It was always difficult to view Reza Pahlavi as a serious alternative to the Islamic Republic: beyond his name, he had clearly shown over the years that he was a weak and ineffective leader surrounded by aggressive and thuggish advisers.
The recent war simply demonstrated this. He was unable to seize the moment - and that is a tragedy. In an ideal world, he would have used his name to help build a broad opposition coalition against the Islamic Republic. Instead, he and his advisers acted as important obstacles to the development of a viable opposition - and this, ultimately, serves the Islamic Republic.