French-speaking liberal leader Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) said on Friday that Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Iran, should be treated as a key interlocutor in any transition if Iran’s clerical regime falls.
Speaking to Belga News Agency after meeting with Pahlavi in Paris on Friday morning, Bouchez said the son of the late Shah was one of the most important figures in the Iranian opposition. He said he saw no other comparable figure emerging at present.
Bouchez said Pahlavi was not presenting himself as Iran’s future ruler, but as someone capable of steering a transition. He insisted that “everyone must work towards the fall of the regime,” describing those claiming the issue did not concern Europe as either naive or manipulative.
According to Bouchez, Belgian diplomacy should open contacts with Pahlavi, without making them exclusive. He said more and more Iranian opposition groups were rallying around him and added that he also intended to invite him to Brussels.
In the meantime, the MR is making two demands. It wants Iran’s ambassador to Belgium expelled and diplomatic relations with the clerical regime severed.
The party is also calling for Belgium to repeal its prisoner transfer treaty with Iran. A proposal to that effect has been tabled in the Chamber by legislator Daniel Bacquelaine.
Bouchez said he would not understand if the proposal were rejected by the Arizona majority’s coalition partners.
Pahlavi, 65, is the son of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He has repeatedly said he is ready to lead a transition if the Islamic Republic collapses.
The Shah's regime employed secret police, torture, and executions to stifle political dissent. The Pahlavi dynasty has been described as a "royal dictatorship".
However, he represents only one of many groups within the Iranian diaspora, which are often openly divided among themselves.
