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 US-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, to live in dignity and prosperity," she said.
"The support must go to the people, not to geopolitical calculations."
Pahlavi also called on Iranian authorities "to show restraint and avoid any bloodshed".
Unrest in Tehran in January prompted a violent crackdown, with the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) recording more than 7,000 deaths, mostly protesters, while warning the full toll was probably higher.
Reza Pahlavi has positioned himself as an alternative if the Islamic republic falls.
In an X post on Tuesday, he called for national unity from Iranian ethnic minorities and appeared to urge them not to use the current conflict to press for separation.
US-based Pahlavi has not been to Iran since before the 1979 revolution.
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