Iran’s former Queen Farah Pahlavi in a statement, issued on the 40th anniversary of her husband’s death, says Iran has turned into a “poor, needy and hungry” country after forty years of “misconduct, mismanagement and corruption” by the Islamic Republic.

The last king of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi died in 1980 after being overthrown by revolutionaries in 1979 and going into exile. He was suffering from cancer. He is buried in Cairo, where former Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat was his close friend.

The statement written by the queen is a “report” by her to her departed husband about Iran’s current situation.

She writes, “You are not here to see what an outwardly religious regime by its own admission has gifted to the Iranian people – unrivaled corruption and policies that have resulted in sanctions, lack of jobs, poverty and hunger.”

The queen also says in her statement that most strata of society and specially workers face deep hardships, the Iranian passport and the national currency are worthless in the world, the environment is in ruin and the Islamic Republic violently suppresses all kinds of protests.

Farah Pahlavi calls for saving Iran and rebuilding the country and says that is the duty of the youth. She adds that people of Iran have always risen to “rescue” the country from dangers.

However, the former queen insists in her statement that change should come only by the efforts of Iranians “without intervention by foreigners”. She says her son Reza Pahlavi, the last heir to Iran’s throne, shares her view.

The Islamic Republic insists that Iran had no independence during the monarchy and people suffered economically and politically. However, the mood among anti-regime protesters in recent years shows many people have a positive view of the Pahlavi dynasty that modernized Iran in the 20th century.