TEHRAN — A visit to Israel this week by Iran's last crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has cost him a barrage of diatribes, particularly from hard-liners in his home country.
Pahlavi, who has been in exile since the ouster of his father, Mohammad Reza, in the 1979 Islamic revolution, landed in Israel on Monday, sat down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, paid tribute to Holocaust victims and prayed at the Western Wall.
The 62-year-old opposition figure who is advocating for regime change in Iran said his country and Israel could stand as "strategic partners." Pahlavi was admired by Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel who described him as a fighter for "the justice and freedom that Iranians deserve."
Yet the crown prince photographed in meetings with leaders of the Islamic Republic's sworn enemy, unsurprisingly, drew fire from hard-liners and government loyalists at home.
