Posted on 01/09/2006 2:36:27 PM PST by F14 Pilot
Washington, D.C. -- During a live primetime televised interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, Reza Pahlavi of Iran condemned Mr. Ahmadinejad's repeated comments on the holocaust and ailing Ariel Sharon as "despicable," having set a "new standard on incivility and disgrace," and "rejected by the vast majority of the Iranian people."
Observing that Jews and Persians had "for millennia lived peacefully together," the 45 year old opposition leader to the clerical regime reminded the audience that the first Shah of Iran, Cyrus the Great, is revered as a 'savior-saint' of the Jewish people.
"Obviously Mr. Ahmadinejad is ignorant of our heritage. He is unfit to be "called an Iranian or a statesman for that matter."
"Until today the international community had based its foreign policy on a false assumption that the clerical regime wants a diplomatic settlement," said Reza Pahlavi. "History has proven that fascism can not be negotiated with," warning that the clerical regime was "set on, and desired a collision with the west" – to justify its militarization, especially nuclearization, and to distract its brewing domestic distress.
"Time has come for regime change in Iran," asserted Reza Pahlavi. Citing increased growing unrest within Iran, he attributed the increase in defiant acts of civil disobedience reported in Iran, in the form of strikes and sit-ins, to a powerful force of 50 million, Iran's youth, which "desires nothing less than modernity, freedom and economic opportunity."
For this to happen, Reza Pahlavi said, "the free world must unambiguously declare its support for the Iranian people's rightful quest for regime change."
Reza Pahlavi, who has been leading a campaign of political defiance against the theocracy in Iran, is the former crown prince of Iran. He is an accomplished jet fighter pilot, graduate of U.S. Air Force training program and the University of Southern California. Author of 'Winds of Change, The Future of Democracy in Iran', he is married and father to three daughters.
PING!
Where is Monsoor Jihaz? He used to be on Fox during the early days of the war. Has he gone underground some where?
forgive my ignorence here- but this guy is said to be "of Iran"
Is he IN IRAN? if so- I'd say he better be hiding!
Good question! hmmmm
No, he lives in exile in the US
He is the son of the former Shah of Iran.
I believe he is a good man, and eventually I hope he goes back over there to get rid of the lunatics in power.
thank you for clearing that up for me....
Iran is insane (the gov't goons anyway) and anyone trying to "deal" with them on a civil level is MORE INSANE!
He needs to look at pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and get a move on.
he is a honest man!
I hoped Pres. Bush could offer him a meeting as a signal to the mullahs of Iran
Reza Pahlavi is just part of the culture. He bleeds off some of the counter-revolutionary energy and contributes to the stability of the system.
nope
WoW!
What an analysis
This has been going on for years. If he were going to actually do anything, it would have happened by now. He has been assimilated.
Cyrus the Great wasn't a Moslem, so he doesn't count.
Yep, the Pahlavis had their "shot", done by Jimmy Carter right in their back.
Iran had only been broken away from the Ottoman Empire about five decades, and had made greater progress toward a modern society than ANY other middle eastern country. My gosh, Motion Performance even had a store in Tehran until 1979, and shipped boatloads of hot rods over there.
Iran (Persia) has never been under the rule of Ottomans
Seen this?
Yeah, he attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Reese AFB, Lubbock TX. I know because he was still there when I arrived to start UPT in '77. Everyone kept tellin' me that we looked alike. Never quite knew how to take that.....
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Don't know.
Was wondering the same. . .
Also am missing Col. Hunt and am not happy with the now appearing, Fox analyst Col. Wesley Clarke. . .ex Demrat candidate hoping to be President. . .he needs to go. . .
Their regeim was not saintly by any sense of imagination, but they were exponentially better then the current bunch.
I'd like to see him return and try to bring Iran into the 21st century. Iranians educated and I think they have had it with the mullahs and need a catalyst.
I'm probably wrong, but what happened after WW1?
Wasn't Iran "formed" then, along with Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, etc.?
No!
Iran (Persian) has never been colonized or ruled by foreign governments.
Those countries including Syria, Jordan, Saudi, Kuwait, Iraq... etc were part of the Ottoman empire and later with the help of the Brits these countries were formed as nation-states.
Iran has always been independent and free of foreign ruling
Iran broke away from the Ummayads and set up their own Shia dynasty, then the Mongols set up the Il-khanate, but the Iranians took it back. The Turks never conquered Iran.
not true!
BINGO
Thanks for the ping.
Yep
Is there a link to the text of the interview? The website appeared to have links only to audio.
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