It's worse than that. The joke in this is the presumption of all ruling dynasties.
The shah is just the successor of the original pahlavi shah, Reza Khan, who was a military officer and minister of war under the last ghajar king, but who led a coup and crowned himself shah. The ghajar dynasty usurped the throne from the zand dynasty, and so on and so forth.
Iran's recent history seems to be nothing more than a series of rulers being imposed and deposed by various outside powers (such as Russia, Britain, and the U.S.) and internal revolts. Add in ambitious religous nutballs, and you have a real mess.
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And not one to which I would want to see US troops committed.