As Ali Khamenei’s cornered regime unleashes a new wave of terror following its recent humiliation, the Iranian people’s cry for a democratic future grows louder. But while the world watches the theocracy’s violent death throes, some misguided voices in the West are attempting to promote a ghost from Iran’s dictatorial past: the Pahlavi monarchy.
This is a dangerous and insulting distraction. The Iranian people have unequivocally rejected this false dichotomy. Their uprising is not a negotiation between two forms of dictatorship but a resolute demand for a free and democratic republic.
On July 4, 2025, an article in the British newspaper the Express delivered a powerful analysis of Iran’s political landscape, concluding that the Iranian people refuse to “trade a turban for a crown.” The report, titled “Iran must not trade a turban for a crown – why ‘Baby Shah’ is not the answer,” affirms the long-standing position of the Iranian Resistance: the future of Iran lies not with the current theocracy or the ghosts of the past, but in a truly democratic republic.
The mullahs’ failing tyranny
The article details the extreme brutality of Khamenei’s regime, highlighting its inherent weakness. It reports on a new “espionage” bill that designates collaboration with foreign media or states as “corruption on Earth,” a charge carrying a mandatory death penalty. This medieval law, the Express notes, also criminalizes sharing images or videos that authorities deem a threat to “public morale.”
The report describes the current situation in Iran as a “spree of state-sponsored killings and torture on a scale rarely seen,” launched in the wake of the recent ceasefire. It cites eyewitness accounts of the Revolutionary Guard’s (IRGC) Basij militia abducting citizens from the streets of Tehran. The Express correctly assesses these actions not as a show of force, but as the desperate thrashing of a “medieval theocracy” that has “never been so weak or so vulnerable” and is facing an organized resistance poised to topple it.
Debunking the monarchist illusion
The article goes on to dismantle the illusion of a monarchist alternative, focusing on the self-styled “Crown Prince” Reza Pahlavi. It reminds readers that Pahlavi’s father ran a brutal dictatorship, employing the SAVAK secret police to torture opponents with “red-hot pokers, electricity, and sodomy,” and fled Iran after transferring $4 billion stolen from the people.
The Express highlights the hypocrisy of the man known mockingly as “Baby Shah,” who calls for an uprising from his safe home in America, tweeting: “All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put this nightmare to an end… may I be with you soon.” Most damningly, the report points to Pahlavi’s troubling claims of outreach to the IRGC. Quoting Baroness O’Loan, it notes, “It is troubling to hear that Reza Pahlavi says he has been in direct contact with IRGC commanders… who have enabled the Ayatollah’s Regime’s decades of violence and repression.”
The people’s verdict: no to all dictators
Crucially, the Express article amplifies the authentic voice of the Iranian people. It cites the popular chant from the uprisings that rings with unmistakable clarity: “down with the oppressor, whether the Shah or the Ayatollah.”
This sentiment, the article shows, is understood by conscientious politicians in the UK. It quotes Conservative MP Bob Blackman, who stated, “In 2022, the people of Iran clearly stated their rejection of all forms of dictatorship, whether under the Shah or the mullahs.” It also cites Lord Steve McCabe of the Labour party, who correctly identifies Pahlavi as an “irrelevant figure” who “romanticise[s] his father’s dictatorial rule, which was overthrown by the Iranian people in February, 1979.”
The reporting in the Express serves as an important affirmation from a major Western media outlet. It confirms that the international community must not fall for the false choice between two failed dictatorships. The only legitimate path forward is the one being forged by the Iranian people themselves—a path towards a democratic, secular republic.