[churchill]

The whole episode of foreign interests trying to astroturf Reza Pahlavi will ultimately go nowhere, because there are no significant numbers of young, able-bodied men willing to kill and be killed on his behalf.

Or, like Mao said, "the Army is the chief component of state power and whoever seeks to acquire and retain state power must have a strong army."

Now, you may point to other "popular revolutions" throughout modern history, but that only proves my point. After Khomeini went into exile in France, tens of thousands of his loyalists continued building their networks in Iran's universities, bazaars, mosques, offices, government agencies, etc. The revolution of 1979 was simply that underground network rising to topple the modernist Persian state once they'd reached critical mass.

Even during the Arab Spring, nothing really changed. For instance, in Egypt, the Army ousted Mubarak to simply install their own man who commanded a real army with guns (Sisi). When the protesters didn't get the memo, they were fired upon and thousands killed.

Across the Artesh (Army), IRGC, Basij militias, and other Shia paramilitary groups, Khamenei has over a million armed, trained young men who believe his words are God's words, and whose fortunes are tied to the regime's survival. No amount of airstrikes can meaningfully degrade those numbers to the point where Reza Pahlavi can be allowed to touch solid ground and be installed as king.

Reza Pahlavi has millions of bots on Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, etc. who astroturf him as a contender for state power.

It's not even a contest.

[ukblewis]

And you ignore all of the real Iranians screaming in Iran, at risk of being killed for saying so, for him: “Javid Shah!”. Google it and you will find them

[churchill]

First, I'll have to say that I noticed 15/19 of the submissions you've made to Hacker News have been on the topics of either the Gaza War or the recent protests in Iran. It's weird, just saying.

Secondly, having thousands of protesters chanting your name still doesn't confer state power. State power is in the ability to achieve and retain a monopoly of violence. Khamenei's forces can (and are doing so already) mow down the protesters with machine gunfire, just like the Egyptian Army mowed down the supporters of Morsi in Cairo.

If you can't achieve a monopoly of violence, an asymmetry works just as well since you can impose your wishes on the opposition with superior firepower. That is what will, and is happening in Iran right now.