Iran’s Crown Prince Has Become Indispensable

Opposition to these changes—especially land reform and the political empowerment of women—coalesced around a hitherto obscure cleric, Ruhollah Khomeini, who mobilized street violence and religious populism to challenge the reforms. It was in this cauldron of expectation and anxieties that the Shah’s new wife, Queen Farah, gave birth to a son. They named him Reza and almost immediately anointed him crown prince.

Reza Pahlavi was born in a time of tumult. His father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, stood at one of the most traumatic junctures of his long reign, which began in 1941. In the five years before and after his son’s birth on Oct. 31, 1960, the Shah remarried—driven by dynastic anxiety and the urgent need for a crown prince—while confronting mounting economic pressures and accelerating social change. He was on the cusp of launching the White Revolution, a program of reforms that would irreversibly alter the fabric of Iranian society: land redistribution, women’s enfranchisement, educational expansion, and the systematic weakening of traditional hierarchies.

Reza Pahlavi was born in a time of tumult. His father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, stood at one of the most traumatic junctures of his long reign, which began in 1941. In the five years before and after his son’s birth on Oct. 31, 1960, the Shah remarried—driven by dynastic anxiety and the urgent need for a crown prince—while confronting mounting economic pressures and accelerating social change. He was on the cusp of launching the White Revolution, a program of reforms that would irreversibly alter the fabric of Iranian society: land redistribution, women’s enfranchisement, educational expansion, and the systematic weakening of traditional hierarchies.

Opposition to these changes—especially land reform and the political empowerment of women—coalesced around a hitherto obscure cleric, Ruhollah Khomeini, who mobilized street violence and religious popu