'Imperial whore': Top Pakistani official goes after son of overthrown shah of Iran
Pakistan's defence minister stunned followers on X in the early hours of Tuesday morning, local time, when he shared a clip of a new BBC interview with the son of Iran's ousted shah, Reza Pahlavi, who had been backing Israel's attacks on Iran.
"If Iranian people are energised and motivated according to you, show some balls and go back and lead them and remove the regime," Khawaja Asif wrote.
"Put your money where your arse is, bloody parasitical imperial whore."
Perhaps most surprising of all is that as of 4pm GMT on Tuesday, the post is still up on Asif's account.
It also appears to have been edited from its original version, in which "traitor" was used instead of "whore", as one social media user confirmed.
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Reactions came in fast.
"Khawaja Sahab, I suggest deleting this tweet. In today's ever-changing landscape, you never know who will be in charge tomorrow. It’s best to remain as neutral as possible," one Pakistani entrepreneur wrote.
"I’ve always admired your voice - but really… this?" asked another. "Criticism is legitimate. Vulgarity is not," he said. "Personal slurs only weaken the moral ground of any cause."
"It seems like we often edit our tweets for a touch of finesse, but it’s interesting when someone chooses to go the other way!" another joked.
Others criticised the post for the underlying policy position.
"If standing with a nation’s struggle for freedom makes one an 'imperial whore' in your vocabulary, then your allegiance clearly lies with tyrants, not people. Leadership isn’t proven by reckless bravado but by vision, strategy, and legitimacy - all of which your Islamist patrons lack," one Iranian said.
"While Iran’s Crown Prince speaks of unity, reform, and national revival, Pakistan remains a broken client state of China and the Persian Gulf monarchies, a country where democracy is a farce, women are silenced, and minorities live in fear. Clean your own house before you talk about ours," a supporter of the former shah's son responded.
While several people expressed shock at Asif's word choice, many came to his defence: "Sometimes our defence minister makes sense," a Pakistani social media user wrote.
"Exactly, sir. It’s always easy to demand revolution from the comfort of exile with royal blood but no courage, preaching sacrifice while sipping lattes abroad," another Pakistani added. "If you care so much, lead from the front, not from a Paris penthouse."
Asif later doubled down on his remarks.
"It is sad that there are people who are worried about linguistic niceties when a genocide is taking place under the watch of 'civilised world', 1000s of children are being butchered non stop," he said.
"This is not a sit down dinner where one should mind the language and manners. Pahlavi stands with Netanyahu a genocidal maniac, all he deserves is contempt and nothing else."
Who is Reza Pahlavi?
Referred to among his supporters as a "king in exile", Reza Pahlavi, 64, is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the toppled and since deceased shah of Iran during the 1977-1979 popular uprising, which subsequently formed the Islamic Republic as we now know it.
As a staunch defender of a US-backed monarchy that he hopes to bring back to Iran, he has made several visits to Israel, taken photographs with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and cast himself as the only viable leader of a modern Iran if the Islamic Republic collapses.
"Since the initial strike [by Israel on Iran], there's been tremendous amount of activity, especially on behalf of the people who are in the streets and are obviously quite - I don't know what's the proper word to use here - re-energised in the sense that this is maybe an opportunity now, seeing the regime being so weak," Pahlavi told the BBC on Sunday in the clip that Asif referenced.
"There's a new wave of hope and energy," he added. "The world needs to realise that the root cause of the problem has been the regime and its nature, and the only solution, ultimately, that will benefit both the Iranian people as well as the free world is for this regime to no longer be there."
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump openly threatened Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on his TruthSocial account after Netanyahu, just one day earlier, suggested that assassinating Khamenei would "end" the conflict.
"We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now," Trump said.
Critics of Iran's government with family ties in the country have told Middle East Eye that Israel's bombings have unified Iranians, and that any movement for structural change must be domestic and organic, rather than imposed by foreign actors.
How is Pakistan involved?
Islamabad has long been a proponent of Palestinian rights, a position in direct contrast to its next-door neighbour, India, which boasts of longstanding economic and military ties with Israel.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar described Friday's attacks by Tel Aviv on Tehran as “unjustified”.
He said Pakistan, which does not recognise Israel, “stands in solidarity with the Government & the people of Iran”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that Israeli strikes were “a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the entire region and beyond”.
But it's not just about Pakistan's stance on Israel.
Pakistani journalist Ahmed Quraishi, responding to Asif's insults on X, said it was "disappointing language", given the former shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, "used to spend weekends in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi, maintained friendships with Pakistani elites, and opened Iranian airspace, bases, and munition depots for Pakistani military, and placed Tehran's diplomacy and goodwill at Islamabad's service."
Relations between Pakistan and Iran deteriorated after the 1979 revolution.
The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan that year prompted resistance by rival groups backed by Pakistan or Iran, which heightened tensions.
For the next decade, Saudi Arabia and the US sent funding through Pakistan to support Afghan mujahideen groups fighting the Soviet occupation. In turn, Iran recruited Shia Afghans to fight in the Iran-Iraq War.
The differing Muslim sects of the two nations also grew to cause friction, with Shia Islam now guiding political decision-making in Tehran, and Sunni Islam taking on a larger public-facing role in Pakistan's military rule at the time.
Iran's attempt to export its Shia revolution to Pakistan during the 1980s was met with resistance from the then-military regime of Zia ul-Haq, who initiated his own Islamisation campaign, Middle East Eye's Zia Ur Rehman explained.
Iran had also come under sanctions from Washington and was seen as the only major regional rival by Riyadh.
During the 1990s, Saudi-funded Sunni and Iranian-funded Shia armed groups in Pakistan clashed, leading to a period of violent sectarianism. Even today, targeted faith-based killings continue.
Last year, Pakistan and Iran even briefly exchanged air strikes on Balochistan, a region that straddles the border between the two countries, containing separatists on both sides.
But in the face of Israeli attacks, Islamabad ultimately sees itself as a necessary defender of the Muslim world, given that it is the only Muslim-majority nuclear-armed country. Pakistan and Iran also share a history of working together in several regional conflicts and diplomatic spats.
Approximately 20 percent of Pakistan's 230 million population are Shia Muslims, and according to several polls, Pakistanis generally view their neighbour positively.
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