Honestly, even I was surprised when I saw the masses coming out to protest against the brutal regime of the Ayatollahs in Iran. For 40 years I have been following what happens in Iran, and I never expected such a massive, overwhelming response to the calls of the shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, to demonstrate.

“Millions of protesters took to the streets, despite the enormous danger. For every one person who demonstrated, there were another ten who wanted to but were afraid. I have no doubt that today the people of Iran are thrilled about the killing of Khamenei and the American and Israeli strikes. The new generation hears of how good economic conditions were before the Iranian revolution under the shah and compares that to the economic depths in which they find themselves today. They say, ‘We want to fix the mistake of our parents and return to the Pahlavis, who will bring back the days when Iran was part of the Western world.’ They are sick of the cruel and extreme rule of the ayatollahs. For the first time in history, people in the streets of Iran were shouting ‘Javid shah—Long live the shah!’ When Israel struck the regime most of the people danced for joy and called out, ‘Bravo, Netanyahu.’”
So says Ardashir Leviyan, a Tehran native who served in the Royal Guard of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Some years after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, he was forced to flee Iran and eventually made his way to Israel. Today he is active in the media world, hosting Persian-language radio programs for the Iranian opposition community. He broadcasts twice a week on Radio Ran, a station aimed at Iranians in Israel, in the United States, and in Iran itself. Leviyan maintains ties with the shah’s son and his people in exile in Los Angeles, and with civilian members of the opposition inside Iran.

No Organized Opposition Inside Iran
“There is no organized, structured opposition inside Iran today,” Leviyan says. “The Iranian regime executed anyone connected to the opposition. The active opposition is the one outside Iran’s borders. Among the various groups there is one prominent one—the Mojahedin-e Khalq, whose base is in Europe. But they’re communists who lean toward Marxism, and the Iranian people are repelled by them. They also collaborated with Saddam Hussein during his war against Iran. There is no chance they will ever assume a leadership position in Iran.
“The second significant group,” he continues, “is that of the shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, who lives in Los Angeles. In recent years he has united almost wall-to-wall support from the opposition outside Iran. And we have seen how, during the recent protests, he has also accumulated enormous popularity inside Iran itself. Every call he made to go out and protest was answered with the support of millions of Iranians.”
Leviyan has ties with Pahlavi and is aware of his vision for Iran’s future. “The shah’s son has no plans to come and restore an autocratic monarchical guard as it was in the past. He does not intend to replace one dictatorship with another. He wants to install a democratic regime in Iran, chosen by the people, and he wants to be the man who leads the Iranian state toward such a regime. Iran is a large country with a glorious cultural past and enormous natural resources, with the capacity to be an advanced and wealthy nation, yet today, because of its leadership, its people live in tremendous poverty. There is nothing for people to eat in Iran. People are angry.”

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