The killing of an Iranian activist in Canada has laid bare increasingly bitter divisions within the Iranian diaspora, particularly over the war and the role of the exiled crown prince. Masood Masjoody, a mathematician, disappeared in early February after claiming on social media that two fellow activists were plotting to kill him. His body was found in mid-March, and police in British Columbia charged the pair with first-degree murder.
The case has heightened tensions in a community already split over the war launched by the US and Israel and who should lead Iran if the government falls. Days after Masjoody vanished, ten other prominent diaspora figures, mostly critics of the monarchist campaign or the war, were tagged in a threatening post on X from an account named for the SAVAK, the shah's feared secret police. The post, written in Farsi with a knife emoji, has since been deleted.
Recipients of the threat blame the movement led by Reza Pahlavi, son of the former shah, who supports the war. The two charged with killing Masjoody opposed the Iranian government and backed the monarchist movement online. Supporters of Pahlavi deny responsibility and accuse Iranian government agents of posing as activists online. Iran has a long history of targeting dissidents abroad.
Anti-war activists and those opposed to Pahlavi describe a climate of fear. Nik Kowsar, one of those tagged, said the threat gave him chills. Kowsar, once an unpaid adviser to Pahlavi, now accuses monarchists of seeking to replace one authoritarian rule with another. Similar threats have been made against other activists.
Pahlavi's support is hard to gauge. His call for protests in January drew hundreds of thousands, but the government cracked down, killing thousands and detaining tens of thousands. Pahlavi says he is ready to lead a democratic transition, but that scenario seems unlikely as Iran faces attacks and a naval blockade with no popular uprising.
The diaspora has become more polarized as the monarchist movement grows more radicalized, says Sahar Razavi of California State University, Sacramento. A spokesman for the National Union for Democracy in Iran, aligned with Pahlavi, said the prince has called for civility and cannot be held responsible for all his followers. Two other activists tagged in the post said they reported it to police and changed their routines. Alireza Nader, a security analyst and former Pahlavi supporter, said he now avoids protests and public events.
