Prince Reza Pahlavi's Message on the Occasion of Mehregan

In a message marking the first Mehregan since the death of Ali Khamenei, Prince Reza Pahlavi dedicated the festival to the Javidnaman who gave their lives in the fight against "the Zahhak of our age", and asked his compatriots to visit the families of the Javidnaman.

Full Text of the Message (translated from Persian)

Mehregan, the festival of Mehr and of light and an ancient legacy of our ancestors, is bound to Fereydun's victory over Zahhak and the triumph of good over evil.

In the age of Zahhak, wisdom and art are held in contempt while sorcery and deceit are prized; the hands of the demons reach out to do evil, and the brains of the young become food for Zahhak's serpents. It is an image of darkness and injustice that is visible today in the vile face of the Islamic Republic as well.

In the Shahnameh, Zahhak is not killed; he is chained inside Mount Damavand. But in our own time, the Zahhak of our age, Ali Khamenei, has at last been brought beneath the earth.

This is the first Mehregan since the demise of the man who, in the month of Dey, took tens of thousands of Iran's brave children from us. This year we celebrate Mehregan in memory of the Javidnaman who gave their lives for Iran in the fight against Zahhak, and in honour of our culture and national identity, which kept the lamp of hope alight through the hardest days of Iran's history and has heralded the victory of light over darkness.

I ask all my compatriots, during this national celebration, to visit the families of our nation's Javidnaman and show them the love, solidarity and gratitude of the nation: families who have lost their dearest ones for the freedom of Iran, and whose children's memory is the shining torch of Iran's tomorrow.

Long live Iran — Reza Pahlavi