[Watch] From Father’s Malaysia Visit To Son’s Revolution: Shah’s Heir Calls For Iran Uprising
The last Shah of Iran was received with full ceremonial honours during his Malaysian tour, dining with Perak royalty at Istana Iskandariah and receiving the nation’s highest decoration from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter, or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates.
The black-and-white photographs capture a moment of diplomatic grandeur.
At Istana Iskandariah in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, in 1968, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi shared a formal luncheon with Sultan Idris Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar Shah, who ruled Perak from 1963 to 1984, alongside Raja Perempuan Muzwin.
The Iranian monarch, resplendent in his ceremonial uniform, was at the height of his power during this official visit to Malaysia, which included a stop in Perak.
Malaysia’s highest honour – the Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara (DMN) – was bestowed upon him by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong during this state visit, cementing warm diplomatic ties between the two nations.
It was a time when the Peacock Throne seemed unshakeable, and the Shah’s visit to Malaysia represented the pinnacle of royal diplomacy between two proud nations.
The ‘King of Kings’, who had ruled Iran since 1941, was accompanied by his elegant wife, Empress Farah Diba, as they were received with full ceremonial honours.
The Shah of Iran rolled into Malaysia in 1968, bringing all the pomp and circumstance of a Persian peacock on a Southeast Asian tour. #Persia #Reza_Pahlavi #Malaysia #History pic.twitter.com/xkkCKLjgDV
— Shinichi Kee Soon (@ShinichiKeeSoon) June 19, 2025
The Fall of an Empire
That world of royal protocol and palace ceremonies would crumble just 11 years later.
In 1979, the Islamic Revolution swept across Iran with devastating force.
The Shah, who had once been Malaysia’s honoured guest, was overthrown during the Iranian revolution, and the Iranian monarchy that had endured for centuries was dissolved.
The fallen monarch fled into exile, dying of lymphoma in Egypt just a year later in 1980.
His 17-year-old son Reza escaped to America, inheriting not a throne, but the burden of a lost kingdom and the dreams of restoration that would define his life.
A Prince’s Revolutionary Call
Nearly five decades after his father’s triumphant visit to Malaysia, Reza Pahlavi has issued his most dramatic challenge yet to the Islamic Republic.
Now 63 and speaking from decades of exile, he has declared that the government which overthrew his father’s monarchy is finally collapsing.
In a fiery social media statement, he claimed that Supreme Leader Khamenei is “hiding underground like a frightened rat” and called for a “nationwide uprising” across Iran’s major cities.
“The end of the Islamic Republic is the end of its 46-year war against the Iranian nation,” proclaimed the son of the monarch who once sat at Malaysian royal tables as an honoured guest.
My Fellow Countrymen,
— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) June 17, 2025
The Islamic Republic has reached its end and is in the process of collapsing. Khamenei, like a frightened rat, has gone into hiding underground and has lost control of the situation. What has begun is irreversible. The future is bright, and together, we… https://t.co/XEyL5IM05t
The Weight of History
The contrast between then and now is profound.
Where his father was welcomed with full ceremonial honours at Malaysian palaces in 1968, receiving the nation’s highest decoration, Reza Pahlavi now operates from exile in America, using social media platforms to rally opposition against the very government that emerged from his family’s downfall.
Malaysia, which once celebrated the Shah with its highest decoration during his official state visit, has since maintained diplomatic and trade relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, adapting to the new reality that replaced the monarchy it once honoured.
Despite Pahlavi’s bold proclamations about the regime’s “inevitable” collapse, Iran remains firmly under the control of the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus.
There are no visible signs of the mass uprising he envisions, and his calls to Iranian military personnel to abandon the government have yet to materialise into concrete action.
His message represents the latest chapter in a royal family’s nearly half-century struggle to reclaim relevance in a homeland that has moved on without them.
From Palace Protocol to Twitter Politics
The journey from the formal diplomatic ceremonies of 1968 to today’s social media revolution attempts illustrates how dramatically the Middle East has transformed.
The Shah, who once exchanged pleasantries with Malaysian royalty and had ruled Iran since 1941 before his overthrow in 1979, could never have imagined that his son would one day wage his political battles through hashtags and viral videos.
Whether the son of Malaysia’s former royal guest can spark the revolution he believes will restore his family’s legacy remains highly uncertain.
For now, his dramatic call from exile serves as a reminder of how the tides of history can transform honoured guests into distant voices of opposition, and how the grandeur of royal visits can become mere footnotes in the larger story of political upheaval.
The irony endures: the same Malaysia that once bestowed its highest honours upon the Shah during his 1968 state visit now watches from afar as his son attempts to write what he hopes will be the final chapter of the government that rose from his father’s fall.
Adding another layer to this complex historical narrative, Malaysia under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has voiced support for Iran in its ongoing conflict with Israel, maintaining diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic that replaced the monarchy it once celebrated, even as Malaysians have been advised to leave Iran due to the escalating conflict.
Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Threads.
