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  Date / Time: 6/21/2009 1:49 AM UTC

  Farah Pahlavi URGES ON PROTESTERS
  

  The exiled empress of Iran offered encouragement to protesters in her homeland yesterday, declaring, "My heart is with you. Light will overcome the darkness."Farah Pahlavi, 70, wife of the late shah, both of whom fled Iran three decades ago after being deposed by the Islamic revolution, lent her support to reformers during a wide-ranging interview with The Post.
  
  Pahlavi, who splits her time between Paris and the United States, said, "With all my heart, I'm with them, especially the women and the young people who have suffered in this regime."
  
  She said the outpouring of street demonstrations shows promise for the future -- despite the backlash from the mullahs and security forces.
  
  "The democracies of the world have heard the voices of the Iranian people," she said. "Let's hope this is a new beginning. They want change. They want a better life."
  
  Pahlavi -- who is a subject of an HBO documentary titled "The Queen and I," airing on June 22 and June 29 -- urged Iranian security forces to show compassion and not beat protesters.
  
  "I heard security forces are beating up on young people. They're not even speaking Persian! They're coming from outside," she said.
  
  Pahlavi said she's received hundreds of e-mails from reform-minded Iranian citizens appealing for help.
  
  She insisted that the Islamic theocratic government is "running out of steam" because Iranians "want freedom of expression, women's rights, young people's rights. People want Iran to have better relations with the rest of the world."
  
  The mullahs came to power following a public uprising against the shah's government.
  
  But Pahlavi defended her husband's tenure as leader, noting that women -- now treated as second-class citizens -- were given the right to vote. And religious and ethnic minorities -- including Jews -- were respected.
  
  "We had 300,000 Jews in Iran. Many of the Jewish people were forced to leave. Some of them were killed," she said.
  
  "You can ask the big Iranian Jewish community in Long Island, Great Neck and Los Angeles," she said of Iranian Jewish exiles.
  
  carl.campanile@nypost.com

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