Opposition Divided: Battle Among Iranian Regime’s Opponents Plays Out on London Streets
Supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late shah, are clashing with those who oppose a return of monarchy in a conflict that has electrified the Iranian diaspora in London.
Wearing a bucket hat, a blue Adidas hoodie and khaki shorts, Tony Mohraz, also known as 021kid, chest-bumps a friend in front of a memorial wall in Golders Green, north London. Photographs of those killed protesting against the Iranian regime are displayed behind him. As a large lion and sun flag, used in Iran before the Islamic revolution, is waved overhead, Mohraz starts to rap.
“Basij, one, two, shoot. IRGC, one, two, shoot. Mojahedin, one, two, shoot,” he drills for the camera while imitating firing a weapon. The rap is a remix of an Israeli hip-hop war anthem called Harbu Darbu. Mohraz advocates for the return of the Pahlavi dynasty, specifically Reza Pahlavi.
The Basij is a paramilitary organization known as the “iron fist” of Iran. The IRGC is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime’s most powerful institution. The Mojahedin refers to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), which was part of the 1979 revolution but later became an exiled armed opposition group.
Today, the MEK publicly distances itself from its Shia Islam and Marxist background, advocating for a democratic secular Iran rather than a return to monarchy. The aggressive drill music by Mohraz, 28, whose moniker 021kid derives from Tehran’s phone code, highlights a battle within the opposition, not between supporters and opponents of the regime.
Scuffles at protests against Tehran’s regime, often requiring police intervention, have been attributed to tensions between the sparring sides. Laila Jazayeri, director of the Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK and a prominent MEK supporter, has referred Mohraz’s video to the police, describing it as a “terrifying and direct incitement to murder.”
“Death to mullah, MEK and leftists,” Mohraz rapped in a second video. He also marched at a recent Unite the Kingdom rally organized by far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The Metropolitan police have acknowledged the complaint, with an inspector from the Barnet community policing team stating, “I appreciate that the content you’ve shared is concerning.” A Met spokesperson added, “Enquiries are ongoing.”
Jazayeri claimed the video is part of a campaign of intimidation, further disturbed by “the sight of some of Reza Pahlavi’s supporters parading in black jackets and T-shirts bearing the insignia of Savak,” the shah’s feared secret police. She said, “This is not harmless nostalgia. It poses a direct threat to democratic discourse.”
Around Finchley Road in north London, known as Little Tehran, restaurant owners claim pressure from pro-Pahlavi supporters to display the monarchy’s flag. A reception organized by Conservative MP Bob Blackman for Nowruz was disrupted by three pro-Pahlavi supporters before they were ejected. One intruder, Niyak Ghorbani, said in a TikTok post, “We came to turn their Eid into mourning.”
Elahe Jamali, another intruder, said, “The MEK are Islamists and Marxists, neither of which respect Nowruz. We’ve come to enlighten people about who they choose to side with.” She added that they see the MEK as an extension of the regime. The MEK was proscribed as a terrorist organization in the UK between 2001 and 2008.
Similar scenes occurred outside the Iran Freedom Congress in London, where pro-Pahlavi supporters challenged attendees. The MEK described it as “vile, despicable harassment by shah-worshipping lumpen thugs.” Ray Torabi, 44, a former MEK member who now sees Pahlavi as a potential transitional leader, acknowledged extremists among Pahlavi supporters but noted, “The MEK is a cult, they have complete control. The Pahlavi crowd are not organized the same way.”
Haleh Blake, 39, an anti-regime protest organizer, condemned Mohraz’s lyrics but said abuse goes both ways. Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and north Africa programme at Chatham House, said the intimidation feeds the regime’s narrative of a divided opposition. “There is deep competition between these groups, seeing this as a moment of opportunity,” she said.
Representatives of MEK deny it is a cult. Mohraz declined to comment. When asked about harassment claims, Pahlavi dissociated himself, stating, “I’ve always spoken against any kind of political violence or intimidation.”
