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Interview with Reza Pahlavi

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The growing street protests over Iran's disputed presidential election mark the biggest threat to its ruling clerics since they took power in 1979.

As seas of Iranians protest the election result which handed victory to the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, George Negus speaks with former Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the late Shah of Iran.

For Pahlavi, the protests reflect a nation-wide push for more freedom and a secular parliamentary democratic system. Iran is “a nation that is now demanding self-determination,” he says.

The American-educated politician and trained fighter pilot, who today describes himself as an advocate for democracy and human rights in Iran, has lived in the U.S. since 1984, and hasn't returned to Iran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

While Pahlavi may have strong support in the Iranian diaspora, it is questionable that he speaks for Iranians inside who, while demanding reform, still fundamentally support the Islamic rule.

Find out more this week on Dateline, Sunday 8:30pm on SBS ONE.



On air: 21st June 2009

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