Shock! Shah of Iran's son, Alireza, commits horrible deed

[Catya Sher]

Press TV

Alireza Pahlavi, the youngest son of former Iranian [Shah] Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, has committed suicide at his home in the United States.

His older brother, Reza Pahlavi, confirmed the death in a statement on his personal website on Tuesday, saying his sibling had been suffering from chronic depression.

The statement said that although his 44-year-old brother had struggled for years to overcome his suffering, “he finally succumbed, and during the night of the 4th of January 2011, in his Boston residence, took his own life.”

Police say he died from a single gunshot which was apparently self-inflicted.

His father, who had been supported by the United States, was ousted by the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and members of the family have been living in exile in the US for decades.

Alireza is the second member of the Pahlavi family to commit suicide.

The youngest daughter of the family, Leila Pahlavi, died in 2001 at the age of 31 after taking a large amount of cocaine and barbiturates.

[graveyardofempires]

sad

[Admin Khan]

Perhaps they are committing suicide because they miss sitting on their throne in Iran?

Just speculating.

[Catya Sher]

Well, I read Empress Farah's book and she explains the terribly painful episode about Laila as having been due to Laila's emotional nature. Apparently she could never get a grip on starting a new life. She felt no interests in anything.
Her mother tried to encourage her to film a documentary on Iranian nomads, or something like that.
But Laila couldn't carry through. Apparently she was - emotionally paralysed - by the upheaval of having to flee the country at such a young age.
She phoned her mother right before the awful episode and Farah said she missed the phone call. When Farah called her back, she wouldn't pick up the phone, having gotten into a bad mood. Then....the terrible news came.

Alireza was the least well known of the siblings. So I'm not sure about his character.

But yes, these tragedies were due to inability to adjust to the fact of no longer having those servants as shown in the Coming to America trailer we saw just now.

Reza Pahlavi is a big pet of certain corners of the US State Dept.
He says all the right things for them in his speeches [lackluster sounding to me].
I pray he never gets back.

[graveyardofempires]

Who knows if Iranian secret services is involved in killing them? Displaying everything normal.

maybe his brother killed him for the future throne?
you know royal types

[randolph85]

pretending to be royalty and having no throne. boo hoo for him.

[Catya Sher]

E___ : yeah that's actually an idea.
Not about Laila, as I explained.
But perhaps Alireza....
The article originally pointedly said "ex-Dictator of Iran".
The current regime hates the Shah to this day.
I never pictured them doing something like this.

[Catya Sher]

GYE: yah, it's like the Moghuls and Ottomans Maybe Safavids, too.
They killed all the living brothers to ensure an uncontested throne.
Even Shah Jehan the Magnificent did that, sadly.

[IamDZJ]

why does it have to be about their past?? why can't he be a normal man of his age having a rough time with life??

[Catya Sher]

It's a reminder that all the fame does not make a happy man.
Probably Alireza felt despair that no one cared about HIM.
Just about his title - this is a common problem

It's better to be unknown and mentally healthy, happy, and confident.
[Hear that, Unknown Prince!?]

Seriously, most celebrities and famous figures - especially CHILDREN of them - suffer because they don't know what to do with their lives coming the shadow of such a luminary.
They cast about to find their OWN identities.
Some do better than others at that. Clearly.

[Admin Khan]

Who knows if Iranian secret services is involved in killing them? Displaying everything normal.

I was watching this documentary on the FBI last night. In short, Esapzai wrora you will be astonished and amazed at how advanced and capable the FBI is. So I doubt Iran's intelligence agency will be capable of operating in the US, especially since there are surveillance cameras in place.

The Russians seem to have quite a few spies in the US.

[Catya Sher]

That;s nice you said that ^ GoPashtunGo.
Think how his family must be feeling.
Apparently he was not political at all.
Was studying for PhD in Ancient Iranian civilization at Harvard;
more of a scholar type perhaps.

The only bit of truth I could extract from the lies and distortions of the main article written about him was that he apparently never got over his sister's death. Also had a marriage proposal linger for 8 years with a Sarah Tabatabai, and then fall apart.
No one said it, but that clearly could have played SOME role.
But maybe it was that holiday blues type of phenomenon.
Very tragic though.

Admin Khan:
glad the FBI documentary stressed Russian agents here.
It's truly a MASSIVE problem
That's why I recommend to everybody: don't mixed up with any recent emigres from post-Soviet times [would have arrived here 1991 onwards].
So many are unofficially looking out for the interest of the "Motherland" - a Soviet term of course.
My advice to make a long story short [I will explain if anyone does want more details] is : avoid like a plague! Find other friends/associates to confide in.

The women are trained sometimes officially, sometimes not, to snag men with American green cards or passports. They try thus to bring over the very trained agents that way.

The Islamic Republic has no undercover infiltration organization like the well-oiled machine of the Russian Federation.
Hence, it's true, Teheran would have little ability to do much.
They are not cruel like that anyway.
They hate the Shah but wouldn't kill his children, especially one who was in the background and not much political.
There were some killings of dissidents a decade ago or so..those were in Europe and were more rogue operations which were stopped.

[kakargirl]

throne or no throne randolphe the history remains and hes known as a royal that never goes

[Shamaar]

Perhaps they are committing suicide because they miss sitting on their throne in Iran?

Just speculating.

I think Admin Khan wror said it right. How would any member of a royal family feel after being ousted of the very country they once ruled? No amount of money can remedy that feeling.

[Catya Sher]

^ Sad and very true.

It's one thing if there had been some major war but to think that one's own people had suddenly become so angry.
In some cases, quite ungrateful too.
After 4 or 5 years, when I visited Iran, you should have heard all the people regretting the Revolution, saying the Shah's time was so much better.
However, their reasoning wasn't always that good, as things like alcohol and parties were frequently bemoaned.
But in terms of economic development, many people realized what the Shah had done for them
At the same time, he trampled religious sentiment by trying to bring American and Western culture and attitudes into the society.
Which did cause a legitimate backlash.

About this AliReza, billed as second in line to the Peacock Throne by his supporters,
he received his Master's degree from --- listening Shlombey? --
Columbia University, in contemporary history.

Too bad his life ended like THIS!