Tehran’s Paradox: Why Iranians Are Chanting for a Monarchy They Once Overthrew

In the heart of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, where merchants once bankrolled the 1979 Islamic Revolution, protesters now call for the return of the very dynasty their parents helped topple.

The Ghost of the Peacock Throne

The scene would have been unthinkable just a decade ago: crowds in Tehran openly chanting “Long Live the Shah” and expressing support for Reza Pahlavi, the son of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran’s last monarch who fled the country in 1979. The Grand Bazaar, a historic epicenter of political resistance in Iran, has long served as a barometer of public sentiment. Its merchants famously withdrew support from the Shah in the late 1970s, helping catalyze the revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.

Today’s protests represent a stunning reversal of revolutionary fervor. The bazaaris who once shuttered their shops to protest the Shah’s regime now invoke his name as a symbol of opposition to the Islamic Republic. This shift reflects not necessarily a genuine desire for monarchical restoration, but rather the depth of disillusionment with the current system and a nostalgic reimagining of pre-revolutionary Iran as a time of greater prosperity and international integration.

Beyond Nostalgia: Understanding the Monarchist Revival

The resurgence of pro-monarchy sentiment in Iran cannot be divorced from the country’s current economic and social crises. With inflation soaring, the currency in freefall, and youth unemployment endemic, many Iranians look back to the 1960s and early 1970s as a golden age of modernization and relative prosperity. Social media has amplified this phenomenon, with younger Iranians—who never lived under the Shah—consuming idealized images of pre-revolutionary Iran: women in miniskirts, Tehran’s thriving nightlife, and Iran’s close ties with the West.

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, now 64 and living in exile, has skillfully positioned himself as a unifying figure for the opposition. Unlike his father, who ruled as an absolute monarch, Pahlavi has repeatedly stated he does not seek the throne but rather wants to facilitate a transition to secular democracy. His messaging resonates with a generation exhausted by theocratic rule and desperate for change, even if that change comes wrapped in the symbolism of a bygone era.

The Regime’s Dilemma

For the Islamic Republic, these protests present a particularly thorny challenge. The regime’s entire legitimacy rests on the narrative of the 1979 revolution as a popular uprising against tyranny and Western imperialism. Protesters chanting for the Shah directly assault this foundational myth. The government faces an impossible choice: harsh crackdowns risk further alienating the population and proving protesters’ points about authoritarian rule, while tolerance of such demonstrations could embolden the opposition and suggest weakness.

The international implications are equally complex. Western policymakers watching these developments must resist the temptation to view Iran through simplistic binaries. While the protests indicate genuine dissatisfaction with the Islamic Republic, they do not necessarily translate into widespread support for monarchical restoration or guarantee that regime change would lead to a pro-Western democracy.

Looking Forward

The Grand Bazaar protests reveal a society grappling with its own history, where the failures of the present have rehabilitated the memory of a flawed past. As Iran’s economic crisis deepens and social restrictions tighten, we may see more Iranians embracing symbols of pre-revolutionary Iran—not out of genuine monarchist conviction, but as the most provocative way to reject the status quo. The question remains: In their desperation for change, are Iranians simply exchanging one form of authoritarianism for the memory of another?