Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Net Worth

Net Worth Watch estimates the fortune at $2 billion in November 2026. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ruled Iran from 1941 to 1979. Estimates of his fortune are reconstructions of assets he controlled as head of state, most of which were seized after he fled.

Most of the total sits in assets that are not priced daily, so the figure is a considered estimate rather than a bank balance. The profile below sets out each component and how firm it is.

The fortune divides into three main parts: pahlavi foundation assets before 1979.

• Pahlavi Foundation Charitable endowment that controlled banks, hotels and factories.
• State-linked enterprises Holdings directed through the monarchy during the oil boom.
• Overseas assets Reported transfers abroad, never publicly verified.

The Shah’s economic power rested on the Pahlavi Foundation, a charitable endowment that grew into a conglomerate holding stakes in banks, hotels and industry. Oil revenue after 1973 multiplied the sums he could direct.

He left Iran in January 1979 and died in Cairo in 1980. The revolutionary government confiscated the foundation and his personal assets, and later estimates of what he had taken abroad remain unverified.

This is a historical reconstruction, not a modern valuation. There is no confirmed record of what survived the revolution, so treat the figure as an order of magnitude.

We start from the best available record of what the person owns: company filings, stock exchange positions, property registers, investigative reporting and, for historical figures, reconstructions of the assets they controlled. Where a holding is private we compare it with listed peers, and where the record is thin we say so in the profile.

Figures are shown in US dollars and reviewed on the date at the top of the page. A net worth is not the same as annual income, and it can move sharply when markets or currencies move.