Prince Reza Pahlavi and his four-decade warning about extremist Islamism in Europe

Prince Reza Pahlavi's media office on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, as unrest spread in France and several other European cities, put his warning about extremist Islamism back before European public opinion. According to his office, Prince Reza Pahlavi warned more than four decades ago that extremist Islamism would one day engulf Europe too; a warning that, in the office's words, today “needs attention more than ever.”

In its message, the Prince's media office pointed to his interview eight months ago with Stephen Thompson, founder of the outlet “Visegrád 24”, in which he explained why standing up to extremist Islamism is not Islamophobia but a defence of free societies.

Prince Reza Pahlavi's remarks in the interview with Visegrád 24

In that interview, published last winter, Prince Reza Pahlavi recalled that in the early 1980s he had told a member of the British House of Lords that Europe saw the Middle East as distant and unrelated to itself, but that extremist Islamism would one day reach Europeans' doorstep. He said that prediction has now become reality.

He cited Belgium as an example and spoke of a conversation with an Iran expert living in Brussels who, by his account, described Islamists in a neighbourhood near the Royal Palace campaigning politically for demands such as the application of sharia and separate buses for women and men. Prince Reza Pahlavi criticised the way any warning about Islamism, especially from the left, is dismissed with the label “Islamophobia”, and noted that Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran itself also warn about extremist Islamism.

He described Iran's experience as a lesson for Europe: after 1979 the Islamic Republic first reversed the reforms of the pre-revolution era, especially in family law and women's rights, and from there the country went into decline. In his view, Europe must not take the path that the people of Iran and the region are struggling to escape.

Unrest in France and the Islamic Republic's role

The reminder from the Prince's office comes as France is seeing widespread protests and unrest, and French researchers, as DIAR reported earlier, have accused the Islamic Republic of fuelling the unrest through online campaigns and links with far-left groups. Prince Reza Pahlavi has said repeatedly in recent months that as long as the Islamic Republic is in power, its threat to Europe's security will remain; an issue that also came up in the debate over inviting him to the Belgian parliament.

Prince Reza Pahlavi says standing up to extremist Islamism is not Islamophobia; it is a defence of free societies.