Israel invited Reza Pahlavi to ‘recruit him as its pawn’
A distinguished panel of speakers gathered on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, to discuss the outcomes of the earlier visit of Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to Israel and his subsequent meetings with Israeli officials.
The panel titled, “Israeli and Iran’s Opposition,” was organized by Tasnim news agency and the Tehran International Studies and Research Institute in Tehran. Among the speakers at the event were a number of the Islamic Republic’s former diplomats, commanders of the Armed Forces, and analysts of regional affairs.
Mojtaba Ferdosipour, Iran’s former ambassador to Jordan, came out of the gate swinging, claiming that each presidential candidate in the United States and France must first persuade the Zionists, guarantee to champion their interests, or, in the case of the U.S., address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pro-Israel lobbying group.
“That is why Reza Pahlavi, who had been trying to get recognized as the leader of the opposition, went to Israel to drum up their support,” he added. But what were the Israelis trying to get out of the visit?
Ferdosipour believes, “The Zionists invited Pahlavi to officially recruit him as their pawn and characterize him as their approved figure under the Zionist framework of governance.”
Giving a military perspective on the current state of Israel, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Kanaani-Moqaddam maintained that Israel is “at best a large military base, not a government or state,” unlike what Reza Pahlavi might have imagined.
“I believe the visit to Tel Aviv could be the final nail in Pahlavi’s coffin,” he said.
Building on what Kanaani-Moqaddam had said, Brigadier General Khodadad Fallah, the political deputy of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army, stressed that Israel cannot launch a military attack against Iran, but its ally, the United States, can put the Islamic Republic under economic pressure. Nevertheless, Pahlavi put his efforts into bewitching the Armed Forces of Iran, especially the Army, to join the rioters, which, Fallah added, failed horribly as no one joined his misguided cause.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the U.S.-backed former Shah of Iran, who fled the country in 1979, arrived in Israel on April 17. During the four-day trip, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaak Herzog, and a number of other officials. The 62-year-old was received and accompanied throughout his visit by Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was asked at the time if he would comment on the visit, to which he replied, “Neither the person you’ve mentioned [Pahlavi], nor the purpose of this trip, or the place he wants to travel to are worthy of discussion.”
The panelists of the event also highlighted the importance of reinforcing the Palestinian Resistance Movement in its fight against the usurping Israeli regime, especially since “the Zionists are organizing and supporting riots in Iran to erode the Islamic Republic’s support of the resistance.”