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Contact: Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
Email: dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
Or: Free Iran Scholars Network
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August 9, 2025 – Harvard, MA : In a powerful new article published this week, Harvard-educated political scientist Dr. Majid Rafizadeh reveals the deeply authoritarian foundations of Reza Pahlavi’s recently announced plan for Iran’s future. Titled “Reza Pahlavi’s Platform – A Roadmap to Neo-fascist Rule,” the article provides a detailed analysis of Pahlavi’s August 1 policy platform and warns that it paves the way for a new dictatorship under the guise of national transition.
According to Dr. Rafizadeh, Pahlavi’s plan, unveiled on X (formerly Twitter) and hosted by NUFDI, outlines a “Transition System” in which all executive, legislative, and judicial powers are concentrated under Pahlavi’s control for a minimum of 18 to 36 months, with no elections or mechanisms for public accountability. Under this system, three central bodies – the “National Uprising Body,” the “Transitional Government,” and the “Transitional Judiciary” – are fully appointed and overseen by Pahlavi, with sweeping authority over every aspect of Iranian political life.
“The structure is not democratic,” Dr. Rafizadeh said. “It is a top-down framework of absolute control – no transparency, no checks and balances, no role for the Iranian people. It is eerily reminiscent of autocratic models past and present.”
Among the plan’s most alarming features are:
- Pahlavi’s direct appointment and dismissal powers over all transitional leaders
- The imposition of martial law in key cities
- A special police force reporting solely to the leader
- A transitional judiciary controlled by appointees of the “Leader of the National Uprising”
- An open-ended timeline for extending transitional rule
Dr. Rafizadeh argues that Pahlavi’s use of historical Persian terms such as Mahestan masks the deeply anti-democratic nature of the platform, presenting it as culturally authentic while removing all mechanisms of public participation.
“By eliminating even symbolic elections and framing his control as ‘transitional,’ Pahlavi seeks to normalize autocracy,” Rafizadeh explains in the article. “This is not a path to a republic or constitutional monarchy. It is a new version of authoritarianism cloaked in patriotic rhetoric.”
The article concludes by calling the plan “a betrayal of the Iranian people’s democratic aspirations” and compares it unfavorably to the clerical regime it seeks to replace. With a hereditary leader at the helm and repressive forces intact under new labels, the blueprint, Rafizadeh warns, risks reproducing – or even intensifying – the repression Iranians have fought so hard to escape.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an internationally recognized scholar, human rights advocate, and author. He serves on the advisory board of the Harvard International Review and is fluent in Arabic, English, and Persian. He holds multiple advanced degrees in government, global politics, journalism, and linguistics.
The full article is available in multiple languages:
English: https://freeiransn.com/?page_id=916
German: https://freeiransn.com/?page_id=946
French: https://freeiransn.com/?page_id=944
Arabic: https://freeiransn.com/?page_id=922
Spanish: https://freeiransn.com/?page_id=939
Italian: https://freeiransn.com/?page_id=920