Iran will not ‘automatically’ fall after Khamenei’s death, shah’s widow tells

PARIS — Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s death is “historically significant” but will not “automatically” lead to the fall of the Iranian system, the widow of the country’s last shah told AFP in an interview Tuesday. “The passing of a man — however central he may be to the architecture of power — does not automatically mean the end of a system,” said Farah Pahlavi, three days after U.S.-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic killed Khamenei. “What will be decisive,” said the 87-year-old, was “the ability of the Iranian people to unite around a peaceful, orderly and sovereign transition to a state governed by the rule of law”, which she added her son Reza Pahlavi “is in the process of preparing”. The widow, who has lived in exile in Paris since being driven out of Iran with her husband in the 1979 revolution, urged the international community to respect the right of people in Iran to choose their own path forward. “What I want is for the international community to clearly support the fundamental rights of Iranians: the right to choose their leaders, to express themselves freely

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