British MPs invite deposed shah's son to promote Iran regime change in parliament

Defence affairs

The son of Iran's ousted shah is set to address British MPs in the UK parliament on Monday, numerous sources within parliament and the Labour Party have told Middle East Eye. 

According to an invitation to the event seen by MEE, Pahlavi is set to brief MPs and peers on "the ongoing situation in Iran and his plan for the collapse of the current regime and for a stable transition to a secular democracy".

The event is scheduled to take place at 5pm in a committee room in parliament and is co-hosted by Labour MP Luke Akehurst and Conservative MP Aphra Brandreth.

It is for the Iranian people to decide what type of government they want, but clearly MPs are going to be interested in hearing what different opposition voices have got to say about the future of such an important country."

Referred to among his supporters as a "king in exile", Reza Pahlavi, 64, is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the late shah of Iran, who was toppled during the 1977-1979 popular uprising that led to the establishment of the Islamic Republic as we now know it. 

As a staunch defender of a US-backed monarchy that he hopes to bring back to Iran, he has made several visits to Israel, taken photographs with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and cast himself as the only viable leader of a modern Iran if the Islamic Republic collapses.

On 16 June, during the recent hostilities between Israel and Iran, Pahlavi said that "the root cause of the problem has been the regime and its nature, and the only solution, ultimately, that will benefit both the Iranian people as well as the free world is for this regime to no longer be there".