Prince Alireza Pahlavi, Youngest Son of Late Iranian Shah, Commits Suidice at 44
Iranian emigrants all over the world sent messages of condolence and mourning on Wednesday as word got out about the suicide of the youngest son of Iran’s late monarch.
The reported death of Alireza Pahlavi, 44, at his residence in Boston provoked strong emotions throughout all communities of Iranian immigration, symbolizing that the ties with the Iranian monarchy go in the communities of Iranians living abroad far beyond the propaganda of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which toppled the late shah.
The death of Alireza Pahlavi was recounted by the Iran state media as “the death of the son of the former dictator.” Iranian Republic’s News Agency also spoke about it in a brief story that was seen by most Iranians on Wednesday morning.
Websites and social media outlets that have become the place to meet for those in Iran who oppose the regime begun discussing the topic, expressing their sorrow at the news of the death of shah’s son.
Alireza Pahlavi is reported to have struggled with depression for years after his sister Leila died ten years ago, in 2001, in London in a barbiturates overdose.
Since then, he focused on academia leaving the older brother Reza Pahlavi to deal with the main political role of head 
of the Iranian monarchy in exile.
On the website of Reza Pahlavi, which announced the death of Alireza, there were postings that expressed frustration of the Iranians in exile that the theocratic regime in Tehran is still strong and their dream to ever return home is still a distant reality.
Alireza Pahlavi was born in Tehran, studied music at Princeton, ancient Iranian studies in Columbia University and postgraduate work at Harvard.
His depression was caused by the exile, by the fate of the family and by the death of his sister to which he was very close.
Boston police said they discovered the body of a man who had self-inflicted a gunshot wound at 2 a.m.
The last shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi died of cancer in Egypt soon after he left Iran. The family moved to the U.S. and have been living there since, being a symbol of free Iran, though they do not carry weight in the decision-making process of the opposition in exile.
