Exiled prince Reza Pahlavi said on Thursday that the Munich Security Conference (MSC) retracted his invite at the behest of the German government under threats from the Islamic Republic.
“The Ayatollah is pulling the strings in Berlin,” Pahlavi said on X. “This is a betrayal of both the Iranian people and Germany’s democratic values. This German government has not only silenced the voice of the Iranian people but has actively done the Islamic Republic’s bidding.”
Describing it as Germany’s appeasement of a dictatorship and a disregard for human rights, he added, “Instead of supporting those fighting for freedom, Germany has chosen to appease a dictatorship that murders its citizens, takes Europeans hostage, and sponsors terrorism.”
Earlier in the month, the MSC restored its invitation to Pahlavi after it had rescinded it under pressure from the German Foreign Ministry, Iran International reported.
The Munich Security Conference was also under pressure in 2023 to withdraw its invitation to Pahlavi, according to Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Last year he said: “A few days before the Munich conference, one of the organizers—who used to be my student at Georgetown—told me they were under pressure to revoke Reza Pahlavi’s invitation.”