Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
May 9, 2026
In early February, while much of the world was focused on a looming war in the Persian Gulf, an outspoken Iranian exile named Masood Masjoody disappeared in Canada. Days later, 10 other well-known diaspora figures were tagged in a menacing anonymous message on X: 'Soon you'll have to find the corpses of many.' But when Masjoody's body was found in March, the investigation did not point toward the Islamic Republic. Instead, the Canadian police brought murder charges against two followers of Reza Pahlavi, the 65-year-old son of Iran's last shah and the most prominent leader in the Iranian opposition. Masjoody, a fierce critic of Pahlavi's, had been denouncing the prince's movement for months and had singled out the two suspects by name, saying that they were plotting to silence him. The murder, in other words, appears to have been part of a war within the Iranian opposition'one that pits Pahlavi against a growing host of critics who see him and his movement as dangerously autocratic.... learn more