Reza Pahlavi has frequently boasted about his “bilateral contacts” with commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and has described the IRGC and the Basij as “the very force to guarantee Iran’s future security.” This is the same IRGC known for brutal repression at home and terrorism abroad, much of it aimed at the United States, and now designated a terrorist organization by both Washington and the European Union.

In Washington, the job of selling Pahlavi falls largely to one organization: the National Union for Democracy in Iran, or NUFDI.

A lobby built around one man

NUFDI says it was founded in 2003 and relaunched in March 2020. It describes itself as non-partisan and insists it is “not an opposition group.” In practice, nearly every significant NUFDI activity has revolved around Reza Pahlavi.

After the 2018 protests in Iran, NUFDI, which had been largely idle, ramped up its efforts. Harnessing the momentum of Iran’s uprising, its goal was clear: promote Reza Pahlavi, whitewash his IRGC ties, and undermine those who have been fighting the regime for four decades. Its legislative work in Washington has repeatedly served the same purpose, producing photo opportunities with members of Congress to build Pahlavi’s recognition on Capitol Hill.

NUFDI thanks Reza Pahlavi for his “continued support of our efforts” after a visit to its offices, April 2023.

“Increasing every day”

In 2018, Pahlavi spoke of “direct communications that I am having more and more every day with the representatives of the military and paramilitary forces,” which he identified as the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij. His “direct contacts” with them, he said, were “increasing every day.”

These are the forces that carried out the massacres of protesters in November 2019, in 2022, and in January 2026. A transition built on their commanders would not end the regime’s machinery of repression. It would inherit it.

The men around Pahlavi

A look at Reza Pahlavi’s inner circle shows how many of his close associates have backgrounds rooted in the Islamic Republic itself.

Reza Pahlavi (right) with members of his circle.

Amir Hossein Etemadi accompanies Pahlavi in nearly all his appearances and travels. While a student in Iran in 2003, he was among the detainees freed after, in the words of the state news agency IRNA, they declared their “innocence from the seditionists and rioters” of that summer’s student protests and their loyalty to “the holy system of the Islamic Republic.” IRNA reported that their release came with the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Above: Etemadi at Pahlavi’s side. Below: IRNA’s report of August 7, 2003, naming him among the students released after pledging loyalty to the Islamic Republic.

Erfan Ghanei Fard, a close adviser and promoter of Pahlavi, has been associated with Mohsen Rezaei, the longest-serving commander in the IRGC’s history. Rezaei led the Guards for 16 years, is wanted by Interpol for the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, faces trial in absentia in Argentina, and now serves as secretary of the regime’s Supreme National Security Council.

Top: Erfan Ghanei Fard with IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei. Bottom: Ghanei Fard with Reza Pahlavi.

Same target, same words

NUFDI reserves its harshest language for the organized opposition that has fought the ruling theocracy for four decades, the movement whose members were the principal victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. NUFDI’s executive director calls it an “Islamo-fascist cult” with “no legitimacy in Iran.” Khamenei’s official website calls the same movement “terrorists.”

NUFDI’s executive director, Cameron Khansarinia, and Khamenei’s official website use the same language about the same movement.

Whatever the intent, the effect is the same. The regime, its intelligence services and the monarchist lobby in Washington all direct their fire at the organized opposition that confronts the IRGC, and the regime is the one that benefits.

Rewriting 1979

Pahlavi and NUFDI dismiss the 1979 revolution, in which millions of Iranians rejected the monarchy. Pahlavi says he will respect the people’s decision. Yet in October 1980, soon after a vast majority of Iranians had overthrown the monarchy, he proclaimed himself shah in a ceremony in Cairo, declaring his “readiness to accept full responsibility as the lawful king of Iran.” His grandfather, Reza Khan, came to power through a coup in 1921.

October 31, 1980: Reza Pahlavi proclaims himself shah.

NUFDI glorifies the Pahlavi dynasty while covering up its single-party system, the torture and executions carried out by the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, and the corruption the Shah himself acknowledged in a public plea shortly before his fall. It honors Reza Shah as “the founder of modern Iran,” passing over a record that included a pro-German policy on the eve of the Second World War.

NUFDI honors Reza Shah. A Yale University Press history describes his regime’s pro-German policy and use of Nazi phrases and methods.

“Be it the shah or the supreme leader”

Iranians inside the country have given their own answer. Since September 2022, university students and ordinary people across Iran have chanted “Death to the oppressor, be it the shah or the supreme leader.” The slogan shows that Iranians understand the danger of an uprising being diverted toward a restored monarchy.

Protest slogans rejecting both the shah and the supreme leader, as reported in September and October 2022.

SAVAK’s shadow

NUFDI’s circle also reaches back to SAVAK itself. Parviz Sabeti was one of SAVAK’s most senior officials, overseeing the internal security operations that hunted down, tortured and killed dissidents. His picture first appeared publicly in a February 11, 2023 post by his daughter, Pardis Sabeti, taken at a rally in the United States. Pardis Sabeti sits on NUFDI’s advisory council.

Since then, Parviz Sabeti’s portrait has appeared at rallies organized by Pahlavi’s supporters, labeled “the nightmare of future terrorists,” a clear echo of how SAVAK branded the intellectuals and dissidents it targeted.

Left: the February 2023 post. Right: NUFDI welcomes Pardis Sabeti to its advisory council; Parviz Sabeti’s portrait at a Pahlavi rally, captioned “the nightmare of future terrorists.”

What NUFDI is for

NUFDI was built to whitewash the monarchical dictatorship, promote Reza Pahlavi, and pave the way for his repeated courtship of the IRGC. In doing so, it undermines the organized opposition that confronts the Guards and seeks the regime’s overthrow to establish a democratic republic in Iran. The people in the streets have already rejected both the crown and the turban.