(Source: Tehran Times)

Orlando is the world’s theme park capital, home to Disney World and the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Universal Studios and SeaWorld to name but a few. The city is marketed as being unforgettable. On February 10th 2025, it became memorable for very different reasons as three former Iranian political prisoners filed a $225 million lawsuit in Orlando’s federal court, alleging they were tortured and abused while incarcerated during the reign of the former Shah of Iran (1941-1979).

The Henchman

Parviz Sabeti at a California 2023 rally (Source: Iran Times)

One of the accused in the lawsuit is 89-year-old Parviz Sabeti, who was second-in-command of the Shah’s secret police, or SAVAK. When the Shah was unceremoniously deposed in 1979, Sabeti fled Tehran for Florida, where he became a property developer. For the next four decades, he kept a low, near invisible profile, including calling himself Peter Sabeti for a period. Public appearances were rare.

In 2023 that all changed. Sabeti was first spotted at a California march opposing the current Iranian regime. Then his face appeared on a placard in Munich, Germany, at a rally in support of Raza Pahlavi, so-called Crown Prince of Iran, and the Shah’s eldest son. Under Sabeti’s picture was scrawled “Nightmare of future terrorists,” alluding to his bloody and brutal method of dealing with dissidents who opposed the Shah’s dictatorship. Sabeti also produced a documentary followed by a seven-hour, six-part YouTube series, and in 2024 he gave an hour-long interview to media outlet Timeline Iran. Through all of this, he attempts to set himself up as statesman rather than henchman, but he fails. He is delusionary, unable to acknowledge his monstrous past. 

Sabeti’s accusers are more coherent, claiming he planned, supervised and advocated for their arrests and subsequent torture, during which they were ‘electrocuted, hung from the ceiling by their wrists, had weights hung from their genitals, were whipped, beaten and forced to endure the Apollo, an electric chair with a metal mask designed to amplify the screams of the victims in their own ears.’

Headline: SAVAK’s Apollo: for taking flight to the heights of barbarity

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC)

The problems with the so-called Middle East historically stem from Europe and begin with its very name. Geographically, the region forms part of the continent of Asia. It is a large territory that shares one religion, Islam, and one language, Arabic. Borders were imposed by European colonisers in the early 20th century, along with the term Middle East, which was used in conjunction with Near East and Far East. This lopsided naming convention established a hierarchy of place relative to Europe. The implied subjugation was, and remains, very intentional.

In the late 20th century, there was a renewed focus on the so-called Middle East, and how to best control the region’s population while exploiting its resources. This time the epicentre of imperialism was Washington DC, when in 1997 a group of neoconservatives convened the now infamous Project for the New American Century. The self-proclaimed think tank, founded by William Kristol and Robert Kagan, aimed to use America’s military might to reshape the world, and promote and sustain American leadership. Gunboat diplomacy would be extended to gunboat commerce. Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden implemented aspects of PNAC’s warped ideology, and all with a fetish-like fixation on the Middle East. Now its Trump’s turn.

Sale of the Century

Trump’s May 2025 visit to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was extraordinary. He arrived not as a politician or diplomat, and not even as a deal maker (few of Trump’s deals actually get done). There wasn’t any attempt to apply the thinnest veneer of geopolitics to his whistlestop tour. No, this was the real Trump – a unique blend of strong-arm salesman, extortionist, and petty crook. A trickster, opportunist and bully, egotistical and self-congratulating. He swapped out seasoned political advisors for a who’s who in business to join him on his trip – Elon Musk (CEO of X, Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink), Stephen Schwarzman (CEO of Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm), Larry Fink (CEO of Blackrock), Ben Horowitz (billionaire tech investor and CEO of Andreessen Horowitz), Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI), Arvind Krishna (CEO of IBM), Kelly Ortberg (CEO of aircraft manufacturer Boeing), Ruth Porat (CIO of Google), Andy Jassy (CEO of Amazon), Jensen Huang (CEO of chip-maker Nvidia), Alex Karp (CEO of Palantir), Jeff Miller (CEO of oil services giant Haliburton),  and Iranian-born Dara Khosrowshahi (CEO of Uber), who reappears later in our story. 

At the end of the three-day trip, the Whitehouse press office announced Trump had secured some $2 trillion in investments from the Middle East. And he bagged a free state-of-the-art 747 to boot. Without needing to unholster America’s military might, Trump turned the region’s governments into rabid consumers of anything and everything American. It all had a bit of a Black Friday sale feel about it and America’s cash register was ringing. PNAC’s neoconservatives would have been proud.   

The Last Domino Standing

While the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states capitulated, allowing themselves to be willingly re-colonised and voluntarily mugged, one nation has stood firm – Iran.

Despite numerous attempts, America has been unable to convincingly use the threat of its military might in order to intimidate the Islamic Republic. Recognising this, Trump pivoted during his May visit, instead holding out a promise of economic prosperity: “We really want them [Iran] to be a successful country. We want them to be a wonderful, safe, great country, but they cannot have a nuclear weapon. This is an offer that will not last forever.”      

The reference to nuclear weapons is a Trumpism – an inaccuracy, a fabrication, and incorrect language that is meant to misinform, mislead, and misdirect. Iran has a nuclear programme but not a nuclear arsenal.

(Source: Nanking 2012)

Iran’s nuclear programme dates to the 1950s, and contrary to popular western rhetoric didn’t start under the Islamic government. Its aim was geared toward peaceful scientific exploration. When the Shah was deposed in 1979, Iran became economically isolated and turned inward to ensure food and energy security. In 2011, the country began operating its first nuclear power reactor.  

Western governments wanted to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and in 2016 an agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was struck. In return for Iran limiting its nuclear programme, economic sanctions would be lifted.

The programme’s first major findings were reported in March 2018, by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Yukiya Amano, who confirmed ‘Iran was implementing its nuclear-related commitments.’ Predictably, and without any contradictory data, the U.S. and Israel challenged Amano’s conclusion. In May 2018, Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from JCPOA, and by November 2018, U.S.-imposed sanctions were back in effect.

The IAEA again certified that Iran was abiding by the terms of the agreement in May 2019, but it made little difference to the U.S., who remained obstinate despite Iran’s compliance. Patience in Tehran ran out and in January 2020 it announced Iran would no longer abide by the terms of the JCPOA, although it would continue to coordinate with the IAEA. Today, a mere 1% of Iran’s electricity production is generated by its sole nuclear plant.

Perhaps the well-publicised suspicions about Iran’s nuclear capability, repeatedly touted by the U.S. and Israel, were all a ruse. On December 8th 2024, a man and his family boarded a flight in Damascus. Four hours later they landed in Moscow, leaving behind a broken Syria. Within days of Bashar al-Assad’s escape, the country was carved up by U.S. proxies. One month later, Lebanon sworn in a new president, Joseph Aoun, followed shortly after by a new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, both of whom are considered allies to the U.S. In March, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) retook control of the strategically important Netzarim Corridor in Ghazzah, and on May 5th they confirmed what many suspected – that they were about to expand their military offensive in Ghazzah, including a commitment to a long-term occupation of the territory. Shortly after, Israel would go onto announce its intention to swallow up large swathes of the Palestinian West Bank, with the establishment of 22 new illegal settlements.

While Trump hopped from Riyad to Doha to Abu Dhabi, the so-called Middle East was being reshaped. To the north across Palestine, Syria and Lebanon it was through bloody force, to the south across Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE it was through coercive commerce. But one all-important domino remained standing – Iran. Despite sanctions and threats of military action, neither Trump (in his first term), nor Biden, had much to show by way of progress.

Now, in May 2025, Trump was offering the Iranian leadership a ticket to the sale of the century, an opportunity to mortgage the country’s future to this out-of-towner, in a get-rich-quick scheme. It felt like Trump was winding back the clock to pre-1979 when a greedy Pahlavi dynasty sacrificed Iran on the altar of colonial capitalism, and henchmen like Parviz Sabeti ravaged detractors. As I write, it appears Tehran remains uninterested in Trump’s pyramid scheme. Some others, however, jumped in with both feet.

The Prince Who Sold His Soul

Reza Pahlavi (far right) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (centre) in May 2023 (Source: Anadolu Agency)

He lives in a $3 million, 11,500 square feet home just outside Washington DC. The main Georgian-style seven bedroom house sits in a gated compound. Next to the main building is a sizable carriage house, outdoor pool, and sweeping driveway. It’s not a palace, but it is comfortably lavish.

Reza Pahlavi is the former Shah of Iran’s eldest son. Some refer to him as the Crown Prince. He has lived in exile since he was 17 years old, and has experienced more of New York, Washington and Los Angeles than he has of Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan. And yet he claims to speak on behalf of all Iranians, at home and abroad, and to be the catalyst to return Iran to its former heyday – although he omits to mention its past oppression, brutality and corruption.

What Pahlavi Junior lacks in honesty, he makes up for in nostalgia. His public addresses are peppered with antidotes and stories of Iran’s past marvels, and how national traits can once again be harnessed to catapult the country into a global leadership position. However, he appears to believe more in Iran’s diaspora than in his countrymen and women who remain in Iran, existing under crippling sanctions that he endorses. ‘Maximum pressure did pay some dividends’ he gleefully told the New York Post’s Anthony Blair. 

In April 2024, Pahlavi spoke with billionaire tech investor Joe Lonsdale. The conversation was filmed and uploaded to YouTube. It’s an awkward yet telling watch.

In an unhealthy mix of arrogance and ignorance Lonsdale asks Pahlavi: ‘Is there a way to buy these people off?’ referring to Iran’s current leadership.

‘Remember people talked about the guy who runs North Korea? And they said, can we just give him a bunch of money to live somewhere [else]? Is there something like that with the mullahs? At some point can you buy a bunch of them off? asks Lonsdale. 

Ever grateful of the attention, Pahlavi gives Lonsdale’s child-like question credence by claiming only about 2% of Iran’s clergy are supportive of the current regime. He doesn’t qualify where he is drawing his data from.  That would be difficult – after all, he hasn’t been in Iran for 46 years.  

By May 2025, Pahlavi was the frontman for U.S.-based think tank, The Iran Prosperity Project, which advocates regime change, and champions unrestrained free market economics. During one launch event, the Uber CEO – fellow Iranian Dara Khosrowshahi – appeared via Zoom. Like many in Pahlavi’s circle, Khosrowshahi appears to suffer from selective amnesia, citing Iran’s glorious past while completely overlooking the shop of horrors it represented to so many of its citizens.

Within a few weeks Khosrowshahi was winging his way to the so-called Middle East to join Trump and his fellow crusaders. It was time to re-conquer. Back home in Washington and Orlando all eyes were on Tehran – would the last standing domino wobble in the face of gunboat commerce? Would the remaining piece of PNAC’s imperial vision finally fall into place?   

Footnote:

The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been criticized for reported human rights abuses, as well as overseeing extrajudicial actions by state actors. Human Rights Watch’’s most recent report on Iran can be found here.  

 —  ©2025 Sul Nowroz – Real Media staff writer – Insta: @theafghanwriter