Of all Iranian diaspora leaders, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted shah, has the greatest legitimacy. He has name recognition, and even those Iranians who supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution look upon the monarchy as the golden age before sanctions, war, and corruption hobbled the country. Iranians recognize that their grandparents had better living standards and security under the shah than they do now. And while the Mojahedin-e Khalq aided Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, no one can accuse the crown prince of doing so. Rather, he, alongside millions of Iranians, was his victim. Unlike the Mojahedin-e Khalq, Pahlavi does not need to hire rent-a-mobs, offer donations to politicians, or huge honoraria to former officials for endorsements.

Beyond name recognition, Pahlavi is a good man. He is both kind and generous. He neither comes across as arrogant nor effete. Many of those he helps, he does so in silence. One story I heard not from Pahlavi nor his inner circle, but rather from locals during a visit to Williamstown, Massachusetts: Years after the Islamic Revolution, Pahlavi learned that a waiter at a restaurant he once frequented while a college student was sick and in the hospital. He insisted on both visiting the man and helping with his medical bills.

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Pahlavi’s problem is his organization.

His office exudes disorganization if not incompetence. It is fissiparous. When his enthusiasts mischaracterize critics and criticism, they do Pahlavi no service with their lack of professionalism. Prioritizing sycophancy over substance is a poor look.

The National Union for Democracy in Iran, an organization sympathetic to Pahlavi, has formulated a general plan for transition in Iran. It is a useful basis for debate, if only because no other organization has formulated a comparable plan, but pointing to the blueprint for an Iranian transition misses the organizational point: Pahlavi’s team lacks a strategic vision to guide his own office. Where Pahlavi’s staff ends and the online mob begins remains unclear.

Such indiscipline, coupled with Pahlavi’s preference for the United States and Western Europe, raises concern about his growing “White Russian” problem. Following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the White Russians — Russian elite and monarchists who fled the Communists — settled in Europe and the U.S. They formed cultural and political organizations and talked about restoring the Romanov dynasty. When the Russian civil war erupted, however, many of the White Russian elites declined to return. They preferred the comforts of Parisienne London and Berlin society to the deprivations of a front-line struggle to oust the Bolsheviks.

Today, Pahlavi’s frequent appearances in Paris, London, and Los Angeles reinforce a perception that his is a movement prioritizing comfort. More importantly, most, if not all, of his most ardent and vocal supporters crave access to their king, but seem unlikely to forfeit their lives in America or Europe to return to Iran. In effect, they have become the 21st-century White Russians.

There is nothing wrong with immigrating to America. The U.S. is stronger for its Iranian diaspora. 

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But, at some point, if Pahlavi is going to achieve the next level, he must also throw down the gauntlet to his team: If they are to serve him, they must commit to live permanently in Iran, no matter what struggles it faces when he returns. They must publicly forfeit dual citizenship, for leading a nation as great as Iran is not a hobby or a vacation, but rather a lifelong commitment. Such a purge will also send a positive signal to Iranians who suffered through 46 years of dictatorship and fear the tin ear of some who spent that time instead in Beverly Hills, Westwood, Bethesda, or McLean.

Pahlavi is correct to start the debate about Iran’s future, but until he jumpstarts his team, creates a clear organizational map, and distances himself from hangers-on who just want to relish in the importance they glean from his association, he will fail. Pahlavi’s White Russians risk sinking his ship.

Michael Rubin is a contributor to the Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential. He is director of analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.