Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran

Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran (born 31 October 1960) is the oldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and his wife Farah Diba.

Pahlavi's siblings include his sister Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi (born 1963), brother Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi (1966–2011), and sister Princess Leila Pahlavi (1970–2001), as well as a half-sister, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi (born 1940).

When he was born, the Shah pardoned 98 political prisoners, and the government declared a 20% reduction in income tax.

He studied at the eponymous "Reza Pahlavi School", a private school located in the royal palace and restricted to the imperial family and court associates.

He was trained as a pilot; his first solo flight was at the age of 11, and he obtained his license a year later.

He was a supporter of Taj Abadan football club.

As a cadet of the Imperial Iranian Air Force, he was sent to the United States in August 1978 to continue his pilot training.

He was one of 43 cadet pilots in the one-year pilot training program at the former Reese Air Force Base, TX, which included flying the Cessna T-37 Tweet and Northrop T-38 Talon.

Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he was the crown prince and the last heir apparent to the throne of the Imperial State of Iran.

Today, Pahlavi resides in Great Falls, Virginia.

Pahlavi is the founder and leader of the self-styled National Council of Iran, an exiled opposition group, participates in the Iranian democracy movement, and is a prominent critic of Iran's Islamic Republic government.

Reza Pahlavi was born in Tehran as the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran and Farah Pahlavi, the Shahbanu of Iran.

As a result of the Iranian Revolution, he left the base in March 1979, about four months earlier than planned.

Pahlavi began studies at Williams College in September 1979, but dropped out in 1980.

He then enrolled at The American University in Cairo as a political science student, but his attendance was irregular.

Reza Pahlavi came to Cairo, Egypt, in March 1980 with his family.

When his father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ill and in the last weeks of his life, media reported that some monarchist elements had advised the Shah to oust Reza in favor of his younger son Ali Reza (who was 13 at the time) and a regency council, suggesting that Reza's background, training and interest in public affairs were too limited to become his successor.

The Shah was understood to have rejected the idea and abdicated himself in favor of one of his two sons.

When the Shah died on 27 July 1980, Farah Pahlavi proclaimed herself as the regent, a title in pretense.

On his 20th birthday on 31 October, Reza Pahlavi declared himself to be the new king of Iran, Reza Shah II, and the rightful successor to the throne of Pahlavi dynasty.

Immediately afterward a spokesman for the United States Department of State, John Trattner, disassociated the U.S. government from Reza Pahlavi by stating that his government did not intend to support him, assuring that they recognized the Iranian government.

In 1981, it was reported that he had dropped out of the program and continued his studies privately with Iranian professors, with a focus on Persian culture and history, Islamic philosophy, and oil in Iran.

During 1981, Pahlavi remained in the Koubbeh Palace and developed close ties to pro-monarchy groups while facing rejection from other opposition groups, including left-wing dissidents.

In March, he issued a statement for the Persian New Year.

He urged all opponents of the Iranian government to unite behind him and wage a "national resistance".

Still, he chose to remain silent and made no reaction when President Abolhassan Banisadr was deposed, and the assassination of tens of officials including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti took place in June.

In August, Pahlavi announced that he had been secretly planning to overthrow the Iranian government, stating, "So far I have been unwilling to unveil the existence of the concerted plans for I do not wish to jeopardize the lives of some of our best children... many of our actions have been unknown to you, but I want to assure you that the necessary steps are being taken in the best orderly way to save Iran".

In 1982, Yaakov Nimrodi told BBC in a radio interview that along with Adolph Schwimmer and Adnan Khashoggi, he was involved with Pahlavi and Gen. Said Razvani to scheme a coup d'état and install him in Iran.

According to Samuel Segev, the plan had the approval of both the CIA and the Israeli cabinet, but it was abandoned when Menachem Begin resigned in 1983 and the new leadership, "thought Israel should not be involved in a new adventure".

Pahlavi obtained a BSc degree in political science by correspondence from the University of Southern California in 1985.

He is fluent in English and French in addition to his native Persian.

On 1 May 1986, Pahlavi disclosed that he had recently formed a government-in-exile to establish a constitutional monarchy again in Iran.

On his website, Pahlavi has said that the state of Iran should become democratic and secular, and human rights should be respected.

Whether the form of government would be that of a constitutional monarchy or a republic, he would like to leave up to the people of Iran.

Pahlavi has used his high profile as an Iranian abroad to campaign for human rights, democracy, and unity among Iranians in and outside Iran.

On his website, he calls for a separation of religion and state in Iran and free and fair elections "for all freedom-loving individuals and political ideologies".

He exhorts all groups dedicated to a democratic agenda to work together for a democratic and secular Iranian government.

In February 2011, after violence erupted in Tehran, Pahlavi said that Iran's youth were determined to get rid of an authoritarian government tainted by corruption and misrule in the hope of installing a democracy.

"Fundamental and necessary change is long overdue for our region, and we have a whole generation of young Egyptians and Iranians not willing to take no for an answer", he told The Daily Telegraph.

"Democratization is now imperative that cannot be denied. It is only a matter of time before the whole region can transform itself."