Pilled Iranian Monarchists feat. Josef Burton (E371)

We’re joined by former U.S. diplomat Josef Burton to examine modern Pahlavism: an online, diaspora-driven movement built around nostalgia for Iran’s deposed Pahlavi dynasty and the imagined restoration of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. What was once a marginal exile politics of royalist uncles, former regime officials, and anti–Islamic Republic hawks has, in the past decade, been transformed into a bizarre right-populist scene. It’s part monarchist revival, part regime-change lobby, part “Make Iran Great Again” fandom. Josef traces how this movement emerged from the trauma and politics of the Iranian diaspora, then accelerated through Persian-language satellite TV, social media influencers, think tanks, bot campaigns, and the broader ecosystem of neoconservative, Israeli, Gulf State, and MAGA-aligned regime-change politics. Pahlavism presents itself as the authentic voice of Iranians, but often functions more like an astroturfed culture-war identity: anti-regime, pro-Western intervention, aggressively nostalgic for a whitewashed “Iran before the revolution,” and hostile toward Iranian dissidents who favor diplomacy, pluralism, or any future not centered on the Pahlavi name. The movement has started to resemble a QAnon-style political subculture: very online, retribution-focused, conspiratorial, obsessed with hidden agents and imminent deliverance, and convinced that posting, doxxing, street theater, and displays of loyalty are forms of revolutionary action. But unlike QAnon, modern Pahlavism’s fantasy of “the storm” has been tied to real intelligence networks, real lobbying money, and real military escalation. When the long-promised war finally arrived and failed to produce a restored monarchy, the movement was left to cope with betrayal, humiliation, factional infighting, and increasingly bizarre displays of royalist devotion. Josef Burton on Twitter “Shah's infamous Savak deputy chief participates in LA protest” by MEE correspondent in Tehran “The Problem of Iran Expertise in Washington” by Negar Razavi “The Iranian Diaspora Is Fracturing Over Trump’s War” by Keyvan Golsorkhi “I’ll Burn You Alive” by Daniel Bock “How Iranian monarchist networks built ties to Europe’s far-right” by Nima Ghadakpour “Waiting for Day Zero” by Will Alden

You can listen to Pilled Iranian Monarchists feat. Josef Burton (E371) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Pilled Iranian Monarchists feat. Josef Burton (E371) is an episode from QAnon Anonymous by QAA Podcast.

This episode is 01:42:39 long.

This episode was published on May 6, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from QAnon Anonymous when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.