Shah Reza and a modern Persian Kingdom

Supposing the OTL Shah of Persia died in late 1977, how was his son expected to handle the throne and what would a surviving Persian Kingdom under the Pahlavi Dynasty look like?
 
It was a year before the revolution, and adult Muhammad Reza Pahlavi could not have prevented the revolution because he was an idiot, and now you are expecting a 17 year old to somehow save the kingdom?
 
It was a year before the revolution, and adult Muhammad Reza Pahlavi could not have prevented the revolution because he was an idiot, and now you are expecting a 17 year old to somehow save the Kingdom?
From what I can vaguely remember the Shah at the end was incredibly indecisive about the protestors and the revolution, when the military and security services came to him with recommendations of crushing them he delayed so long that it was past the point of no return. If he dies though and the Crown Prince is installed as Shah I think he would have a much tougher time saying no if they came to him saying we must do such-and-such to secure the country, if he's even asked at all and things aren't handled by a Regency Council or simply a group that acts on their own initiative. Now whether a full-on crackdown would have allowed the monarchy and government to retain power is certainly debatable, but it's at least a possibility.
 
Much depends on the regent or the advisors.

In any case, keeping the monarchy in power at such a late stage will require large amounts of spilt blood (nullifying the new king perhaps not like his father effect) and even then there would be no guarantee of long-term success.

A determined carnage could buy the regime a few years, but more reforms would be required.
 
It was a year before the revolution, and adult Muhammad Reza Pahlavi could not have prevented the revolution because he was an idiot, and now you are expecting a 17 year old to somehow save the kingdom?

Surely there would be a regency? In this case, it depends on how effective the regency is.
 
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