A mummified body discovered in Iran near the site of a former royal mausoleum could be the remains of the father of the country's last shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty.
Hassan Khalilabadi, the head of Tehran City Council's cultural heritage and tourism committee, says it's "possible" the mummy is of Reza Shah. Khalilabadi told the state-run IRNA news agency the body was discovered during construction work at a Shiite shrine in Tehran.
Reza Shah pushed to modernize Iran before being deposed and dying in exile during World War II.
His son, Mohammad Reza Shah, became Iran's last shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution installed the country's Shiite-dominated theocracy.
His grandson, the U.S.-based exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, warned Iran on Twitter: "not to hide anything."
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.