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PARIS (AP) -- The son of the deposed shah of Iran urged nations worldwide on Thursday to withdraw their ambassadors from Tehran to protest a relentless government crackdown on opposition demonstrators that resulted in at least eight deaths this week alone.

Reza Pahlavi, who has lived in exile since his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, also appealed in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for a U.N. investigation into human rights violations during the unrest.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pahlavi equated the climate of the unrest in his homeland with the ''revolutionary atmosphere'' that preceded the fall of his father from the Peacock Throne 30 years ago, when the monarchy was replaced by an Islamic republic. The difference, he said, is that this time the people know what they want -- a secular democracy.

Pahlavi, like other members of the exiled opposition to Iran's clerical regime, is looking to play a role from afar as protesters brashly defy authorities in an increasingly tumultuous Iran.

In the letter Pahlavi urged the U.N. chief to press Ir... >>>