Iran anger at Belgian royal godfather

6 September 2004

BRUSSELS – Iran has reacted angrily to the Belgian royal family’s decision to choose the son of the country’s former Shah to be the godfather of one of its youngest members.

Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the ousted Shah of Iran, will be godfather to Princess Louise, born earlier this year to Belgium’s Prince Laurent and his wife Princess Claire.

Tehran conceded that the decision to appoint godparents was a decision for the royal couple alone.

But foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters on Sunday that his government found it, “surprising that the Belgians of all people have chosen an incompetent person for this job.”

Pahlavi, who lives in New York, is an outspoken critic of the current Islamic fundamentalist regime in Iran, which was founded in 1979 after the pro-western Shah was forced to flee the country.

Subject: Belgian news