Why Reza Pahlavi cannot lead Iran
From our UK edition
There are many reasons why Reza Pahlavi should not be a future leader of Iran. He left as a teenager in 1978 to fly jets in Texas, and has not been back since. He lived a very sheltered life back then and he knows little of how Iranians live now. There is no suggestion he knows how to unite them. Since the revolution, he has spent too much time in the cushioned and sycophantic world of royalist exiles. That is no preparation for what may come in Iran: demands for retribution for nearly five decades of daily abuse and violence; a collapsing economy veined through with corruption; a potential split if ethnic grievances are not addressed. He lacks networks in the country. He may have support there but few people there know enough about him to make a serious judgment.
