Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks during Convocation at the Vines Center on Wednesday. (Photo by Travis Clayton)
Reza Pahlavi, the last crown prince of Iran, was welcomed to Liberty University’s Convocation stage on Wednesday, where he delivered a message on the recent atrocities from his homeland and implored students to stand firm for the oppressed.
Pahlavi is the son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, who fell to the extremist Islamist regime during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Pahlavi and his family have lived in America, in exile, since the monarchy fell.
“I stand before you not only as an Iranian, but as a witness on behalf of millions of my compatriots whose voices have been silenced, whose names you may never hear, but whose courage is reshaping the future of my country,” Pahlavi said. “I come to you as a voice of a nation that has been silenced, a nation whose people cannot stand here themselves.”
During his 15-minute address to the largest twice-weekly gathering of young Christians in the world, the crown prince detailed the excruciating horrors experienced by Iranian citizens, who have been tortured, murdered, and assaulted in recent months.
Between Jan. 8-9, he said more than 30,000 protestors were killed. “Women were beaten in the streets, students dragged from classrooms and executed, doctors assaulted in hospitals for treating the wounded, women and men sexually assaulted in detention centers, nurses and medics raped for helping gunshot victims, teenagers tortured into false confessions, and families forced to pay for the bullets that killed their sons and daughters.”
“What is happening in Iran demands a stronger word: evil,” he declared. “Because what else do you call a system that murders its own children? What else do you call a regime that wages war both on enemies abroad and on its own people? This is not politics. This is not governance. This is not even repression. This is evil — organized, sustained, and unapologetic.”
Pahlavi reminded students that for the last 33 days, Iran has been without internet. Families have been inhibited from communicating with loved ones and dissenters have been prevented from spreading their message.
Pahlavi was introduced to the stage by Liberty President Dondi E. Costin, who noted that Pahlavi became the youngest fighter pilot in Iran’s history in 1967 after training at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. Pahlavi studied political science at the University of Southern California. Costin said Pahlavi “has spent the bulk of his life as what we would call today a freedom fighter.”
After sharing the personal stories of Iranians — adults and children — who have been brutally murdered by the same government charged with protecting them, he said despite the disparity, he is hopeful.
Pahlavi, an advocate for religious freedom, said Christianity is rising quietly and powerfully in underground churches in Iran. He charged students to champion the principles of faith and liberty, which he said are “worth everything.”
Liberty President Dondi E. Costin introduced Pahlavi as a modern day ‘freedom fighter.’ (Photo by Ethan Smith)
“What will you do with your liberty when others your age are dying for theirs?” he asked the students. “Faith that survives persecution is unbreakable, because the light shines brightest in the darkest places. There was a time when Iran stood for something very different. … The regime in Iran today has betrayed that legacy. It does not represent the Iranian people. It fears them, and it will fall because of them.”
He told the students that the young people in Iran are much like them, with dreams and hope for their futures.
“The Iranian people are doing their part. They are risking everything. They are leading this fight, but they cannot and should not stand alone. America must be clear. There is no negotiating with evil. There is no reforming a system built on brutality. There is only one path forward: the end of this regime.”
“When America stands with moral clarity, it gives strength to those fighting in the shadows,” he added. “So today, be their voice, carry their message, stand in their place, and pray for them. And when history asks what you did in this moment, let it be said that you did not remain silent — that you stood, that you spoke, that you helped bring freedom to a nation that has waited too long.”