran : Maryland : USA | June 23, 2009, 3:12 am

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Today the Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi is speaking at the Washington DC Press Club but I had a bit of a jump on the opposition by being invited to photograph him at a residence he uses near DC on Friday.

He was known to many as 'The Young Shah' in the past but I imagine that's not really something people call him now. None of the things implied in that name is really a current description.

He fled with his father the last Shah of Iran 30 years ago as the Mullahs seized power and he has not been able to return since that time.

It was interesting to hear him speak so passionately about his homeland after all these years. He is hoping that the current protests and mass civil disobedience of ordinary people in the streets of Tehran will lead to the over throw of the ruling theocracy. Then he would like to play some role in seeing a move to a proper modern democracy. He thinks his role could be as a unifying head of State. A constitutional Monarch like King Juan Carlos of Spain, who is credited, by his return, with helping his country recover toward a stable democracy following the fascism of the Franco years.

I guess it could happen..... it would be great if it did....... well it would be great if the theocracy fell..... and totally brilliant if any kind of modern democracy came about...... in any form.

One thing that Pahlavi said was that ordinary people in the West would now see the State and the people of Iran as two separate entities thanks to the coverage of the protests. People in the West would now start to see the people of Iran as the primary victims of their authoritarian regime ..... not as one with it..... just as the West views the long suffering people of Burma/Myanmar as the primary victims of their dictatorship. I think he may be right about this.

Respect and good luck to anyone brave enough to take to the streets to protest in Tehran.

Cheers Jez XXXXXXX

PS........The stakes are high for the people on the streets of Tehran....... Watching these videos leaves you in no doubt about the real danger people face when they protest against the theocracy in Iran .........http://mashable.com/2009/06/20/iran-youtube .......... never mind Pehlavi's from role here in the US....... absolute respect must go to all those people out attempting to win democracy on the streets and rooftops of Iran.

PPS....... The Crown Prince told me he is a photographer in his spare time.......... I was just about to tell him 'Wow that 's so funny because I like to dress up as the King of the Peacock throne in my spare time!'........ but in the end I thought....... nah...... best not to make that joke....... hehehehe.............. :-))

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