However, the family put the suicide in national terms in a message on Reza Pahlavi’s website, noting that Alireza was “deeply disturbed by all the ills fallen upon his beloved homeland” and “struggled for years to overcome his sorrow.” The response echoed the family’s reaction to the 2001 London suicide of Leila Pahlavi, the youngest of the Shah’s three daughters.
Muhammad Sahimi, an Iran watcher who writes for the website Tehran Bureau, says he considered the rationale a stretch. “Most Iranians are concerned about Iran. But, almost none commit suicide because of it,” he wrote in an email. “This is a just a sheer political attempt to gain sympathy and perhaps support of Iranians inside Iran.”
