why did some iranians support the shah?

Why Iran takes issue with the Holocaust - BBC News The Shah's Son Paradox: Why Iran Needs Its Exiled Crown Prince To [7][8], Reza Shah was deposed in 1941 by an invasion of allied British and Soviet troops[9] who believed him to be sympathetic with the allies' enemy Nazi Germany. Israel Confronts the Iran Threat | Frontpage Mag At the exact moment, when courtesies were being exchanged on the White House lawn, these people produced sticks and bicycle chains and set upon the others. In 1935 a rebellion by pious Shi'a at the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad was crushed on his orders with dozens killed and hundreds injured,[6] rupturing relations between the Shah and pious Shia in Iran. [36], In 1976, the Shah's government angered pious Iranian Muslims by changing the first year of the Iranian solar calendar from the Islamic hijri to the ascension to the throne by Cyrus the Great. Iran from Royal Dictatorship to Theocracy. Iranian police as well as SAVAK, the Shahs secret police, often cracked down on demonstrations and strikes by shooting at protesters. Added to this religious opposition were secular and Islamic modernist students and guerrilla groups[26] who admired Khomeini's history of resistance, though they would clash with his theocracy and be suppressed by his movement after the revolution. Kurzman points out that "even as the shah arrived in Washington" for a state visit in late 1977, "his regime's partial tolerance of oppositional activity was disappearing. The personalised nature of the Shah's government, where prevention of any possible competitor to the monarch trumped efficient and effective government and led to the crown's cultivation of divisions within the army and the political elite, The Ayatollah Khomeini's self-confidence, charisma, and most importantly his ability to grip the imagination of the masses by casting himself as following in the footsteps of the beloved Shi'a Imam. Autopsies revealed that most in the crowd had been killed by ammo non-regulation for the army. Wrote the Shah: Imagine my amazement the next day when I saw the press had reversed the numbers and wrote that the fifty Shah supporters were lost in a hostile crowd.. Why was the Shah overthrown in Persepolis? However, in Mexico the Shah received an invitation from CFR Chairman David Rockefeller, who used influence to secure permission for the Shah to come to America for medical treatment. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Iranians sought to end the repressive dictatorship of the Shah, who was seen as both corrupt and beholden to extravagant Western governments. Although counter-demonstrations, some numbering up to 300,000 people, erupted in Iran, the Western press barely mentioned them. Mossadegh was deposed in a military coup d'tat organized by an American CIA operative and aided by the British MI6. The CIA had even rented the house next door. "Iran jumped overnight from the Muslim year 1355 to the royalist year 2535. The Shah, extremely grieved by this incident, and wanting no further bloodshed, gave orders tightly restricting the military. Bandits dominated the land; literacy was one percent; and women, under archaic Islamic dictates, had no rights. Shia cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution,[11] first came to political prominence in 1963 when he led opposition to the Shah and his program of reforms known as the "White Revolution", which aimed to break up landholdings owned by some Shia clergy, allow women to vote and religious minorities to hold office, and finally grant women legal equality in marital issues. Why was the Shah of Iran overthrown? - Green Pepper Magazine Three million Egyptians followed the procession. Khomeini, who was in exile in Iraq, worked to unite clerical and secular, liberal and radical opposition under his leadership[28] by avoiding specifics at least in public that might divide the factions.[29]. Here the Shah experienced a fateful delay in spleen surgery that some believe accelerated his death. This rote answer had been given me since early September [1978] and I would continue to hear it until the day I left the country. Washington severs ties with Tehran . A shadowy past followed Khomeini. New York: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1989.p.74-79, Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 05:27, invasion of allied British and Soviet troops, Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist, Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas, Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization, 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire, Political slogans of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Values and World View: Farhang Khomeyni on Man, the State and International Politics, Volume XIII, "Imam Khomeini (and clerics) leadership, Islamic Revolution", The Last Great Revolution Turmoil and Transformation in Iran, Velayat-e faqih (book by Khomeini)#Importance of Islamic Government, "Staying the Course: the "Lebanonization" of Hizbullah - Lebanon - Al Mashriq", Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (book by Khomeini)#Why Islamic Government has not been established, "Ideology, Culture, and Ambiguity: The Revolutionary Process in Iran", "Iran's tide of history: counter-revolution and after", "Rentier state and Shi'a Islam in the Iranian Revolution", The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution, Dynamics of the Iranian Revolution: The Pahlavis' Triumph and Tragedy, America's secret engagement with Khomeini, US had extensive contact with Ayatollah Khomeini before Iran revolution, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Background_and_causes_of_the_Iranian_Revolution&oldid=1142041372, Unpopular disregard for Islamic tradition exemplified in his 1976 change from an Islamic calendar to an Imperial calendar, marking the beginning of the reign of, Extravagance, corruption and elitism (both real and perceived) of the Shah's policies and of his. "Few expected the regime of the Shah, which had international support and a modern army of 400,000, to crumble in the face of unarmed demonstrators within a matter of months. Yet, at the height of Irans prosperity, the Shah suddenly became the target of an ignoble campaign led by U.S. and British foreign policy makers. In 1932, German President Paul von Hindenburg, old, tired, and a bit senile, had won re-election as read more. The Carter administration realized this. The Islamist group that ultimately prevailed contained the core supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini. A Muslim cleric walks past a portrait of the late Ayatollah Khomeini on June 3, 2014, in Qom, Iran. Iranians celebrated the victory by embracing soldiers in the street and stuffing flowers in the barrels of their rifles. MENU. More Iranians were killed during Khomeinis first month in power than in the Shahs 37-year reign. As protests against the Shah began, the Shi'a clerics could claim legitimate leadership of the protests and the Husayn legend provided a framework for characterizing the Shah as a modern incarnation of the tyrant Yazid. The eldest son of the last shah of Iran has urged Western governments to support popular efforts to topple the regime in Tehran. On the other hand, the United States and the Soviet Union were mainly interested in the logistically important location of Iran and wanted an oil concession in the northern part of Iran. This embarrassed Jimmy Carter, who had done so much to destroy the Shah and support Khomeini. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - Brown University Iran remained a solid Cold War ally of the United States until a revolution ended the Shahs rule in 1979. In spite of the Ayatollah, the illusion of political choice, and the still-cold relations between Iran and the West today, the above photos of Iran before 1979 show that another Iran is possible. The program was economically successful although the benefits were not evenly distributed, the transformative effects on social norms and institutions were widely felt. These hopes proved illusions. what kind of government did the shah lead? Explanations advanced for why the revolution happened and took the form it did include policies and actions of the Shah, in addition to the mistakes and successes of a myriad different political forces: Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union long competed with each other for the domination of Iran. The urban and secular middle class grew quickly. The Hollywood power couple reportedly became involved on the set of the romantic comedy The Marrying Man (1991), in which they played lovers. These small concessions were enough to temporarily pacify the public, who supported a contented Shariatmadari rather than Khomeini, who still agitated for overthrow of the Shah. According to most of the published witness-statements, the East Germans were in charge of most of the radio-transmissions; and, on at least one occasion, eight thousand cassettes of the Ayatollahs speeches were sent, directly to Teheran, by diplomatic bag. The following year, Muslim extremists assassinated him under circumstances remaining controversial. Journalists descended in droves on Neauphle-le-Chteau; Khomeini gave 132 interviews in 112 days, receiving easy questions as their media organs became his sounding board. My greatest mistake, the Shah recalled, was in listening to the Americans on matters concerning the internal affairs of my kingdom., Irans last hope: its well-trained military could still restore order. The Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, whose full title was "King of Kings and Light of the Aryans," had been considered a staunch ally of the United States ever since he was returned to the Peacock Throne in 1953 by a coup initially planned by the British Secret Intelligence Service (BSIS, or MI-6 as it's more popularly known). "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. specifically in Qum, Tabriz, Yazd, Tehran, Ifsahan, Religious leaders Ayatollah Khomeini, Shariatmadari and other clerics; Dr. Karim Sanjabi, Foruhar and Bakhtiyar of the National Front party, The Writers Association; the National Organization of University Teachers; Liberation Movement (a political party under the umbrella of National Front; believed in a dynamic Shiism that could mobilize masses rather than be directed by the ulama); the Tudeh Party (a political party, severely weakened after an earlier Iranian coup and driven underground by the Iranian government; ideologically aligned with the National Front though far less powerful); Apolitical ulama (even though many of the clerics wished to stay out of politics, they were dragged in by the Shah himself when authorities began to strip the religious establishment of its authority and when the government refused to fight moral laxity); Moderate ulama (led by Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari (senior theologian in Qum), kept open communication with government and desired only that the government abide by its 1906 Constitution, forced to radicalize when the Shah shut down the religious establishment); Militant ulama (led by Ayatollah Khomeini, advocated creation of a clerical Islamic government and wanted ulama to seize political control of Iran); An array of small Marxist and Islamic militant guerilla groups, International humanitarian organizations condemned the Shahs regime and the brutal methods of SAVAK. Ambassador William Sullivan (CFR) assured the Shah that, if he exited Iran, America would welcome him. These unlikely Iranians were masked, unable to speak Persian, and some were blonde. In a departure from historical precedents, the regimes large, modern army and the police were defeated by an internal revolution without the occurrence of a military defeat in foreign war and without external pressures aimed at causing fracture between the state and the dominant social classes. If the Shah had the power to dismiss him even though he was the obvious choice by both the parliament and the people, then I can't imagine him staying in power much longer. Lindsay Dolan, 05/06/2009; revised by Aden Tedla, 02/9/2011, Included Participation by More Than One Social Class, 003. Charles Kurzman, author of The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran [114] has postulated that the explanations offered by observers for why the revolution occurred "are only partially valid," and that "the closer we listen to the people who made the revolution - the more anomalies we find."[115]. Young Iranians, members of the Tudeh (communist) Party, made up Khomeinis secretariat in France. But a day or two later he would return, gravely shake his head, and say that he had received no instructions and therefore could not comment. The White Revolution was launched which was an aggressive modernization program that upended the wealth and influence of landowners and clerics, disrupted rural economies, led to rapid urbanization and Westernization. SAVAK, which had only 4,000 employees in 1978, saved many lives by averting several bombing attempts. Partly in retribution, on November 4, 1979, Iranians took 52 hostages from the U.S. embassy in Teheran. [14] Despite political repression, the budding Islamic revival began to undermine the concept that Westernization equals progress -- this had served as the basis of the Shah's secular regime. President Jimmy Carter issued a statement backing the Shah. 113. The next year the Rastakhiz political party was created. The 1906 Constitution required the Shah to adhere to the laws of Islam and to gain the approval of the Parliament (majlis). CIA-assisted coup overthrows government of Iran - HISTORY The shah became a stalwart admirer of Hitler, Nazism and the concept of the Aryan master race. George Ball that guru of American diplomacy and prominento of certain think-tanks and pressure groups once paid a long visit to Teheran, where, interestingly, the National Broadcasting Authority placed an office at his disposal. Strikers brought bazaars, schools, government ministries, and the oil industry virtually to a standstill. British intelligence sources, working with the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), came to the conclusion that Mossadeq had communist leanings and would move Iran into the Soviet orbit if allowed to stay in power. On Oct. 21, 1979, President Jimmy Carter authorized the deposed Shah of Iran to enter the United States for medical treatment with catastrophic consequences. Rockefeller sent a trendy Park Avenue MD to examine the Shah, who agreed against his better judgment to abandon his personal physicians and fly to New York for treatment. Some of this is obvious, as in their interference in Lebanon, and of course more recently in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. In Qum, the headquarters of the ulama (clergy), seminaries and bazaars closed in protest and the ulama staged a protest meeting, articulating their goals as calling for dissolution of the single party and peaceful release of political prisoners. He argued that Washington should get the. [27] Prominent in it was Mehdi Bazargan and his liberal, moderate Islamic group Freedom Movement of Iran, and the more secular National Front. A National Organization of University Teachers began fighting for academic freedom while university and seminary students called for academic freedom in the schools. This proved a mistake. Darius the Great created the first taxation system as a way to generate revenue for his infrastructure projects. The feast passed without repression, although 5,000 students staged a sit-in, 700 oil workers went on strike, and countless more Iranians protested in the street. On November 16, the Shah and Empress were due to visit Carter. Mosaddeq came to prominence in Iran in 1951 when he was appointed premier. At this point, the Shah left the country for medical reasons. While British intelligence backed away from the debacle, the CIA continued its covert operations in Iran. Anwar Sadat who, like the Shah, advocated a peaceful Middle East, and defied the American establishment by saving the Shah from infamous death, did not survive much longer himself. Why Can't Mujahedin-e-Khalq Supporters Get Security Clearances? [119] However, Tocqeuevilles other idea that "when a people which has put up with an oppressive rule over a long period without protest suddenly finds the government relaxing its pressure, it takes up arms against it"[72] would seem to solve this anomaly. You can specify conditions of storing and accessing cookies in your browser, The Ethiopian victory at adwa graduated Ethiopia, 16. After his release he continued his agitation against the Shah, condemning the regimes's close cooperation with Israel (it gave Islamic diplomatic recognition, in addition to covert assistance) and its "capitulations" the extension of diplomatic immunity to all American government personnel in Iran. not a word of protest from American human rights advocates who had been so vocal in denouncing my tyrannical regime! [42], That year also saw the death of the very popular and influential modernist Islamist leader Ali Shariati, allegedly at the hands of SAVAK, removing a potential revolutionary rival to Khomeini. Nevertheless, the Western press claimed the Shah had massacred his own people. 'Russia offered to help Iran's missile program in exchange for lethal Why did the U.S. install a man totally ignorant of my country in the midst of such a crisis? When banned from holding demonstrations, University of Tehran activists stood in silence in front of their library, quietly agitating for freedom of speech. Hiro, Dilip. [40] The office proceeded to send the Shah a "polite reminder" of the importance of political rights and freedom. Timeline: U.S. Relations With Iran - Council on Foreign Relations The U.S. media focused exclusively on the protesters. Waning support for the shah among Western politicians and mediaespecially under the administration of U.S. President, Alleged treachery of the Americans and other foreigners. Qums 4,000 theology students, in the meantime, initiated street protests but were quickly shut down by the police, who killed two students in the clash. Therefore in early 1977, the Shah announced liberalization policies to gain US support once again and resolve the crises of the state. Some of the findings: Despite a vast United States intelligence network in Iran, American Government officials did not learn of the Shah's cancer until just a few days before he left Mexico to . When the demonstrators descended to the streets they were rolled over by tanks, marking the first of several bloody clashes between protestors and police that month. why did some iranians support the shah? - jobavailable.pk It necessitated an army of 250,000 men. The Shahs air force ranked among the worlds five best. CIA-assisted coup overthrows government of Iran, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cia-assisted-coup-overthrows-government-of-iran. [51][52] As one observer put it: Because of internal repression, opposition groups abroad, like the Confederation of Iranian students, the foreign branch of Freedom Movement of Iran and the Islamic Association of Students, were important to the revolution. Print the Capability Statement As du Berrier pointed out: In his desperate need of men capable of handling the sophisticated equipment he was bringing in, the Shah had sent over a hundred thousand students abroad. Within Iran, Islamic fundamentalists, who resented the Shah's progressive pro-Western views, combined with Soviet-sponsored communists to overthrow the Shah. It came to the point where the CIA became very prominent in the process of supporting the Shah and of containing Mossadegh. (John Moore/Getty Images) "El pasaporte," demanded a very large Iranian, wearing a white turban like every other teacher in the Al-Mustafa University of Qom, in the heart of theocratic Iran. By late 1974 the oil boom had begun to produce not "the Great Civilization" promised by the Shah, but an "alarming" increase in inflation and waste and an "accelerating gap" between the rich and poor, the city and the country. Wait Who. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Some Iranians will be grateful; many, however, are True Believers and support the Mullah-imposed Shari'a state. Shah flees Iran - HISTORY Before listening to war drums, let us remember: It was the CFR clique the same establishment entrenched in the Bush and Obama administrations that ousted the Shah, resulting in todays Iran. When the tragedy was over, 121 demonstrators and 70 soldiers and police lay dead. "Reading Lolita in Tehran." "[120], Another author, Moojan Momen, questions whether Carter "could have said or done" anything to save the Shah aside from foregoing his human rights policy since "any direct interference by America would only have increased resentment" against the pro-American Shah.[95]. In 1992, Bill Clinton would be elected as the 42nd president of the United read more, During the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerrire in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia.