The Munich Security Conference has restored an invitation to Iranian exiled prince Reza Pahlavi after it rescinded it under pressure from the German Foreign Ministry, Iran International has learned.
"We can confirm that the invitation to Mr. Pahlavi to the MSC 2025 will be maintained," an MSC spokesperson wrote in an email to Iran International.
"As in the past, the voices of Iranian civil society and opposition will be represented at MSC 2025," the spokesperson added.
Pahlavi said in a post on X on Thursday that the German Foreign Ministry had blocked his participation in the annual security conference.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Iran International this week that Christoph Heusgen, the Chairman of the MSC, initially extended the invitation to Pahlavi on January 17, but retracted it about two weeks later under pressure from the German Foreign Ministry.
Berlin's concern about bilateral ties with Tehran
On Thursday, the German Foreign Ministry told journalists that it had no role in the withdrawal of the invitation to Prince Reza Pahlavi.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson also told Iran International that "the Munich Security Conference decides independently on its invitations," without offering any further details.
However, an informed source told Iran International the German Foreign Ministry had asked the organizers of the Munich Security Conference to withdraw the invitation, as it believed it would harm its relations with the Islamic Republic.
"The German government was concerned that inviting Prince Pahlavi could endanger the situation of German dual-national prisoners in Iran," the source added.
Pahlavi took to X on Friday to confirm that the MSC had told him his invitation remains in place.
"This conference, like all public engagements, was always about my compatriots and having their voices heard on the world stage. So I will go with a message from the Iranian people: our fight is not just to free Iran, but the world, from the terror and blackmail of the Islamic Republic," Pahlavi wrote.
No invitation for Iran officials
The German news website Zeit cited a conference spokesman saying that the Iranian government has not received an invitation "at this point in time".
The conference did not invite any officials from the Islamic Republic in 2023. However, Iranian diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif—now Iran's vice president—was a regular invitee when he served as Tehran's foreign minister.
The conference, which is scheduled to begin later in February, has previously welcomed speakers that have criticized the Iranian government.
According to a list of invitees to the Munich Security Conference seen by Iran International, political activist Masih Alinejad has also been invited to the conference.
Pressure continues
The Munich Security Conference was also under pressure in 2023 to withdraw its invitation to Reza Pahlavi, Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in an interview with Aasoo website last year.
"A few days before the Munich conference, one of the organizers—who used to be my student at Georgetown—told me they were under pressure to revoke Reza Pahlavi's invitation," Sadjadpour added.
"He said leftist groups in Germany opposed his presence, and even the German embassy in Tehran had called, warning that if Reza Pahlavi was given a platform, regime hardliners might attack the embassy."