Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs
Jerusalem Post / CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
20-Jun-2012

THE HAGUE – He inherited his father’s upright posture, facial features and understated smile, but Persian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is no modern version of a Persian Shah.

The differences between the late Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his son reveal themselves early on in the interview, which Reza Pahlavi gave The Jerusalem Post last week during a visit to the Netherlands.

Reza Pahlavi came to persuade the International Criminal Court to charge Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, with crimes against humanity. Disappointed in US President Barack Obama’s policy on Iran (Obama “chickened out” of supporting prodemocracy forces there, Reza Pahlavi says), he is starting a new Iranian opposition movement from exile to topple the mullah regime.

Whereas the late Shah, who reigned as Iran’s last monarch until his ousting in 1979, was famous for his icy stateliness, his oldest son Reza Pahlavi is chummy and outgoing. While the father unabashedly proclaimed his right to absolute power, the son will not even say whether he envisions a political role for himself, if he ever returns.

“There were many elements that went wrong,” says Reza Pahlavi when speaking of his father’s legacy.

He was 17 when the Pahlavi family fled Iran during the Islamic Revolution that brought the current ayatollah regime to power.

“There was excess by some members of the Iranian SAVAK [secret police]... >>>

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