The Rastakhiz (Resurgence) Party was founded in 1975 by royal decree, and became the only legal party. [ Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, (New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987), p. 60.] The Shah envisioned this party as a link between himself and the people. At the end of 1977, tension was building in Iran, and Rastakhiz set up the Resistance Corps policemen in civilian clothes charged with breaking up protest meetings. [ Hiro, p. 70.] When rioting broke out in February 1978 in Tabriz, Rastakhiz Party offices were among the targets. [ Hiro, p. 71.] In an attempt to ease some of the unrest, the Shah dissolved the the Rastakhiz party in late September 1978. [Hiro, p. 79.]

Immediately following the fall of the Shah, a large number of executions took place in Iran. Among the list of crimes considered to be capital offenses was the position of the Secretary - General of the Rastakhiz Party. [ Amnesty International, Law and Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Report covering events within the seven month period following the Revolution of February 1979, AI Index: MDE 13/03/80, February 1980, p. 108.] At least two members of the Rastakhiz party were executed in the second week of May 1989 (see the attached relevant parts of the Amnesty International report).

Recent information on the activities of anyone linked to this party is not available to the IRBDC.
2.

Information on monarchist or royalist groups in Iran is limited. The search for information on a group called Mushroute-e Taleb (#1235, #1194) was not successful. However, the following information concerning another monarchist group, Sultenat-Talaban, may be useful.

In the months following the Iranian Islamic Revolution, more than 500 supporters of the Shah (called monarchists or royalists) were executed. [ Ervand Abrahamian, Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin, (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1989), p. 68.]

Information available to External Affairs Canada indicates that the Sultenat-Talaban is the Royalist party which advocates the return of a monarchist form of government to Iran, with the Shah's son as head. [ External Affairs, communiqué of 6 October 1989.] According to External Affairs, the party is not headquartered in Isfahan, and is only based and active abroad. Activities of the group in Iran since 1979 are extremely limited. The Sultenat-Talaban advocates the overthrow of the current government. External Affairs asserts that opposition activities on behalf of the Sultenat-Talaban in Iran and/or one's claim to membership in this group would result in serious repercussions for the individual by the authorities. Although no information on recent activities by the group in Iran is among the sources currently available to the IRBDC, the Shah's son has held meetings and given speeches in London and the U.S.A. during the past year.

Corroborating information concerning the treatment of these or other monarchists in Iran today is not currently available to the IRBDC. Please see the attached page from Iran: A Country Study, (Helen Cahpin Metz, ed., Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1989)