How Iranian monarchists have targeted anti-war activists

How Iranian monarchists have targeted anti-war activists Submitted by Amara Sophia Elahi on Fri, 05/01/2026 - 14:47 Supporters of Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah, have gone to extraordinary lengths to silence their critics, including violent attacks Iranian pro-monarchy supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah, demonstrate near Reichstag building in Berlin on 23 April 2026 (Christian Mang/Reuters) Off “We’re going to find you, we’re going to rape you, we’re going to kill you.” This is just one of hundreds of messages that Arjang Alidai, an Iranian-British engineer based in the UK, has received from monarchist compatriots in recent months. Alidai first became a target after he voted in the 2024 Iranian presidential election, which many anti-government Iranians boycotted. They viewed voters as complicit with the Islamic Republic, and many now see Iranians who oppose the US-Israeli war on Iran in the same light. Alidai describes a relentless campaign of intimidation, which significantly increased when protests broke out in Iran in January.  He regularly attends anti-Iran war rallies and demonstrations in support of Gaza. He says he is often harassed and chanted at by monarchists attending counter-protests. “They tell me I’m a traitor to my country,” Alidai tells Middle East Eye. 'I was at an anti-Iran war demonstration and someone from the monarchist side threatened to stab me' - Ghazal Diani, anti-war Iranian He shows MEE multiple social media posts from accounts associated with Iranian monarchists that have posted images of him alongside threatening and abusive language. “They use very sexualised language, and make their abuse highly personal,” he says. “They got hold of my contact information and started leaking it online - I had to close my social media accounts.” Alidai says he has also received death threats in phone calls from international numbers.  He reported all of this to Greater Manchester Police but was simply advised to close his social media accounts and change his phone number.  “It’s disappointing, we are being overlooked,” he says. “I’ve had to keep looking over my shoulder.” 'Wiped off the face of the Earth' Alidai’s experience is not unique.  “I’ve received messages online saying I’ll be tracked down, stabbed and wiped off the face of the earth,” Ghazal Diani, founder of a tech start-up, tells MEE. “I was at an anti-Iran war demonstration last month and someone from the monarchist side threatened to stab me. Their insults are very misogynistic - and they’re not just coming from men. “At the beginning you think these are just words and don’t take it seriously, but these things can escalate. I genuinely feel scared.” Arjang Alidai, an Iranian-British engineer, has been targeted by monarchists (Supplied) Diani reported these threats to London’s Metropolitan Police but was told they would only investigate if something more serious occurred. Something more serious then happened. On 22 April, Mohammed Reza, an Iranian father of two demonstrating against the war on Iran outside Downing Street was stabbed multiple times by a counter-protester of Iranian origin. Reza had previously been verbally and physically abused in public. He survived the attack. The children of Cyrus The monarchist movement represents the antithesis of everything the Islamic Republic stands for. Iranian monarchists identify as secular and nationalist. They use language and imagery associated with Iran’s pre-Islamic past, including describing themselves as “Children of Cyrus”, referring to Cyrus the Great, the 6th-century BCE founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.  'They tell me I’m a traitor to my country' - Arjang Alidai, anti-war Iranian At their rallies, monarchists raise the lion and sun flag, which was the standard of Iran until the shah was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979.  The movement’s figurehead, Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah of Iran, belongs to a dynasty that deliberately styled itself as pro-West and anti-Islam, despite being Shia Muslim. Indeed, the name “Pahlavi” refers to an older version of the Persian language, evoking Iran’s pre-Islamic heritage.  Reza Shah, who founded the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925, propagated this ideology by initiating a campaign to “de-Islamicise” Iran. This included banning Muslim practices, forcing women to abandon hijabs, and indoctrinating Iranians through a mass education programme that vilified Arabs for invading Iranians’ ancestral land.   “We can think of this ideological background as dislocative nationalism,” says Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, reader in the history of nationalism and race at King’s College London. A pro-monarchist demonstration in Los Angeles, featuring posters depicting Reza Pahlavi, 1 March 2026 (Apu Gomes/Getty Images/AFP) “It is derived from European colonial ideas and aims to dislodge Iran from its objective reality as a Muslim country in the Middle East, and rather reimagines it as some kind of lost European nation where people who speak Indo-European languages become connected via the Aryan race theory. “It is fundamentally Islamophobic and embraces colonialism and western hegemony.” Iran and the US: When friends fall out Read More » This logic would explain why monarchists celebrate and invite the bombing of their homeland: for decades, they have been lobbying for western military intervention and sanctions because they see it as necessary in order to return Iran to the country it was before 1979.  Their delight in Israel’s war on the Palestinian people can also be explained in this way. “It stems from the fact that Palestinians are Arabs, and monarchists view Arabs as responsible for their downfall because they brought Islam to Iran,” says Zia-Ebrahimi. In recent months, monarchists have targeted mosques and there have been protests and clashes with worshippers outside the Islamic Centre of England, an Iranian Shia establishment in London that is alleged to have ties to the Tehran government. There have also been confrontations outside the Imam Reza Cultural Centre in Birmingham, which held a mourning ceremony after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei in February. For successive nights, monarchists gathered outside playing music and dancing in front of the building. Monarchists, Zionists and the far right A key characteristic of the monarchist movement is its alignment with pro-Israel and far-right groups, with each reinforcing the other’s ideology. At rallies, this is demonstrated by the presence of Israeli and St George’s Cross flags alongside the lion and sun banner, and the chanting of anti-Muslim slogans.  Monarchist rallies have attracted the likes of Mark Birbek, a pro-Zionist campaigner, Gideon Falter, the director of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, and the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson. 'They feel emboldened by the explicit support they receive from mainstream political actors in the West' - Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, historian “This alliance has become formalised and institutionalised,” says Zia-Ebrahimi. He suggests the targeting of anti-war Iranians is part of a wider, coordinated campaign. “There has been a lot of Israeli investment in amplifying monarchist messaging on diaspora news channels and on social media, where they create an army of bots that attack, insult and intimidate alternative Iranian voices,” the historian says. Recent videos even show monarchists gathering in British cities clad in black and carrying flags of the Savak, the notorious secret police force under the shah, which imprisoned and tortured political opponents. “Before we were dealing with a bunch of clowns, but now it is turning into something far more dangerous,” says Zia-Ebrahimi. “They feel emboldened by the explicit support they receive from mainstream political actors in the West.” Murder in the name of the cause The murder in Canada of Masood Masjoodi, an Iranian-Canadian university professor who was a critic of the Iranian government and Reza Pahlavi, highlights how far the monarchist movement can go. Two individuals, who were known to Masjoodi and who espoused the monarchist cause, have been charged with his murder. Samira Mohyeddin, an Iranian-Canadian journalist and founder of On The Line Media, believes authorities need to take the movement more seriously. Pro-Israel PR firm promoting Iranian opposition group Read More » “Masood tried to warn people he was under threat for months - that's what’s really troubling,” she says. “There are a lot of us being threatened on a daily basis, and unfortunately our police don't do anything until something happens to someone. “There’s talk of lists being drawn up in the community,” Mohyeddin tells MEE, referring to people deemed to be legitimate targets for the movement. She believes that unless the monarchist movement is kept in check, it could become even more dangerous and violent. “I’ve heard chants of ‘One flag, one leader one country’ - that's akin to what was chanted for Hitler,” she says. “Going down this path has nothing to do with liberty, justice, freedom, equality - we're heading towards another kind of fascism that is very dangerous, and I think we’ll see a very hardcore group of people escalate even further.” War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0