Iran's Long-exiled Prince Wants a Revolution in Age of Trump
April 10, 2017 09:37 PM
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/irans-long-exiled-prince-wants-revolution-age-trump
Iran's long-exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks during an interview at the Associated Press bureau in Washington, April 6, 2017.
Iran's long-exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks during an interview at the Associated Press bureau in Washington, April 6, 2017.
Iran's exiled crown prince wants a revolution.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah to rule before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has seen his profile rise in recent months following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who promises a harder line against the Shi'ite power.
Pahlavi's calls for replacing clerical rule with a parliamentary monarchy, enshrining human rights and modernizing its state-run economy could prove palatable to both the West and Iran's Sunni Gulf neighbors, who remain suspicious of Iran's intentions amid its involvement in the wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
But the Mideast is replete with cautionary tales about Western governments putting their faith in exiles long estranged from their homelands. Whether Pahlavi can galvanize nostalgia for the age of the Peacock Throne remains unseen.
"This regime is simply irreformable because the nature of it, its DNA, is such that it cannot," Pahlavi told The Associated Press. "People have given up with the idea of reform and they think there has to be fundamental change. Now, how this change can occur is the big question."
Pahlavi left Iran at age 17 for military flight school in the U.S., just before his cancer-stricken father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi abandoned the throne for exile. The revolution followed, with the creation of the Islamic Republic, the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the sweeping away of the last vestiges of the American-backed monarchy.
Yet the Pahlavis and the age of the monarchy have retained their mystique in Iran, even as the majority of its 80 million people weren't alive to experience it. Television period pieces have focused on their rule, including the recent state TV series The Enigma of the Shah, the most expensive series ever produced to air in the country. While incorporating romances or mobsters into the tales, all uniformly criticize the royal court.
AP Shah of Iran inaugural speech
AP Shah of Iran inaugural speech
FILE - The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, reads his inaugural speech at the initial session of his nation's first senate in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 16, 1950.
Alleged longing for past
But Pahlavi, 56, insists young Iranians increasingly look toward Iran's past. He pointed to recent demonstrations at the tomb of the pre-Islamic King Cyrus the Great, which have been claimed by a variety of anti-government forces as a sign of unrest. Under his father's secular and pro-Western rule, Iran experienced a rapid modernization program financed by oil revenues.
"If you look at the legacy that was left behind by both my father and my grandfather ... it contrasts with this archaic, sort of backward, religiously rooted radical system that has been extremely repressive," Pahlavi said.
Since the U.S. election, Pahlavi has given a growing number of media interviews, including with Breitbart, the website once run by Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Pahlavi also has sent letters to the Trump administration.
Gauging national sentiment toward restoring the monarchy in Iran is impossible, especially after the crackdown that followed the country's disputed 2009 election. Iranian state media routinely refer to the Pahlavi monarchy as "despotic," but there has been some reassessing of history in other quarters.
A book published last year, The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Last Days of Imperial Iran, offered a revisionist view of the shah. While acknowledging the abuses of his feared SAVAK intelligence service and the corruption surrounding his rule, the book portrays him as a fatalist in an era of disappearing Mideast monarchies.
"The regime has repressed discussion of the Pahlavis for so long that it has had the opposite effect of making young Iranians inside the country curious about what they don't know," said historian Andrew Scott Cooper, the book's author. "There's an interesting generational divide going on here to where young Iranians are saying to their parents and grandparents, the same people who marched against the shah and Pahlavis, 'Why did you get rid of that system and put this one in place?'"
He added: "The family name still retains a lot of magic, more than ever today among Iranians. How that translates practically into support for Reza as a credible alternative leader, I just don't know."
Iran Revolution Anniversary Rally US
Iran Revolution Anniversary Rally US
FILE - Iranians carry a banner showing a caricature of U.S. President Donald Trump during an annual rally commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which toppled the late pro-U.S. Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 10, 2017.
Key to revolution: No Western interference
Asked how his envisioned peaceful revolution could play out in Iran, Pahlavi said it would need to begin with labor unions starting a nationwide strike. He said members of the hard-line Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organization established to protect the clerical system, would be assured they wouldn't be "all hung and shot."
Most importantly, he said Western governments need to keep their distance and not threaten military action.
That's an exceedingly optimistic vision, especially considering the amount of power the Guard and other hard-liners wield in Iran's economy. It also largely ignores the concerns many in Iran have about Western meddling. Pahlavi's father took power following a 1953 coup engineered by Britain and the U.S.
Pahlavi, who still resides in the U.S., said he hasn't had any "side occupation" since 1979, and has received financial support from his family and "many Iranians who have supported the cause."
"My focus right now is on liberating Iran, and I will find any means that I can, without compromising the national interests and independence, with anyone who is willing to give us a hand, whether it is the U.S. or the Saudis or the Israelis or whomever it is," he said.
Pahlavi said he had yet to meet with the Trump administration despite his letters. Another Iranian exile group, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously paid a member of Trump's Cabinet $50,000 for giving a speech. However, the MEK's siding with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and its killing of Americans before the revolution, which the group now denies, makes it an unsuitable partner, Pahlavi said.
"It's pretty much a cult-type structure," he said.
For now, Pahlavi said he looks forward to meeting with Trump and his administration. But he pins his hopes on Iran's sense of history, something Cooper also acknowledged.
"For many Iranians, the revolution is unfinished business," the author said.
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Leads into MEK, Iran and Kerry >
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/mek.htm
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO)
National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA)
People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI)
National Council of Resistance (NCR)
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
Muslim Iranian Student's Society
US Secretary of State John Kerry used a visit to Albania on February 14, 2016 to thank the government for resettling members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin e Khalq, or MEK. Over the previous two years, Albania had taken in about 1,000 members of the MEK and had committed to resettling an additional 2,000, said a senior State Department official. Most lived in US-backed camps in Iraq. The US assistance included a donation of $20 million to the UN refugee agency to help resettle the MEK, said the State Department official. The US also provided Albania with security and economic development assistance, to help the country build up its physical capacity to house the refugees.
The United States, which listed National Council of Resistance of Iran as a terrorist organization, closed the NCRI's Washington office in 2003. The fall of Saddam Hussein's regime affected the circumstances of the designated foreign terrorist organization Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The MEK was allied with the Iraqi regime and received most of its support from it. The MEK assisted the Hussein regime in suppressing opposition within Iraq, and performed internal security for the Iraqi regime. The National Liberation Army was the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
A former high-ranking MEK official confirmed long-held suspicions that Saudi Arabia has been financing the political-militant group bent on violent regime change in Iran through sophisticated channels to provide the group with valuables like gold and Rolex watches, according to a new report. In an interview with Jordanian news outlet Al-Bawaba 19 Deptember 2018, a former MEK member who oversaw the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of materials explained how the group has stayed financially afloat.
Massoud Khodabandeh explained that 3 tons of solid gold, a minimum of four suitcases of customized Rolex watches and fabric that had been used to cover the Muslim holy site of Kaaba in Mecca were among the commodities shipped from Saudi Arabia to MEK operatives in Baghdad as part of the scheme. From there, the valuables would be sold on the black market in Jordan's capital, Amman, to Saudi-aligned merchants.
The Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK also known as PMOI, MKO, NCRI, Muslim Iranian Students, Society, Organization of the People,s Holy Warriors of Iran, the National Liberation Army, Sazeman-e Mujahideen-e Khalq Iran) has used a number of names, or front organizations.
The MEK has a history that does go back to the time of the Shah in the 1970s. It was a group that propounded an ideology that mixed Islamism and Marxism. And, among their earliest operations were lethal operations against US personnel, including US military personnel, in Iran. In the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the MEK backed Ayatollah Khomeini and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. By 1981, however, the MEK split with the cleric-based regime, launching a bombing campaign that killed Iran's president and prime minister. Then, its leadership fled to Europe.
The MEK sided with Iraq in its 1980-1988 war with Iran. In 1986, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein set up an enclave called Camp Ashraf for the group north of Baghdad. In 1991, MEK forces allegedly assisted Saddam in putting down uprisings by the Kurds in Iraq's north, and the Shi'ites in the south. Then, in April 1992, the MEK attacked Iranian embassies and facilities in 13 countries. In 1997, a new U.S. law put the MEK and 29 other groups on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Britain and the European Union also put the MEK on terrorist lists.
Then, in 2002, the group said it had uncovered Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz and elsewhere. The next year, U.S. and coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein.
By 2004 Mujahedin-e-Khalq [MEK] facilities in Iraq included
On 10 May 2003 V Corps accepted the voluntary consolidation of the Mujahedin-E-Khalq's forces, and subsequent control over those forces. This process is expected to take several days to complete. Previously, V Corps was monitoring a cease-fire brokered between the MEK and Special Forces elements. The MEK forces had been abiding by the terms of this agreement and are cooperating with Coalition soldiers.
By mid-May 2003 Coalition forces had consolidated 2,139 tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, air defense artillery pieces and miscellaneous vehicles formerly in the possession of the Mujahedin-E Khalq (MEK) forces. The 4th Infantry Division also reported they have destroyed most of the MEK munitions and caches. The voluntary, peaceful resolution of this process by the MEK and the Coalition significantly contributed to the Coalition's mission to establish a safe and secure environment for the people of Iraq.
The 4,000 MEK members in the Camp Ashraf former Mujahedeen base were consolidated, detained, disarmed and were screened for any past terrorist acts. These residents opposed the clerical regime in Tehran and, as a result of that opposition, lived in constant danger of attack from pro-Iranian forces.
In 2004, the United States recognized the residents as "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention and pledged to protect the residents until their final disposition. The United States turned over control and responsibility of the residents to the Government of Iraq in early 2009, as reflected in the United States Embassy Statement on Transfer of Security Responsibility for Camp Ashraf of December 28, 2008.
In July 2008, the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) petitioned the Department for a revocation of its designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). A petitioning organization must provide evidence that the relevant circumstances are sufficiently different from the circumstances that were the basis for the designation such that a revocation with respect to the organization is warranted.
The Secretary determined on January 7, 2009 that the FTO designation of the MEK will be maintained. The Secretary found that the MEK remained a foreign organization that retained the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.
The Secretary's determination to maintain the MEK's FTO designation did not alter the status under U.S. law of the individuals at Camp Ashraf.
The 3,400 residents of Camp Ashraf lived communally (males and females separately), supported by light manufacturing and donations from abroad. They claimed to have turned over all their arms to US forces in 2003, and their camp 60 miles from Baghdad looks more like a relatively affluent Iraqi village than a military garrison. However, until the end of 2008, residents wore military-style uniforms and flew pre-revolution Iranian flags, and U.S. forces stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Grizzly on the periphery of the camp report that they continue to practice small unit military tactics and maneuvers under cover of darkness.
Camp residents provided Iraqi Army units now guarding the camp with meals, provided a trailer for the Iraqi commanding officer, provided a meeting room for the GoI committee, and installed space heaters in guard towers for the Iraqi troops. They also continued to build goodwill with surrounding Iraqi villages by providing employment in the camp.
These residents moved from the former Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty/Hurriya, which is adjacent to the Baghdad International Airport, following a December 2011 Memorandum of Understanding reached between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq, and brokered by the Government of the United States, for the express purpose of resettling them as refugees to third countries. The residents left behind valuable personal property and assets at Camp Ashraf, under the explicit agreement that they would retain title to such property and assets.
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