Thus under the Pahlavi state, these ideas of Aryan and pre-Islamic persian nationalism continued with the rise of Reza Shah. Under the last Shah, the tomb of Cyrus the Great was established as a significant site for all Iranians. The Mission for My Country, written by the Shah, described Cyrus as ‘one of the most dynamic men in history’ and that ‘wherever Cyrus conquered, he would pardon the very people who had fought him, treat them well, and keep them in their former posts … While Iran at the time knew nothing of democratic political institutions, Cyrus nevertheless demonstrated some of the qualities which provide the strength of the great modern democracies’.
After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Nahavandi fled Iran and settled in France, where he continued his intellectual and writing career. Like many exiled Iranian figures, he became a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic and an advocate for secular democracy. His writings sought to document and defend the achievements of the Pahlavi era, while also analyzing the political, cultural, and social causes behind the monarchy’s collapse.
