Persia was colonised by Islam. That is the root of the problem.
In 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi - father of the last Shah - officially changed the country’s name from Persia to Iran. He was impressed by Hitler and the Nazis, and the word “Iran" means “Land of the Aryans." It was a deliberate nationalist rebranding. But the deeper colonisation had already happened centuries earlier when Islam conquered and transformed ancient Persia.
Add to this the Shi’ite version of Islam - a minority sect locked in lifelong conflict with the Sunni majority. Shi’ites have always felt numerically inferior, yet driven by a medieval messianic madness to impose their version of Islam first on the Middle East and ultimately on the world. That combination - conquered Persian identity fused with revolutionary Shi’ite zeal - produced the toxic ideology that rules Iran today.
The appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader only confirms how rotten the system has become. In today’s Iran, any promotion is a very bad career move. The regime is eating its own. Fear, paranoia, and ruthless suppression have prevented any genuine internal leadership from emerging. The Ayatollahs have crushed every independent voice for decades.
The only person widely recognised and respected by ordinary Iranians is Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah. He stands above the hatreds and divisions that the mullahs have sown. He could serve as a unifying figure in an interim role - someone who can hold the nation together during the dangerous transition after the regime falls. Even if he eventually regains the title of Shah, it must be strictly titular - a ceremonial, symbolic head of state with no executive power.
I would even suggest a return to the original and historic name Persia. It would signal a clean break with the Islamic Republic and a reconnection with the country’s ancient, pre-Islamic identity.
There is no other realistic path. Half-measures, reformed mullahs, or Western-style democracy imposed from outside will not work. The Islamic Republic is not a normal government that can be reformed. It is an ideological occupation that has colonised the soul of Persia. The only solution is total regime change - the complete removal of the Ayatollah system, the IRGC, and the Basij.
Unlike Germany after the Second World War, where many former Nazi bureaucrats were quietly re-employed, no one who served the current regime - at any level - can be allowed back into the new government. The entire apparatus must be dismantled and replaced.
The current war has cracked the regime open. The opportunity is now. If the West - led by America - has the courage to support a clean break and back a transitional role for Reza Pahlavi, Iran can begin to reclaim its ancient identity and rejoin the civilised world.
Anything less will simply produce another version of the same nightmare.
The colonisation of Persia by Islam has lasted long enough. It is time to end it.
David Hersch is Chairman of SAIPAC, the South African Israel Public Affairs Committee. Former chairman of the South African Zionist Federation (Cape Council) as well as a former national vice-chairman of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF). He is also former member of the South Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape Council). Retired businessman and broadcaster.
09 March 2026