Reza Pahlavi was born in Tehran, Iran on October 31, 1960 as the heir to the late Mohammad Reza Shah of Iran and Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran. He was officially named Crown Prince in 1967 at the time of his father’s coronation. In 1978, at the age of 17, he left Iran for jet fighter training in the United States Air Force at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. During this same period, the building unrest in Iran led to the royal family’s departure in January 1979. And, during the instability that followed, the Government of Iran was taken over by Islamists. The Islamists established a theocratic regime, preventing Reza Pahlavi’s return to his homeland.
