Presidents and Monarchs: Jimmy Carter and the Shah of Iran
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was was the last Shah (King) of the Imperial State of Iran. He ruled the nation for over 37 years from September 16, 1941 until his overthrow in the Iranian Revolution on February 11, 1979. He came to power during World War II after an combined invasion by British and Soviet forces forced the abdication of his father, Reza Shah Pahlavi.
During much of the Shah's reign, foreign powers sought control of the valuable Iranian oil industry. The British were the first, but the oil industry was nationalized by Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1951. This proved to be unpopular with western nations. Those in the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower feared that communists were poised to overthrow the government. Just before the 1952 presidential election in the United States, the British government invited Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (grandson of Theodore Roosevelt) to London to propose collaboration on a secret plan to force Mosaddegh from office. This became the first of three "regime change" operations led by CIA director Allen Dulles. The CIA and British Secret Intelligence Service funded and led a covert operation to depose Mosaddegh with the help of military forces disloyal to the government. Referred to as Operation Ajax. Despite the support of these two great powers, the coup initially failed, causing the Shah to flee to Baghdad, and then to Rome. While in exile, the Shaj signed orders to dismiss Mosaddegh as prime minister and replace him with General Fazlollah Zahedi, a choice agreed on by the British and Americans. A second coup was successful in deposing Mosaddegh, reinstalling the Shah, and returning foreign oil firms to Iran.
The Shaw introduced the White Revolution, a series of economic, social, and political reforms aimed at transforming Iran into a global power and modernizing the nation. Supporters of the banned National Front were persecuted, but the Shah ordered that most of the members of the National Front would be brought to trial, including Mosaddegh. These leaders were not executed as many had expected, and many in the Iranian elite were openly disappointed that the Shah did not conduct the expected bloody purge and publicly hang Mosaddegh and his followers.
On February 27, 1958, a military coup to depose the Shah led by General Valiollah Gharani was unsuccessful. This led to a major crisis in Iranian-American relations when evidence emerged that associates of Gharani had met American diplomats in Athens. In January 1959, the Shah began negotiations on a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. This was met with a threatening letter from President Eisenhower warning him against signing the treaty. When the Shah chose not to enter into a treaty with the Soviets, this led to a major Soviet propaganda effort calling for his overthrow. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the Shah's assassination.
The Shah's first major clash with Ayatollah Khomeini occurred in 1962, when the Shah changed the local laws to allow Iranian Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Baha'i to take the oath of office for municipal councils using their holy books instead of the Koran. This was unacceptable to Khomeini. At first the Shah refused to do so, but he later bowed to pressure from demonstrations organized by the clergy, and withdrew the offending law. However it was reinstated as part of the White Revolution of 1963.
The Shah initiated major investments in infrastructure, subsidies and land grants for peasant populations, profit sharing for industrial workers, construction of nuclear facilities, the nationalization of Iran’s natural resources, and literacy programs. He also instituted economic policy tariffs and preferential loans to Iranian businesses which sought to create an independent economy for the nation. Manufacturing of motor vehicles, appliances, and other goods in Iran increased. These reforms led to decades of sustained economic growth that would make Iran one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Iran enjoyed economic growth rates exceeding the United States, Britain, and France. National income rose 423 times over. By 1977, Iran's armed services spending, which the Shah saw as a means to end foreign intervention in Iran, had made the nation the world's fifth strongest military.
But his reforms also led to growing unrest among the religious sects. In 1963 and 1964, nationwide demonstrations against his rule took place all over Iran, with the centre of the unrest being the holy city of Qom. Students studying to be imams at Qom were most active in the protests, and Ayatollah Khomeini emerged as one of the leaders, giving sermons calling for the Shah's overthrow. At least 200 people were killed in the demonstrations, with the police throwing some students to their deaths from high buildings. Khomeini was exiled to Iraq in August 1964. Many critics labeled the Shah as a Western and American "puppet." In particular, when the Carter administration which took control of the White House in 1977, they viewed the Shah as a troublesome ally.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1974. As it worsened, he stopped appearing in public by the spring of 1978. The official explanation was that he was suffering from a "persistent cold." In May 1978, the Shah suddenly cancelled a long planned trip to Hungary and Bulgaria. He spent the entire summer of 1978 at his Caspian Sea resort, where two of France's most prominent doctors, Jean Bernard and Georges Flandrin, treated his cancer.
Nationwide protests and strikes were taking place in Iran at the time, but it was difficult for the Shah to make decisions, possibly because a side effect of his medications was depression. In June 1978, the Shah's French doctors first revealed to the French government how serious his cancer was, and in September the French government informed the American government that the Shah was dying of cancer. Empress Farah suggested numerous times that he leave Iran for medical treatment and appoint her regent, but the Shah saw it as too humiliating for him as a man to flee Iran and leave a woman in charge.
By 1978, growing political unrest snowballed into a popular revolution. The actions of the Shah's military fueled public opposition. At the Jaleh Square massacre, the Shah's military killed and wounded dozens of protestors. The Cinema Rex fire was an arson attack in Abadan that was falsely blamed on SAVAK, the Iranian secret police. This led to protests across Iran, making the Shah's position in Iran untenable. The Shah left Iran and went into exile on January 17, 1979. The Shah claimed that he did so to avoid having to attack his own people, but the total number of protesters killed by his military ranged anywhere from 2,000 (according to historians) to 60,000 (according to the Islamic Republic of Iran). The government fell and the Iranian monarchy was formally abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic republic led by Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran under the Shah had been a valuable US ally as well as a dependable source of oil exports. The Carter administration, as well as its predecessors, overlooked human rights violations in Iran, and President Jimmy Carter had visited Iran in late 1977. Carter had authorized the sale of U.S. fighter aircraft to Iran. Carter soon found himself in a difficult position as the Shah's administration fell and an Islamic revival all led to increasing anger among Iranians, many of whom also despised the United States for its support of Pahlavi.
The Carter administration debated internally over demands for greater human rights in Iran. This angered the Shah. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance made this a high priority, while National Security Advisor Zbignev Brzezinski warned that this would undermine the strength of America's most important ally in the Middle East. Carter allowed the sale of riot control equipment to Iran to suppress the increasingly violent protests. When the 1978 Iranian Revolution had broken out, Secretary of State Vance argued that the Shah should institute a series of reforms to appease the voices of discontent. Brzezinski argued in favor of a crackdown on dissent. After Shah went into exile, and the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in February 1979 to popular acclaim, the unrest continued.
Carter decided to allow the Shah into the United States to receive medical treatment for his cancer. Carter and Vance were both initially reluctant to do so because of concerns about the reaction in Iran, but ultimately allowed the Shah to come to the United States. In November 1979, shortly after Pahlavi was allowed to enter the U.S., a group of Iranians stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 66 American captives, beginning the Iran hostage crisis. Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan ordered the militants to release the hostages, but he resigned from office after Khomeini backed the militants.
The crisis quickly became the subject of international and domestic attention. Carter vowed to secure the release of the hostages. He refused the Iranian demand of the return of Pahlavi in exchange for the release of the hostages. At first Carter's approval ratings rose as Americans rallied around his response, but the crisis became increasingly problematic for his administration the longer the hostages remained in captivity. An attempt to rescue the hostages,Operation Eagle Claw in April 1980, was a total disaster. It ended in the death of eight American soldiers. The failure of this operation strengthened Ayatollah Khomenei's position in Iran and badly damaged Carter's domestic support. Iran refused to negotiate the return of the hostages until Iraq launched an invasion in September 1980. With Algeria serving as an intermediary, negotiations continued until an agreement was reached in January 1981. In return for releasing the 52 captives, Iran accepted over $7 billion in monetary compensation and the unfreezing of Iranian assets in the United States. Iran waited to release the captives until hours after Carter left office on January 20, 1981.
The Shah left the U.S. for Panama. While the Shah was in Panama, one of Khomeini's close advisors, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh had a meeting with Hamilton Jordan, Carter's Chief of Staff. Ghotbzadeh requested that the CIA kill the Shah while he was in Panama. The Shah learned of this and left Panama delaying further surgery. He fled to Cairo, Egypt. The Shah slipped into a coma and died at 09:15 AM on July 27, 1980 at age 60. Egyptian President Sadat gave the Shah a state funeral. Former President Richard Nixon was one of the persons who attended the funeral.
During much of the Shah's reign, foreign powers sought control of the valuable Iranian oil industry. The British were the first, but the oil industry was nationalized by Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1951. This proved to be unpopular with western nations. Those in the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower feared that communists were poised to overthrow the government. Just before the 1952 presidential election in the United States, the British government invited Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (grandson of Theodore Roosevelt) to London to propose collaboration on a secret plan to force Mosaddegh from office. This became the first of three "regime change" operations led by CIA director Allen Dulles. The CIA and British Secret Intelligence Service funded and led a covert operation to depose Mosaddegh with the help of military forces disloyal to the government. Referred to as Operation Ajax. Despite the support of these two great powers, the coup initially failed, causing the Shah to flee to Baghdad, and then to Rome. While in exile, the Shaj signed orders to dismiss Mosaddegh as prime minister and replace him with General Fazlollah Zahedi, a choice agreed on by the British and Americans. A second coup was successful in deposing Mosaddegh, reinstalling the Shah, and returning foreign oil firms to Iran.
The Shaw introduced the White Revolution, a series of economic, social, and political reforms aimed at transforming Iran into a global power and modernizing the nation. Supporters of the banned National Front were persecuted, but the Shah ordered that most of the members of the National Front would be brought to trial, including Mosaddegh. These leaders were not executed as many had expected, and many in the Iranian elite were openly disappointed that the Shah did not conduct the expected bloody purge and publicly hang Mosaddegh and his followers.
On February 27, 1958, a military coup to depose the Shah led by General Valiollah Gharani was unsuccessful. This led to a major crisis in Iranian-American relations when evidence emerged that associates of Gharani had met American diplomats in Athens. In January 1959, the Shah began negotiations on a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. This was met with a threatening letter from President Eisenhower warning him against signing the treaty. When the Shah chose not to enter into a treaty with the Soviets, this led to a major Soviet propaganda effort calling for his overthrow. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the Shah's assassination.
The Shah's first major clash with Ayatollah Khomeini occurred in 1962, when the Shah changed the local laws to allow Iranian Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Baha'i to take the oath of office for municipal councils using their holy books instead of the Koran. This was unacceptable to Khomeini. At first the Shah refused to do so, but he later bowed to pressure from demonstrations organized by the clergy, and withdrew the offending law. However it was reinstated as part of the White Revolution of 1963.
The Shah initiated major investments in infrastructure, subsidies and land grants for peasant populations, profit sharing for industrial workers, construction of nuclear facilities, the nationalization of Iran’s natural resources, and literacy programs. He also instituted economic policy tariffs and preferential loans to Iranian businesses which sought to create an independent economy for the nation. Manufacturing of motor vehicles, appliances, and other goods in Iran increased. These reforms led to decades of sustained economic growth that would make Iran one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Iran enjoyed economic growth rates exceeding the United States, Britain, and France. National income rose 423 times over. By 1977, Iran's armed services spending, which the Shah saw as a means to end foreign intervention in Iran, had made the nation the world's fifth strongest military.
But his reforms also led to growing unrest among the religious sects. In 1963 and 1964, nationwide demonstrations against his rule took place all over Iran, with the centre of the unrest being the holy city of Qom. Students studying to be imams at Qom were most active in the protests, and Ayatollah Khomeini emerged as one of the leaders, giving sermons calling for the Shah's overthrow. At least 200 people were killed in the demonstrations, with the police throwing some students to their deaths from high buildings. Khomeini was exiled to Iraq in August 1964. Many critics labeled the Shah as a Western and American "puppet." In particular, when the Carter administration which took control of the White House in 1977, they viewed the Shah as a troublesome ally.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1974. As it worsened, he stopped appearing in public by the spring of 1978. The official explanation was that he was suffering from a "persistent cold." In May 1978, the Shah suddenly cancelled a long planned trip to Hungary and Bulgaria. He spent the entire summer of 1978 at his Caspian Sea resort, where two of France's most prominent doctors, Jean Bernard and Georges Flandrin, treated his cancer.
Nationwide protests and strikes were taking place in Iran at the time, but it was difficult for the Shah to make decisions, possibly because a side effect of his medications was depression. In June 1978, the Shah's French doctors first revealed to the French government how serious his cancer was, and in September the French government informed the American government that the Shah was dying of cancer. Empress Farah suggested numerous times that he leave Iran for medical treatment and appoint her regent, but the Shah saw it as too humiliating for him as a man to flee Iran and leave a woman in charge.
By 1978, growing political unrest snowballed into a popular revolution. The actions of the Shah's military fueled public opposition. At the Jaleh Square massacre, the Shah's military killed and wounded dozens of protestors. The Cinema Rex fire was an arson attack in Abadan that was falsely blamed on SAVAK, the Iranian secret police. This led to protests across Iran, making the Shah's position in Iran untenable. The Shah left Iran and went into exile on January 17, 1979. The Shah claimed that he did so to avoid having to attack his own people, but the total number of protesters killed by his military ranged anywhere from 2,000 (according to historians) to 60,000 (according to the Islamic Republic of Iran). The government fell and the Iranian monarchy was formally abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic republic led by Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran under the Shah had been a valuable US ally as well as a dependable source of oil exports. The Carter administration, as well as its predecessors, overlooked human rights violations in Iran, and President Jimmy Carter had visited Iran in late 1977. Carter had authorized the sale of U.S. fighter aircraft to Iran. Carter soon found himself in a difficult position as the Shah's administration fell and an Islamic revival all led to increasing anger among Iranians, many of whom also despised the United States for its support of Pahlavi.
The Carter administration debated internally over demands for greater human rights in Iran. This angered the Shah. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance made this a high priority, while National Security Advisor Zbignev Brzezinski warned that this would undermine the strength of America's most important ally in the Middle East. Carter allowed the sale of riot control equipment to Iran to suppress the increasingly violent protests. When the 1978 Iranian Revolution had broken out, Secretary of State Vance argued that the Shah should institute a series of reforms to appease the voices of discontent. Brzezinski argued in favor of a crackdown on dissent. After Shah went into exile, and the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in February 1979 to popular acclaim, the unrest continued.
Carter decided to allow the Shah into the United States to receive medical treatment for his cancer. Carter and Vance were both initially reluctant to do so because of concerns about the reaction in Iran, but ultimately allowed the Shah to come to the United States. In November 1979, shortly after Pahlavi was allowed to enter the U.S., a group of Iranians stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 66 American captives, beginning the Iran hostage crisis. Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan ordered the militants to release the hostages, but he resigned from office after Khomeini backed the militants.
The crisis quickly became the subject of international and domestic attention. Carter vowed to secure the release of the hostages. He refused the Iranian demand of the return of Pahlavi in exchange for the release of the hostages. At first Carter's approval ratings rose as Americans rallied around his response, but the crisis became increasingly problematic for his administration the longer the hostages remained in captivity. An attempt to rescue the hostages,Operation Eagle Claw in April 1980, was a total disaster. It ended in the death of eight American soldiers. The failure of this operation strengthened Ayatollah Khomenei's position in Iran and badly damaged Carter's domestic support. Iran refused to negotiate the return of the hostages until Iraq launched an invasion in September 1980. With Algeria serving as an intermediary, negotiations continued until an agreement was reached in January 1981. In return for releasing the 52 captives, Iran accepted over $7 billion in monetary compensation and the unfreezing of Iranian assets in the United States. Iran waited to release the captives until hours after Carter left office on January 20, 1981.
The Shah left the U.S. for Panama. While the Shah was in Panama, one of Khomeini's close advisors, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh had a meeting with Hamilton Jordan, Carter's Chief of Staff. Ghotbzadeh requested that the CIA kill the Shah while he was in Panama. The Shah learned of this and left Panama delaying further surgery. He fled to Cairo, Egypt. The Shah slipped into a coma and died at 09:15 AM on July 27, 1980 at age 60. Egyptian President Sadat gave the Shah a state funeral. Former President Richard Nixon was one of the persons who attended the funeral.