By Lucy Komisar
Oct 5, 2025
Why would the Council on Foreign Relations host a public meeting in Washington with Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah of Iran deposed in 1979? And what might that have to do with indications he is part of a movement to restore the monarchy?
I signed on to a zoom Council meeting Oct 3 to hear Reza Pahlavi. It seemed surreal. First because the Council refers to him as Exiled Crown Prince of Iran and he was listed as Advocate, Secular Democratic Iran.
And because the questioner, Steven A. Cook, Council fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies, pussy-footed around the description of Pahlavi’s father.
Cook: “And I just want to say that when I was a sixth grader writing an essay about the Iranian hostage crisis, I never imagined I would be sitting here with a a fellow resident of Potomac, Maryland talking about talking about Iranian politics. Well, welcome welcome to the Council once again.”
I have a memory earlier than Cook’s. I was a member of the board of PEN and its Freedom to Write Committee almost 50 years ago at the time of the Islamic revolution 1978-9 when a leftist opposed to the Shah met with us and told in detail about the horrific abuses of Savak, including the heated metal bed used to torture opponents of the regime.
Cook: “In the late 1970s, Iranians rose up and overthrew the regime that your father led. Why would they now choose to restore the monarchy and what is your vision for Iran?”
I thought, would some Council fellow say this to the child of one of Hitler’s minions? “Hello, Goebbels’s son, what do you think of the future of Germany? Do they want to restore the Third Reich? In spite of the concentration camps?”
Wait a minute. What about why Iranians overthrew the Shah? Or even how he got there via another regime change, the 1953 U.S.-UK sponsored coup against democratically elected (and secular) premier, Mohammad Mosaddegh who had nationalized the country’s oil industry to reclaim sovereignty from British control? (It’s still about the oil.) What about Savak, the dreaded torture organization? Cook didn’t bother to ask why Iranians overthrew Reza’s monstrous father. Which obviously answers why they don’t want to restore the monarchy.
But that didn’t seem to be the purpose of the launching of Pahlavi son as a leader of the Iranian “democratic” opposition. To find out why this matters, wait further to details about U.S. naval operations targeted at Iran.
First, here are some of Pahlavi’s comments:
“I don’t think this is about restoration or about a particular outcome. It’s about democracy and self-determination.” Does democracy include Savak?
And comments: “this is the most sinister regime we have encountered in modern history.” He is for “values of liberty, equality, human rights versus a regime that has sampled on it from the very beginning.” Savak? Where are you, Cook? No questions?
So, what is Reza doing? Asked if he could be a candidate, he says, “I’ve offered the role of leading this campaign of transition. Why? Because this is the ask of the majority of my fellow campaign peers. We have a trust in me to be able to play that role for them. So, my job is to unify as much as possible the democratic opposition. My job is to bring as much support as possible to the people themselves. My job is also to mobilize as much as possible the diaspora.” And “We need to be able to work with the free world. Those countries that understand the dynamics of change via civil civil disobedience and domestic uprising.”
So now we get the picture, it will be about regime change. Which is why he is in Washington.
Though this part is funny: “My default position has been anyone whose hand is not so to the blood of the Iranian people, should have the possibility of seeing a place for themselves post-regime collapse.” “Bloody” obviously cuts out the Pahlavi/Savak crew.
And of course he is discussing the first 100 days, the interim government. He did not answer a question from Barbara Slayton from the Stimson Center “about your identification with Israel and whether you think that is appropriate.”
Back to regime change. We know that the Council is part of the Deep State with a function of setting out what people in the Blob (the StateDept, CIA, think tanks, corporate media et al) are supposed to think. So this is what they are supposed to believe now about regime change in Iran. How do I know that? Because, Haaretz, the Israeli daily which is the best mainstream newspaper covering the Middle East says so. And we know that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is made in Tel Aviv.
Israel funded campaigns pushing for return of monarchy in Iran
• Investigation by Citizen Lab, Israeli press reveals use of fake avatars to bolster image of exiled Shah
• Operation leveraged AI deepfake videos, fabricated content, inauthentic news reports to destabilise the Iranian regime
ISRAELI-funded online campaigns in the Persian language used fake social media personas and AI to boost the image of Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last Shah, and destabilise the Iranian regime, according to parallel investigations by Israeli newspapers and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.
The campaigns, which employ “avatars” posing as Iranian citizens, were found to amplify calls for restoring the monarchy and were discovered to be synchronised with Israeli military actions, including airstrikes on Tehran’s Evin Prison.
A joint investigation by TheMarker and Haaretz revealed a large-scale digital campaign in Iran, operated out of Israel and funded by a private entity that receives Israeli government support.
According to sources with direct knowledge of the project, native Persian speakers were recruited to run fake accounts on platforms like X and Instagram, using AI tools to craft messages and generate content.
The findings add context to a high-profile visit by Pahlavi to Israel in early 2023, hosted by then-Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel. During the visit, Pahlavi advocated for nonviolent change in Iran but stressed the need for outside help.
“None of these movements could have succeeded without some element of international support,” Mr Pahlavi said at a press conference, justifying his visit. When asked about the response to his visit, he told reporters to look at social media. “The answer is right before your eyes.”
The investigation found that the Israeli-based operation actively worked to boost Pahlavi’s public image, with some involved feeling pressured to also promote Gamliel, a minister from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Separately, researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab uncovered another pro-Israel, Persian-language influence operation that they assess is very likely operated by the Israeli government or a contractor.
The lab’s report, “Prison Break”, identified a network of over 50 inauthentic accounts, many using AI-generated profile photos, that activated in early 2024. This network’s activity appeared coordinated with Israeli military operations.
During a strike on Evin Prison on June 23, the accounts began posting about “explosions in the prison area” at 11:52am., before initial media reports. Shortly after, the network disseminated a fake, AI-generated video of an explosion at the prison that was later picked up by international media.
“It is highly unlikely that any third party without advance knowledge of the IDF’s plans would have been able to prepare this content and post it in such a short window of time,” Citizen Lab stated in its report.
Following the strike, the network encouraged Iranians to march on the prison to “free family members” in an apparent attempt to incite unrest.
The campaigns also distributed other fabricated content, including a deepfake video of an Iranian singer and a fake screenshot of a BBC Persian report claiming senior Iranian officials were fleeing the country. BBC Persian confirmed the story was never published.
The efforts to promote Pahlavi are viewed with skepticism by some experts. Raz Zimmt of the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies warned that while Iranians desire change, the restoration of the monarchy is not a popular demand.
Mr Pahlavi carries the legacy of his father, a dictator known for repression and corruption.
“I can understand why he’s convenient for Gamliel and the Israeli government … but I think it’s a mistake,” Zimmt said. “Ultimately, it reinforces Ayatollah Khamenei’s narrative that Israel and the U.S. want to turn Iran back into a monarchy and client state.”
The operations used sophisticated tactics, including creating an AI-generated video showing Netanyahu, Gamliel and Pahlavi walking through the streets of a “Free Tehran,” which received likely inorganic, massive exposure.
The network also co-opted authentic protest movements, using popular hashtags like “Death to Khamenei” to amplify their messaging with inauthentic accounts.
Alberto Fittarelli, who led the research at Citizen Lab, cautioned against such methods.
“While it is common for autocracies to deploy such tools and tactics both domestically and internationally, democratic governments should refrain from adopting the same methods,” Fittarelli said.
Traces of crossover between the two campaigns were found, with some accounts exposed by Citizen Lab also using the hashtag #KingRezaPahlavi and sharing Pahlavi’s speeches, linking the military-synchronised operation to the broader effort to promote the would-be monarch.
More about U.S. military moves.
To see the Council (let’s do regime change) meeting again: https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-reza-pahlavi