Speculation that a body found near a former mausoleum south of the Iranian capital might be that of Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty who once strived to modernize the former Persia, has stoked Iranian interest in their country's pre-revolutionary and pre-Islamic past. The head of the Tehran council's cultural heritage and tourism committee, Hassan Khalilabadi, was quoted by government news agency IRNA, conceding that it was "possible" the gauze-wrapped body found at the site belonged to Reza Shah Pahlavi. Construction workers discovered the mummified remains while working at the Shiite shrine of Abdul Azim, whose minarets once rose behind Reza Shah’s own mausoleum. Iran’s strong trade ties with Germany, Reza Shah’s push for neutrality amid the coming of World War II and Western fears over its oil supplies falling to the Nazis ultimately sparked a Russian-British invasion of the country in 1941. The recent find of the gauze-wrapped body — and the speculation it triggered — puts new hurdles in the way of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to fully erase the country’s dynastic past, which includes the jack-hammered destruction of the autocrat’s tomb immediately after the 1979 revolution. It has also prompted a warning for Iranian authorities from Reza Shah's grandson, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has campaigned against Iran's clerically dominated political establishment from his exile in the United States.
Reza Pahlavi, former crown prince and son of Iran's last Shah, asked authorities for access to the body of Reza Shah, through trusted doctors and scientific experts. He also added his grandfather must ultimately be buried again in Iran, in a manner that respects the wishes of their family and the Iranian people.