Shah's Son: I'd Serve If Elected

Though his family wasn’t much for democratic rule in Iran, the son of Iran’s last shah says he would return to serve the country if that’s the will of the people, Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post. Reza Pahlavi, 48, hopes Iran’s post-election protests turn into a revolution, though he avoids that word because it “has a very negative connotation in everybody’s collective memory.”

The former crown prince was moved to tears at events in Iran, which, Milbank notes, his father ruled with an iron fist after coming to power in a CIA coup. That said, “I’m not demanding people to support me today because of me. I’m demanding people to support me so that I can best serve them achieve what their goal is, which is achieve freedom,” Pahlavi added. Concludes Milbank, “If anybody can ‘demand’ support in the cause of democracy, it might as well be the crown prince.” (More shah stories.)