Far-right praise for shah’s secret police puts Reza Pahlavi on the spot

For decades, the Savak was seen as the most hated symbol of repression that kept Iran’s last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in power – and a main driving force behind the revolutionary fervor that toppled him in 1979. Now the deposed monarch’s son, Reza Pahlavi, has been forced to distance himself from the once-dreaded security agency after some of his most vociferous supporters glorified it as the defining emblem in their drive to install him on the throne in a royal restoration. Washington-based Pahlavi, 65, who has not been in Iran for 48 years, has portrayed himself as “uniquely positioned” to lead a transition to democracy to replace the current Islamic theocracy, which has been fighting for its survival since February when the US and Israel embarked on a campaign of military strikes, currently stalled amid a current shaky ceasefire and Pakistani-mediated negotiations. He thrust himself forward as a potential leader after protesters chanted his name and “javid shah” (long live the shah), in reference to the Iran’s long history of monarchical rule in mass demonstrations that gripped Iran last January before being brutally crushed by regime security forces. But former Pahlavi allies say his credentials have been undermined by “fascistic” supporters who have staged rallies at which they have flown banners and worn T-shirts emblazoned with the emblem of the Savak . …