{"id":334482,"date":"2025-07-21T13:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=334482"},"modified":"2025-09-10T10:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T09:39:24","slug":"struan-stevenson-iranians-reject-both-crown-and-turban-democracy-is-the-only-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/struan-stevenson-iranians-reject-both-crown-and-turban-democracy-is-the-only-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Struan\u202fStevenson: Iranians Reject Both Crown and Turban\u2014Democracy Is the Only Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_334483\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-334483\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-334483 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Former-MEP-Struan-Stevenson-at-UK-Parliament-16072025.jpg\" alt=\"Former MEP Struan Stevenson addresses UK Parliament meeting on July 16, 2025\" width=\"1000\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Former-MEP-Struan-Stevenson-at-UK-Parliament-16072025.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Former-MEP-Struan-Stevenson-at-UK-Parliament-16072025-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Former-MEP-Struan-Stevenson-at-UK-Parliament-16072025-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Former-MEP-Struan-Stevenson-at-UK-Parliament-16072025-749x420.jpg 749w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Former-MEP-Struan-Stevenson-at-UK-Parliament-16072025-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Former-MEP-Struan-Stevenson-at-UK-Parliament-16072025-696x390.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-334483\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former MEP Struan Stevenson addresses UK Parliament meeting on July 16, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"114\" data-end=\"523\">At a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/maryam-rajavi\/uk-parliamentarians-champion-third-option-for-iran-rejecting-war-and-appeasement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gathering in the U.K Parliament<\/a> on July 16, 2025, Struan\u202fStevenson, former Scottish MEP and longtime advocate for Iranian democracy, told the British lawmakers and members of the Iranian Resistance that Tehran\u2019s theocracy is nearer to collapse than ever\u2014and neither a return to monarchy nor appeasement will save it. Citing the near\u2011disintegration of the regime\u2019s \u201caxis of resistance,\u201d Stevenson called the moment \u201can almost unprecedented opportunity for regime change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"525\" data-end=\"965\">Yet, he said, whenever the mullahs wobble, Reza\u202fPahlavi\u2014ex\u2011<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-a-world\/the-shahs-dictatorship-a-shield-for-the-iranian-regimes-continuity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shah Mohammad\u2011Reza<\/a>\u2019s son\u2014\u201cpops up\u201d to present himself as savior. Stevenson ridiculed Pahlavi\u2019s recent media tour and his attempts to rally Iranians during the 12-day war, arguing the crown prince misread public sentiment, alienated ordinary citizens by siding with Israel, and revealed tone\u2011deaf privilege from a life \u201cfinanced by $25\u201330\u202fbillion looted by his father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"967\" data-end=\"1339\">Stevenson reminded listeners that most Iranians still link the Pahlavi era with SAVAK torture, Western imperialism, and entrenched inequality\u2014just as they now link the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij militia with brutality. Graffiti across Iran reading \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/GsNwRF-0bio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Down with the oppressor<\/a>\u2014be it the Shah or the mullahs\u201d signals, he said, that youth will follow neither.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1580\" data-end=\"1660\"><strong data-start=\"1580\" data-end=\"1660\">The text of Struan\u202fStevenson\u2019s speech follows. It has lightly been edited for clarity and flow.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here are the insightful remarks of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/STRUANSTEVENSON?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@StruanStevenson<\/a> on the false notion of restoring monarchy in Iran, delivered at a UK House of Lords conference, where lawmakers from both houses and various political groups supported the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IranThirdOption?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#IranThirdOption<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fqtWXxsP2m\">pic.twitter.com\/fqtWXxsP2m<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/en_simayazadi\/status\/1946994109610090930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1932\" data-end=\"1967\">Thank you very much, Baroness O&#8217;Loan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1969\" data-end=\"2117\">As a fragile ceasefire is maintained between Israel, America, and Iran, the world is holding its breath following a series of critical developments.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2119\" data-end=\"2299\">This past year, as Sir Desmond Swain said, with the virtual collapse of the regime\u2019s so-called <em data-start=\"2214\" data-end=\"2234\">Axis of Resistance<\/em>, there is an almost unprecedented opportunity for regime change.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2301\" data-end=\"2536\">But\u2014and I think Baroness Verma mentioned this too\u2014true to form, every time there\u2019s the faintest hint of collapse of the mullahs\u2019 regime, up pops Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah and the self-proclaimed crown prince of Iran.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2538\" data-end=\"2708\">I understand he was here on June 30, where I\u2019m told that a London office of a very high-priced U.S. lobby firm arranged a meeting for him with a handful of peers and MPs.\u00a0But let me tell you: Pahlavi\u2019s calls for the Iranian people to rise up against the current theocratic regime during the twelve-day war have spectacularly backfired.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2880\" data-end=\"2997\">He seriously misread the situation\u2014siding with Israel in his bid to inspire people in Iran to overthrow Khamenei.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2999\" data-end=\"3217\">The truth is, his lack of support, his privileged background, and the historical baggage of the Pahlavi family\u2019s repressive rule have ensured that Reza Pahlavi will never be the leader of a democratic Iran.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3219\" data-end=\"3382\">He is the clown prince, or as some have said, the emperor with no clothes, as he jets around the Western world making his claim for the Peacock Throne. Since the 1979 revolution, which saw the overthrow of his father, the public sentiment toward the Pahlavi family has been overwhelmingly negative.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3536\" data-end=\"3733\">Most Iranians associate the Shah\u2019s regime with oppression, human rights abuses, and Western imperialism\u2014all of which have created a deep-seated distrust of monarchy as a form of governance.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UK<\/a> Parliamentarians Champion \u2018Third Option\u2019 for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a>, Rejecting War and Appeasement<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/INZfBcU61N\">https:\/\/t.co\/INZfBcU61N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1946665094210883586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 19, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3735\" data-end=\"3968\">Let\u2019s not forget that the Shah\u2019s hated secret police, SAVAK, routinely tortured dissidents\u2014whipping them with electric cables, tearing out their fingernails and toenails to extract false confessions\u2014before executing them. And today, the Iranian people suffer the same vicious brutality under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij militia.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4114\" data-end=\"4242\">That\u2019s why the political landscape in Iran today is marked by a desire for genuine democratic reform and self-determination. Young Iranians will never rally behind a figure who represents the failures of the past.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4338\" data-end=\"4505\">Reza Pahlavi\u2019s life of luxury\u2014funded by the estimated $25 to $30 billion that his father looted from the country\u2014further alienates him from the Iranian people. Living in exile in a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C., he symbolizes the elitism and detachment that Iranians resent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4632\" data-end=\"4869\">Placards reading <em data-start=\"4649\" data-end=\"4707\">\u201cDown with the oppressor, be it the Shah or the mullahs\u201d<\/em> and <em data-start=\"4712\" data-end=\"4749\">\u201cNo to the crown, no to the turban\u201d<\/em> are now appearing regularly on bridges and buildings across Iran, and are chanted by protesters in the streets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4871\" data-end=\"5077\">And let\u2019s not forget that he has admitted to being in direct communication with the IRGC\u2014the regime\u2019s Gestapo\u2014which he claims is necessary to \u201cmaintain order\u201d after the overthrow of the mullahs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">My interview on the frenzy of executions in Iran with Simay Azadi <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/79D0RhpZMn\">https:\/\/t.co\/79D0RhpZMn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; STRUAN STEVENSON (@STRUANSTEVENSON) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/STRUANSTEVENSON\/status\/1946967004696474000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"5079\" data-end=\"5237\">He said, <em data-start=\"5088\" data-end=\"5237\">\u201cI\u2019m establishing a formal channel for military, security, and police personnel to reach out directly to me, my team, and our expanding operation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"5239\" data-end=\"5415\">He claimed, <em data-start=\"5251\" data-end=\"5415\">\u201cI know these officers, these soldiers, these brave men exist because they are reaching out to me and telling me they want to be part of this national salvation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"5417\" data-end=\"5623\">Describing members of the IRGC and Basij as \u201cbrave men\u201d will have outraged tens of thousands of families whose loved ones have been arrested, tortured, or murdered by the regime\u2019s repressive forces. It\u2019s no wonder that the people of Iran reject both the current criminal theocracy and the past cruel monarchy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"5940\" data-end=\"5964\">Thank you very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a gathering in the U.K Parliament on July 16, 2025, Struan&#8239;Stevenson, former Scottish MEP and longtime advocate for Iranian democracy, told the British lawmakers and members of the Iranian [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":334483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5487],"tags":[222],"class_list":{"0":"post-334482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran-resistance","8":"category-free-iran-global-summit-2025","9":"tag-iranian-resistance"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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