The Munich Security Conference (MSC) has excluded the Iranian government for the third year in a row, opting instead to include US-based Iranian women’s activist Masih Alinejad in multiple panels, Radio Free Europe reported Friday.
The MSC's selective attendee list also excluded the former crown prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi, he shared on his social media.
Pahlavi was invited to the conference before later being disinvited on two separate occasions. After his attendance in the conference in 2023 following the outbreak of protests in Iran due to Tehran's murder of Mahsa Amina, Pahlavi accused the German government of allowing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to “pull the strings in Berlin.”
The German ambassador who chaired the event, Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, consulted with the government before formalizing the invitation to Pahlavi, according to a spokesperson for the security conference.
“The German Foreign Ministry’s intervention to block my participation places Germany on the wrong side of history,” Pahlavi shared in an X/ Twitter post earlier this week.
In Berlin, a decision has been made to sideline and silence the Iranian people and to appease the Islamic Republic.At this important moment of change in Iran, I was pleased to be invited to take part in this year’s @MunSecConf. However, my participation in this conference has…
— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) February 6, 2025
In his X post, Pahlavi continued, “Along with my compatriots, I will continue my campaign to free Iran, and with it the world, from the terror of a regime that has been allowed to hold humanity hostage, with its blackmail for far too long.
This decision was not about silencing me. This was about silencing the Iranian people. It was about silencing all those who stand for freedom, justice, and dignity. And that we will not stand for.”
Pahlavi concluded, stating that despite being excluded from the conference, he would still be traveling to Munich. “For while we seek friends and allies in foreign capitals, we know our liberation is in our hands and will never be determined by foreign governments. It is we Iranians who will decide our destiny and we will not cease until we are successful.”
A spokesman from the German Foreign Ministry told Radio Free Europe’s Radio Farda that while the government is in contact with the conference, “In principle, the MSC decides independently on its invitations.”
Outside of the venue hosting the conference, the exiled opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), held a protest outside. Also known as MEK, the group is considered a terrorist group by Tehran.
The group plans to hold the protest despite the attendance of one of the most visible figures in the Iranian opposition participating in panels.
Taking a hard stance on Iran
Both Pahlavi and Alinejad have emphasized a need for Western countries to halt negotiations with Iran and put a tougher stance on the country.
Though Iran will not be in attendance, the discussion of Iran is likely to be discussed on one of the many panels hosted at the event — nuclear program, proxy relationships, and disregard for human rights in Iran among expected topics.
Iranian dissident Maryam Rajavi, leader of People's Mujahedin of Iran, an organization advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government, and president-elect of its National Council of Resistance of Iran, released a statement on Friday applauding protesters outside of the event.
“We declare to the international community that the clerical regime is in its final phase. The Iranian people, with unwavering determination, are resolute in their quest to overthrow the regime, and without a doubt, they will achieve it,” she said. “Any investment in this regime is doomed to failure, and the time has come for the international community to stand alongside the Iranian people by adopting a firm policy against religious fascism and supporting their struggle for freedom and democracy.”
Rajavi is also married to co-leader of MEK, Massoud Rajavi.