For Reza Pahlavi, it was his first visit to Auschwitz, following in the footsteps of his father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who visited the camp in 1966. Six decades later, his son's visit came at a time when the Islamic Republic continues to oppress and kill its own people while promoting Holocaust denial, threatening Israel's existence and making antisemitism a central feature of its political ideology.
"The crimes of the Holocaust against the Jewish people are incomparable in the combination of its industrial scale of slaughter and the bureaucratic efficiency with which it was planned and organised,” Pahlavi wrote on X shortly after the visit. “My thoughts turned to the people of Iran, and to a regime that denies the Holocaust while attempting to erase the massacre of our compatriots from the world’s memory through internet blackouts, censorship and hidden executions.”
Beyond the symbolism of the visit, I was struck by the Crown Prince and Princess's personal warmth and unassuming manner. Both took time to engage with participants, showing genuine interest in their experiences and perspectives. Our conversations left me with the impression of a couple deeply concerned about Iran's future and determined to help shape it.
Reza Pahlavi's presence at Auschwitz offered a powerful challenge to the notion that Iran's future must remain hostage to the ideological obsessions of its rulers. His proposal to expand the Abraham Accords into the Cyrus Accords offers a vision of renewed cooperation between Israel and a future democratic Iran.
That vision draws on Iran's long history of relations with the Jewish people, dating back to Cyrus the Great, who permitted Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. For centuries, Jewish communities lived and flourished in Persia. The regime's antisemitism is a political choice that stands in stark contrast to this shared historical heritage, rather than an expression of Iranian history or identity.
"The Islamic Republic does not represent Iran,” Pahlavi wrote. “The heirs of Cyrus stand with the Jewish people. And while the regime seeks death and destruction, the Iranian nation is fighting for life and liberty.
“We placed a wreath bearing the Lion and Sun on behalf of the Iranian people at the memorial to the victims. We will never forget and we will not allow the regime occupying Iran to turn our nation’s name and history into instruments of hatred.”
Standing there, I felt both grief for the six million Jews murdered in Europe and a renewed determination to confront the antisemitism and antizionism that continue to threaten Jewish life today.
Yet their presence also offered hope that the hatred cultivated by the ayatollahs in Tehran need not define Iran's future, and that the Iranian and Jewish peoples may once again build a relationship founded on mutual respect, friendship and peace. As the Crown Prince wrote:
"A free Iran will once again stand for peace, life and human dignity. Light will prevail over darkness.”
Daniel Schatz is a political scientist, author and international affairs expert. He holds a PhD in political science and is a former visiting scholar at the universities of Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and Georgetown
Daniel Schatz and Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (Image: Daniel Schatz)[Missing Credit]