In an exclusive interview with Radio Farda, the former queen of Iran, Farah Pahlavi has responded to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s remarks blaming the former royal family for widespread protests in the country.
Responding to Khamenei’s claim, Queen Farah told Radio Farda on Sunday, November 17, “First of all, he (Khamenei) should contemplate on the reasons why the protests began in the first place.”
The Islamic Republic Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei had blamed the family of the last monarch of Iran, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and a dissident exiled group, Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) for instigating the people to come out to the streets and challenge the Islamic establishment.
“These events have been taking place and all evil actors of the world that oppose us have encouraged these measures. These include the sinister, evil Pahlavi family and the evil, criminal group of the hypocrites (MKO). They are repeatedly encouraging and inciting the people, via social media and other means, for this wrongdoing to take place,” Khamenei maintained.
Earlier in separate tweets, Queen Farah and her son, the exiled heir to the throne of Iran, Prince Reza Pahlavi, had supported the people who have taken to the streets 100 cities across the country to protest the overnight increase of gasoline prices.
Meanwhile, in another part of her interview, the queen addressed the people of Iran, insisting, “Like all other Iranian patriots, I support your just and rightful demands, and I will be standing beside you. You (people of Iran) should know that nobody and nothing can resist a nation.”
Relaying her condolences to the relatives of tens of protesters killed, Queen Farah asserted that she appreciated slogans chanted in favor of Iran’s royal family. She also wished all wounded protesters a swift recovery.
Dozens of major cities, including the capital, Tehran, as well as Abadan, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Marivan, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Shiraz, had been the scene of rallies and demonstrations in the past three days against the overnight increase of gasoline prices.
In several cases, demonstrators chanted slogans in favor of the Pahlavi dynasty, paying tribute to its founder, Reza Shah.
In the meantime, Iran’s former Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi, tweeted in support of protesters’ demands Friday, saying the Islamic Republic has brought only poverty and suffering to the Iranian people.
The prince’s reference was to promises made during the 1979 Iranian revolution when its founder Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini promised free electricity, water, and public transportation to the people, claiming that the monarchy was corrupt, denying the people the benefits of Iran’s vast oil wealth.
Reza Pahlavi said that the only thing offered for free by the Islamic Republic is oil to its allies in the region, a reference to Syria’s strongman Bashar Assad.
The prince, considered a leading Iranian opposition figure, also urged Iranians to overthrow the ruling Islamic establishment, calling on the people to only rely on their power.