Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the United States pp 27–87Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Nezam Shahanshahi: The Shah’s Imperial Order

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 687 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the political order that Shah Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi devised from the mid-1960s to rule Iran. It sheds light on the nature of the new order, the character and idiosyncrasies of the Shah and that of the regime’s principal protagonists. The global balance sheet of the regime during a decade considered the golden age of the Shah’s rule is exhaustively reviewed. Impressive achievements in terms of oil diplomacy and economic and industrialization policies, the build-up of a military might and the nation’s new status as a regional superpower are examined against the backdrop of systemic flaws and drawbacks, posing the fundamental question of why such unprecedented progress did not bring success.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    R. K. Karanjia, The Mind of a Monarch: Biography of the Shah of Iran (Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1977), 223.

  2. 2.

    Alinaghi Alikhani, ed. and trans., The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran’s Royal Court, 1969–1977, Assadollah Alam (London: I. B. Tauris, 1991), 383, entry for August 5, 1974, hereafter cited as The Shah and I.

  3. 3.

    Transcript of Nixon-MacArthur-Haig talks, April 8, 1971, Nixon White House tapes in FRUS (1969–72). doc.122.

  4. 4.

    Jonathan Kandell, New York Times, November 8, 1978.

  5. 5.

    Henry Kissinger, The Complete Memoirs E-book Boxed Set: White House Years; Years of Upheaval, Years of Renewal (New York: Simon & Shuster, 2011), location 25882.

  6. 6.

    Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran, 149ff.

  7. 7.

    Zbigniew Brzezinski, Power and Principle, 360.

  8. 8.

    Henry Precht in Conversation with Charles Naas, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, October 8, 1988, p. 5.

  9. 9.

    Kissinger, Complete Memoirs, location 25918.

  10. 10.

    Time Magazine 49, no. 5 (1947).

  11. 11.

    National Intelligence Estimate (para I.1), May 9, 1975; FRUS (1973–6), vol. 27, doc. 121.

  12. 12.

    Queen Farah, An Enduring Love, My Life with the Shah (Los Angeles, CA: Miramax Books 2004), 151; Gholam-Reza Afkhami, The Life and the Times of the Shah, 248–9.

  13. 13.

    Sir Denis Wright in Harvard Iran Oral History Project (HIOHP) with Habib Lajvardi, October 1984, Haddenham, England, transcript 4, sequence 140–14.

  14. 14.

    Afkhami, The Life and the Times of the Shah, 248–9; Bagher Agheli, Roozshomar tarikh’e Iran, az moshrouteh ta enqelab eslami [Chronology of Iran, 1896–1979], 2 vols. (Tehran: Namak Publishers, 1387/2008), 2.208.

  15. 15.

    Abbas Milani, The Persian Sphinx Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution (Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 2000), 87–88.

  16. 16.

    The Reza Shah-era palace, originally used by the royal family as the winter residential palace.

  17. 17.

    Author’s own recollections.

  18. 18.

    Abdol-Majid Majidi, a friend and close cabinet associate of Hoveyda, refers to at least two occasions when he thought Hoveyda should have stepped down: the first when the Shah decided to go for one-party system in 1975, and the second in the autumn of 1976, when the Shah created a royal commission to scrutinize the performance of cabinet ministers in the face of unexpected economic setbacks; for Majidi’s remarks, see Oral History interview with Akbar Etemad, FISOHI, 1.8–9.

  19. 19.

    Houchang Nahavandi and Bomati Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 350–2.

  20. 20.

    Chapour Bakhtiar, Ma Fidélité (Paris: Albin Michel, 1982), 99–100.

  21. 21.

    Dr. Mohammad Baheri—an Alam loyalist, his former deputy and cabinet minister—admitted in his Oral History that Alam was generally lax about favoritism and toward the end of his life (period 1975–1978) turned a blind eye to, or protected, friends involved in serious corrupt business practices, interviewed by Habib Lajvardi, Cannes, August HIOHP, August 1982, transcript 23, sequence 539, pp. 20–21.

  22. 22.

    Among few other innovations in this domain, he made ambassador-designates kneel before the Shah when introduced.

  23. 23.

    The NIOC-AGIP Mineraria deal in 1957 boded ill for Mattei, who trod on too many toes in the ensuing years, including in Washington and Paris, in deals with Moscow and with Algeria. When in October 1962 he was killed in a plane crash, speculations—rendered plausible in later year enquiries– pointed to a plot commissioned by oil interests from the Mafia; see Independence, August 29, 1997.

  24. 24.

    Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, Réponse à l’Histoire (Paris: Albin Michel, 1979), 76.

  25. 25.

    Rouhani Diaries, in Tajbaksh, Gholam-Reza, and Farokh Najmabadi, eds., yaddashthay’e fuad ruhani nakhostin dabir kol’e sazeman’e keshvarhay’e sader konandeh naft [opec] va na- gofteh haei darbareh’e siasat’e nafti iran dar daheh pas az melli shodan naft [Diaries of Fuad Ruhani, the first Secretary General of OPEC] (Bethesda, MD: Foundation of Iranian Studies, 2013), 117–18, 451.

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Paraphrased from the Shah–Kennedy White House talks, April 12, 1962, FRUS (1961–3), pp. 17–597.

  28. 28.

    Ian Skeet, OPEC: Twenty-Five Years of Prices and Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 39.

  29. 29.

    Kamiar Mohaddes and Hashem Pesaran, “One Hundred Years of Oil Income and the Iranian Economy: A Curse or a Blessing?” (Cambridge Working Papers in Economics, University of Cambridge, February 2013).

  30. 30.

    Iran’s holdings of gold and foreign exchange at the end of 1970 had fallen to a six-year low (about $210 million), or less than two months’ imports; see CIA intelligence report, March 1972, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 117.

  31. 31.

    World Oil Market Chronology 1970–1979. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970%E2%80%9379_world_oil_market_chronology.

  32. 32.

    Alam in The Shah and I, 199.

  33. 33.

    Embassy in Tehran to Washington, December 29, 1970, FRUS (1969–72): E-4, Iran 1970, doc. 108; Alam in The Shah and I, entry for December 28, 1971, 182.

  34. 34.

    Tehran to Washington, January 14, 1971, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, Iran 1970, doc. 109.

  35. 35.

    They were: George Piercey of (ESSO) EXXON; William Fraser II of BP (Fraser, or Lord Strathalmond, was the son of William Fraser I, who was the chairman of AIOC during the Mosaddeq era and its vice-chairman during the 1933 oil clash with Reza Shah); and Jan Van Reeven, the consortium chief in Tehran. This delegation was shortly reinforced by Carlyle (SHELL), Kirchner (CONTINENTAL) and Montague (CFP).

  36. 36.

    Similar demarches were being made with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

  37. 37.

    Irwin to Secretary Rogers, January 18, 1971, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, Iran 1971, doc. 111.

  38. 38.

    Embassy in Iran to the Department of State, February 12, 1971, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, Iran 1971, doc. 114.

  39. 39.

    Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 863–4.

  40. 40.

    Alam in The Shah and I, 201.

  41. 41.

    MacArthur to Sisco, June 17, 1971, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 132.

  42. 42.

    Briefing Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff, January 18, 1973, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 36, doc. 151.

  43. 43.

    Bureau of Intelligence and Research, RECN-36, December 6, 1972, FRUS (1969–72): E-4, doc. 239; Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, EV; Parviz Mina, “Oil Agreements in Iran (1901–1978): Their History and Evolution”, Encyclopaedia Iranica online.

  44. 44.

    New York Times, January 24, 1973.

  45. 45.

    FRUS, Energy Crisis (1969–72), vol. 35, doc. 151, January 18, 1973.

  46. 46.

    US Ambassador Farland characterized the British as a “not so veiled threat,” telegram 355, January 19; Box 602, Country Files, Middle East, Iran, vol. IV, 1 (September 1971–April 1973).

  47. 47.

    The full text of Nixon’s letter is printed in Alam in The Shah and I, 277; FRUS, Energy Crisis (1969–72), vol. 35, doc. 152 (undated editorial note).

  48. 48.

    Alam in The Shah and I, 276–7.

  49. 49.

    Full text of the Shah’s letter dated January 19, 1973, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, Iran 1973–6, doc. 3.

  50. 50.

    National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 602, Country Files, Middle East, Iran, Vol. IV, September 1971–April 1973.

  51. 51.

    For details of this agreement, see Mina, “Oil Agreements in Iran,” Encyclopaedia Iranica online.

  52. 52.

    Ibid.

  53. 53.

    Kissinger report of meeting with the Shah, November 9, 1973, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, Iran, doc. 43.

  54. 54.

    To give an approximate idea, the values cited should be multiplied by ten to give today’s dollar value.

  55. 55.

    Kissinger to Helms, December 29, 1973, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 49.

  56. 56.

    Ettela’at, Monday 3 Dey 1352/December 24, 1973; for US reaction, see Department of State to Embassy in Tehran, cable 252282, December 29, FRUS (1973–6), vol. 27, Iran, doc. 49.

  57. 57.

    For an example, “Iran: Oil, Grandeur and a Challenge to the West,” Time, November 4, 1974.

  58. 58.

    Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, chapter 19.

  59. 59.

    Andrew Scott Cooper, The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), 161.

  60. 60.

    The full text of the Shah’s interview with the award-winning Oriana Fallaci was published in New Republic, December 1, 1973. Two years later, with the same journalist, the Shah famously spoke about the Jewish lobby and its influence over US Congress, media and banking etc.

  61. 61.

    Afkhami, The Life and Times of the Shah, 351; Cooper, Oil Kings, 157, 176.

  62. 62.

    Memo of conversation between Kissinger, CIA director William Colby, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer and Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, Washington, December 28, 1973, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 49, fn3; also in Coopeer, Oil Kings, 147.

  63. 63.

    Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, chapter 19.

  64. 64.

    Cooper, Oil Kings, 261.

  65. 65.

    See “The Cycle of Boom and Bust,” in Chap. 3.

  66. 66.

    According to UN statistics, in 1960 Iran, with a population of 22 million, had a gross domestic national product (GDP) of 322 billion rials, equivalent to $4.3 billion (at the prevailing exchange rate) and hence a per capita income of $195; 70% of the population was rural; ibid., Iran 1960.

  67. 67.

    Out of a population of 23.5 million in 1963, 15.3 million lived in rural areas (UNdata online).

  68. 68.

    Yearly Statistical Book 1371/1992, cited by Ahmad Ashraf in, “Education, vii, General Survey of Modern Education,” Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  69. 69.

    UNdata (online compilation of UN statistics), the period 1950–1955.

  70. 70.

    Charles Issawi, The Middle East Economy Decline and Recovery, Selected Essays (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1995).

  71. 71.

    The Plan Organization was led from 1962 to 1968 by the brainy polytechnicien Safi Asfia, succeeded by Mehdi Samii, a highly respected central banker, followed by the Harvard-trained Khodadad Farmanfarmaian. Top technocrats included: the renowned economist Jahangir Amouzegar; in the banking sector, Nasser Moghadam and Abolghassem Kheradju; in Plan Organization, Darioush Oskui, Alex Mezlumian and Bahman Abadian; and in the oil sector, Fuad Rouhani, Parviz Mina and Manouchehr Farfanfarmaian.

  72. 72.

    Intelligence Report ER 72–23. FRUS (1969–73), vol. E-4, doc. 165. [undated].

  73. 73.

    Jahangir Amouzegar, Iran’s Economy under the Islamic Republic (London: I. B. Tauris, 1993), introduction, 5; US National Intelligence Estimate 34–70, Washington, September 3, 1970, FRUS (1969–76): E-4, doc. 86; Hadi Salehi-Esfahani and M. Hashem Pesaran “Iranian Economy in the Twentieth Century: A Global Perspective,” Economic Research Forum [Toronto University] 2008; see also Eric Hooglund and Glenn Curtis, Iran, a Country Study (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2008), 146–8.

  74. 74.

    The population growth rate in 1965–1970 was 2.7 per cent and nearly 2.8 per cent during the period 1970–1975; source: UNdata online.

  75. 75.

    Citing the above figures, Jahangir Amouzegar observed that the average inflation rate in developing countries at the time was 22%; see Iran’s Economy under the Islamic Republic, introduction, 6.

  76. 76.

    Five agreements and protocols covering the steel mill and the gas pipeline were signed on January 13, 1966 (Agheli, Roozshomar, vol. 2, p. 192); for diplomatic aspects, see Ahmad Mirfendereski (former ambassador to the Soviet Union) in conversation with Ahmad Ahrar, 98–99, 138–9, hereafter cited as Mirfendereski/Ahrar; Rouhholla Ramezani, Iran’s Foreign Policy 1941–73: A Study of Foreign Policy in Modernizing Nations. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1975), 317–18, 334.

  77. 77.

    Alan Smith, Russia and the World Economy: Problems of Integration, (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2002), chapter 2, (EV); James Bill, The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 171.

  78. 78.

    William Floor, “Steel Industry in Iran”, Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  79. 79.

    Mohammad Yeganeh (cabinet minister, intermittently from 1963 to 1978), in interview with Zia Sadighi, 1985, HIOHP, the printed version (Tehran, 2004), 38–39.

  80. 80.

    Mirfendereski/Ahrar, 138–9.

  81. 81.

    Salehi-Esfahani and Pesaran, “Iranian Economy in the Twentieth Century”.

  82. 82.

    Data from Bank Markazi (Central Bank, Iran), 1965–77, cited by Karshenas/Hakimian in Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  83. 83.

    Ahmad Ashraf, “kalbod’shekafi enqelab: naqsh’e kargaran san’ati dar enqelab iran” (An anatomy of the revolution: The role played by industrial workers in the Iranian Revolution), Goftegu, no. 55 (1389/2010), 55–124.

  84. 84.

    Keddie, Modern Iran, 160ff.

  85. 85.

    Farian Sabahi, “LITERACY CORPS”, Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  86. 86.

    Ahmad Ashraf, “EDUCATION vii”, Encyclopaedia Iranica (Ashraf worked as managing editor of the Encyclopaedia).

  87. 87.

    Barry Rubin, Paved with Good Intentions; the American Experience and Iran (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 8.

  88. 88.

    Mansureh Pirnia, Khanoum Vazir, Khaterat va dastneveshteh’hay’e Farokh-Roy’e Parsa [Madame Minister: The memoirs and writings of Farokh-Roy’e Parsa (sic)] (Potomac, MD: MehrIran, 2007).

  89. 89.

    Manoucher Ganji, Defying the Iranian Revolution: From a Minister to the Shah to a Leader of Resistance (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002), 5–6.

  90. 90.

    UNESCO statistics carried over in UNdata online.

  91. 91.

    Ahmad Ashraf, “Education vii”; Financial Times correspondent/author Robert Graham put the number of universities at 21 and institutions of higher learning at 206, Iran, The Illusion of Power (New York: St. Martin’s, 1979), 211–2; Menashri, “Higher Education, xvii” Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  92. 92.

    Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions, 431; Graham, Iran, the Illusion of Power (New York: St. Martin’s, 1979), 212. The Shah puts that figure at “nearly 200,000”; Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, Answer to History, (PV): 223.

  93. 93.

    Ganji, Defying the Iranian Revolution, 5.

  94. 94.

    Menashri, “Ashraf”, Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  95. 95.

    Defense Secretary Schlesinger to President Ford, DoD Activities and Interests in Iran, September 1975, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 142.

  96. 96.

    CIA Intelligence Memorandum, May 1972, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E-4, doc. 181.

  97. 97.

    “US Policy toward Persian Gulf”, November 7, 1970, FRUS (1969–72), vol. 24, doc. 91.

  98. 98.

    Kissinger to Farland, July 15, 1972, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E-4, doc. 212 (tab A). For specifics of commitments made by Nixon to the Shah, see Kissinger to Roger and Laird, June 15, 1972, ibid., doc. 205.

  99. 99.

    All estimates are from the US Department of Defense, see Secretary of Defense Schlesinger to President Ford, September 2, 1975, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 142.

  100. 100.

    Intelligence Report, January 28, 1972, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E-4, doc. 164; Pahlavi, Answer to History (PV), 185.

  101. 101.

    See the history of chieftain tank in Wikipedia online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chieftain_tank#cite_note-military-quotes1-5, accessed February 12 2014.

  102. 102.

    Bureau of Intelligence and Research, January 28, 1972, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E-4, doc. 164.

  103. 103.

    The intelligence report (ibid.) speaks of intention to purchase.

  104. 104.

    Imperial Iranian Navy website. http://www.aryamehr.org/eng/iia/iin/his.htm. Accessed on February 14, 2014; see also William Sullivan, Mission to Iran (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981), 77–78.

  105. 105.

    Bureau of Intelligence and Research, January 28, 1972, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E-4, doc. 164.

  106. 106.

    Kissinger to Connolly, June 29, 1973, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 26, doc. 209.

  107. 107.

    New York Times, January 15, 1975.

  108. 108.

    New York Times, September 15, 1975, and February 10, 1976.

  109. 109.

    New York Times, January 11, 1974.

  110. 110.

    New York Times, August 14, 1974.

  111. 111.

    Richard Witkin, New York Times, October 4, 1974.

  112. 112.

    The lobbying firm based in the US was run by the Lāvi brothers, of Iranian nationality. New York Times, December 13, 1975.

  113. 113.

    Atherton to Kissinger, July 29, 1976, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 179.

  114. 114.

    Alam was instructed by the Shah to raise the matter with Ambassador Helms, telling him Iran was committed to buy these planes at foreign military sale price in line with sales to NATO countries. Alinaghi Alikhani, ed., Yadashthay’e Alam, vol. 6, (Bethesda, MD: IBEX Publishers, 2008), 6.224–5, entry, September 2, 1976.

  115. 115.

    Atherton to Kissinger, July 29, 1976, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 179.

  116. 116.

    Schlesinger to Ford, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 142.

  117. 117.

    Gary Sick, All Fall Down: America’s Fateful Encounter with Iran (London: I. B. Tauris, 1985), 148–9; Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 229.

  118. 118.

    CIA Intelligence Memorandum, May 1972, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E-4, doc. 181.

  119. 119.

    Joe Stork, “Arms Industries of the Middle East.”

  120. 120.

    Ronen Bergman, The Secret War with Iran: The 30-Year Clandestine Struggle against the World’s Most Dangerous Terrorist Power (New York: Simon & Shuster, 2008), 5–6, 21–22.

  121. 121.

    Sullivan to Vance, secret, 07185, August 10, 1977.

  122. 122.

    General Fereydoun Jam, interviewed by Habib Lajvardi, London, October 3, 1983, Harvard Oral History Project, tape 4, p. 3.

  123. 123.

    M. J. Sheikh-ol-Islami, “Army V. Pahlavi Era,” Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  124. 124.

    They notably included Iraq’s Hashemite King Faisal in 1958, Mohammad Zahir Shah of Afghanistan in 1973 and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1974.

  125. 125.

    Anthony Parsons, The Pride and the Fall: Iran 1974–1975 (London: Penguin Random House, 1984), 24.

  126. 126.

    Schlesinger to Ford, September 3, 1975, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 142.

  127. 127.

    Interview with Plan Organization director Abdol-Majid Majidi, Habib Lajvardi, Paris, October 3, 1985, Harvard Oral History Project, tape 7.

  128. 128.

    Khodadad Farmanfarmaian, Harvard Oral History interview with Habib Lajvardi, Cambridge, MA, 1985, tape 11.2–3.

  129. 129.

    Ibid.

  130. 130.

    Sheikh-ol-Eslami, “Army V. Pahlavi Era,” in Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  131. 131.

    Stork, “Arms Industries of the Middle East.”

  132. 132.

    Schlesinger to Ford, September 2, 1975, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 17, doc.142.

  133. 133.

    Henry Precht in the Library of Congress Oral History with Charles Stuart Kennedy, 2000, p. 46.

  134. 134.

    Michael Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran (London: Penguin Books, 2013), 78–9.

  135. 135.

    Efraim Karsh, The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988 (Oxford, UK: Osprey, 2002), 22; Anthony H. Cordesman and Abraham Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War: Vol. Two—The Iran-Iraq Conflict (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990), 102; New York Times, September 23, 1980.

  136. 136.

    Ehsan Naraghi, Des Palais du Chah aux Prisons de la Révolution (Paris: Ballant, 1991), 257–8.

  137. 137.

    Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop, Air Combat Information Group (ACIG), September 9, 2003; Air-Force General Ahmad Mehrnia (retired), author of hamleh’e hava’i be al- waleed (Air strike on al-Waleed), in IRIAF official website. http://www.aja.ir/portal/Home/ShowPage, accessed on February 1, 2014.

  138. 138.

    Cooper and Bishop, ACIG, September 9, 2003.

  139. 139.

    See Michael Gordon, “Papers from Iraqi Archive Reveal Conspiratorial Mind-Set of Hussein”, New York Times, October 25, 2011.

  140. 140.

    Karsh, The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988, 9–10, 22–29; Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop, “Persian Gulf War: Iraqi Invasion of Iran” (Lancaster, PA: Schiffer Military History, September 1980), Arabian Peninsula & Persian Gulf Database, ACIG, September 2003, checked against material in several related websites.

  141. 141.

    FRUS (1964–68), vol. 22, doc. 36–39, pp. 74–75, 80–81.

  142. 142.

    See FRUS (1964–8), vol. 22. Iran, docs. 102, 105, 108, 111, 114.

  143. 143.

    Memorandum from Kissinger to President Nixon, October 22, 1970, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E-41, doc. 91.

  144. 144.

    Meyer to Battle, March 23, 1968, FRUS (1964–8), vol. 22, doc. 273, pp. 488–91.

  145. 145.

    Embassy in Iran to the Department of State, Tehran, March 14, 1968, FRUS (1964–68), vol. 22, Iran, doc. 268, pp. 479–81.

  146. 146.

    Not to be confused with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was created in December 1971.

  147. 147.

    Embassy in Tehran to Department of State, March 14, 1968, FRUS (1964–8), vol. 12, Iran, doc. 268, pp. 479–81, and doc. 269 (Zahedi visit to Washington), pp. 482–4.

  148. 148.

    Record of meeting between Secretary of State (Dean Rusk) and Iranian Foreign Minister (Ardeshir Zahedi), March 16, 1968, FRUS (1964–8), vol. 22, Iran, doc. 269, pp. 482–4.

  149. 149.

    Meyer to State Department, March 23, 1968, ibid., 488–91.

  150. 150.

    The Shah’s letter of February 1, 1968, FRUS (1964–8): vol. 21, doc. 129–130; see also, Ramezani, Iran’s Foreign Policy 1941–73, 435; A. Kechichian “Bahrain”, Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  151. 151.

    Upon return, Nixon displayed to the disillusioned American public his mastery of foreign policy, publishing notably “Asia after Vietnam” in the influential journal Foreign Affairs in October 1967, a move that put him back on track as a viable presidential candidate.

  152. 152.

    Afkhami, The Life and Times of the Shah, 302–3, citing Zahedi.

  153. 153.

    In his July 25, 1969, statement in Guam, Nixon stated in essence that the US would provide a shield if a nuclear power threatened US allies and key friends and in cases involving other types of aggression would furnish military and economic assistance but “shall look to the nation directly threatened to assume the primary responsibility of providing the manpower for its defense” [emphasis added].

  154. 154.

    Armin Meyer in Oral History interview with Foundation of Iranian Studies (Bethesda, MD), cited by Afkhami, The Life and Times of the Shah, 301, 303.

  155. 155.

    US Policy toward Persian Gulf, November 7, 1970, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 97; see also Kissinger to Nixon, 22 October, ibid. 1970, doc. 91; Roham Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 51.

  156. 156.

    Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 49–54.

  157. 157.

    Transcript of Nixon-MacArthur-Haig talks, April 8, 1971, Nixon White House tapes, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 122.

  158. 158.

    The Shii-majority Bahrain was territorially contiguous with the Saudi oil-rich, Shii-majority provinces of Al-Qatif and Al-Hasa.

  159. 159.

    For background on Al-Khalifa rule, see Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh, Security and Territoriality in the Persian Gulf: A Maritime Political Geography (London: Psychology Press, 1999), 118–22; for a detailed history of Iran’s claim, see Husain Al-Baharna, Iran’s Claim to Sovereignty over Bahrain and the Resolution of Anglo Iranian Dispute over Bahrain (Manamah, 2008), 14–16.

  160. 160.

    Iranians protested the Treaty of Jeddah between Britain and Saudi Arabia concluded in May 1927 whereby Britain had obtained specific commitments from the newly established Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd in favor of Bahrain and other Arab emirates under British protection, Mojtahedzadeh, 194; also mentioned by Kechichian, “Bahrain”, Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  161. 161.

    Alam in the Shah and I, February 7, 1970, p. 129.

  162. 162.

    Sir Denis Wright in HIOHP with Habib Lajvardi, October 1984, Haddenham, England, transcript 4, sequence 157–8.

  163. 163.

    Bahrain census 1971.

  164. 164.

    In 1968 the Emir of Bahrain Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (1933–1999) paid a visit to the Supreme Shii leader, Ayatollah Al-Hakim, in Najaf in order to improve his image with the Shii population; see Mansoor Al-Jamri, “Shia and the State in Bahrain: Integration and Tension,” Alternative Politics, Special Issue 1, 1–24 (November 2010); see also Douglas Jehl, “Sheikh Isa, 65, Emir of Bahrain who built Non-Oil Economy”, New York Times (March 7, 1999).

  165. 165.

    Al-Baharna, Iran’s Claim to Sovereignty, 70–71.

  166. 166.

    Amir-Khosrow Afshar in HIOHP interview with Lajvardi, op.cit. Alvandi, “Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and the Bahrain Question [1968–1970]”, British Journal of Middle East Studies, online publication (July 2010), 166; Al-Baharna, Iran’s Claim to Sovereignty, 70.

  167. 167.

    Agheli, Roozshomar, 2.224; Kechichian, Encyclopaedia Iranica; Alvandi, “Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and the Bahrain Question”, 169; Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 398; Al-Baharna, Iran’s Claim to Sovereignty, 70.

  168. 168.

    For details of the three-party bargaining process between Iran, the UK and the UN secretariat, see Alvandi, “Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and the Bahrain Question,” 166–77.

  169. 169.

    Personal recollections of the present author, who as a junior diplomat at the UN mission in New York assisted Ambassador Mehdi Vakil in handling this dossier at the New York level.

  170. 170.

    Note by the secretary-general, document S/9726, March 28, 1970.

  171. 171.

    Report by the personal representative of the secretary-general, Security Council, doc. S/9772, April 30, 1970.

  172. 172.

    Amir-Khosrow Afshar in HIOHP interview with Lajvardi, October 1985, London, transcript 3, sequence 71.

  173. 173.

    Alam in the Shah and I, 43–45; see also Alvandi, “Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and the Bahrain Question”, 170.

  174. 174.

    Wright (Tehran) to Foreign Office, May 27, 1969, FCO 8/945, in Alvandi, “Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and the Bahrain Question,” 171.

  175. 175.

    Abu Musa, the largest of the three islands with a surface of 12.8 sq. km is located on the southern edge of the navigational channel close to the western entrance to Hormuz, while the Greater and the Lesser Tunbs, respectively 10.3 and 2.1 sq. km, at 12 km from each other stand on the northern edge of the navigational channel at the mouth of Hormuz.

  176. 176.

    F.O. 371/18917 1935, Arabia E2145/653/91, May 29, 1935, in Mirfendereski, Encyclopaedia Iranica.

  177. 177.

    Agheli, Roozshomar, 2.242.

  178. 178.

    Transcript of Nixon-MacArthur-Haig talks, April 8, 1971, Nixon White House tapes in FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 122.

  179. 179.

    Ramezani, Iran’s Foreign Policy 1941–73, 423.

  180. 180.

    Faisal bin Salman Al-Saud, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf: Power Politics in Transition (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003), 103; Agheli, Roozshomar, entry for June 26, 1971, 2.242.

  181. 181.

    Al-Saud, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, 101.

  182. 182.

    Kissinger to Nixon, October 22, 1970, FRUS (1969–76), vol. E–4, doc. 91.

  183. 183.

    Department of State to the embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, London and Tehran, and the consulate in Dhahran, March 3, 1971, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 118.

  184. 184.

    Record of conversation between the US ambassador in Tehran, Douglas MacArthur, and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, March 19, 1971, US Embassy in London to Secretary of State, FRUS (1969–1972), vol. E-4. doc. 119.

  185. 185.

    Ibid., doc. 119. On this point, also see Kourosh Ahmadi, Islands and International Politics in the Persian Gulf: The Abu Musa and Tunbs in Strategic Context, (Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series, Abingdon-on-Thames, UK: Routledge, 2008), 90–92.

  186. 186.

    Action Memorandum from the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Sisco) to Secretary of State Rogers, Washington, September 9, 1971, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 143.

  187. 187.

    Letter from Secretary of State Rogers to the British secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs (Douglas-Home), Washington, September 13, 1971, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 144.

  188. 188.

    Iran agreed to pay to the Sheikh £3 million a year for a period of nine years, unless the his revenue from the island’s oil, gas and minerals exceed this sum, in which case only the difference would be paid.

  189. 189.

    Ahmadi, Islands and International Politics in the Persian Gulf, 97.

  190. 190.

    Mirfendereski, Iranica; Ahmadi, Islands and International Politics in the Persian Gulf, 93–94.

  191. 191.

    The New York Times, December 8, 1971.

  192. 192.

    Other than the four plaintiffs, Britain Iran, UAE and Somalia participated in the debate. See (online) Summary Records of the Security Council, December 9, 1971, Part II, pp. 165–8.

  193. 193.

    These treaties were the Treaty of Erzurum in 1847, the Constantinople Protocol of December 1913 and Tehran Treaty of 1937. The latter treaty had extended the Iranian sovereignty to the median line in the navigational channel of the estuary alongside the three-mile Abadan port anchorage. See R. Schofield (ed.), Near & Middle East Titles: Iran–Iraq Border 1840–1958 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Archive Editions online), 1989.

  194. 194.

    Shaul Bakhash, “The Troubled Relationship: Iran and Iraq” in L. Potter and Gary Sick (eds.), Iran, Iraq and the Legacies of War (New York: Palgrave, 2004), 15.

  195. 195.

    Bakhash, “The Troubled Relationship”, 15–16; Ramezani, Iran’s Foreign Policy 1941–73, 401–2; Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq, 2nd ed. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004), 109.

  196. 196.

    Jasim Abdulghani, Iraq and Iran, the Years of Crisis (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 17. For a comprehensive review of Qasem’s five-year rule, see The Modern History of Iraq, 81–113.

  197. 197.

    Agheli, Roozshomar, 2.104; Bakhash, “The Troubled Relationship”, 16; Abdulghani, Iraq and Iran, the Years of Crisis, 16–17.

  198. 198.

    Trita Parsi, The Treacherous Alliance, the Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and U.S.” (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 20–25, 91.

  199. 199.

    David Kimche, The Last Option (New York: Charles Scribner’s Son, 1991), 189ff; Parsi, The Treacherous Alliance, 52.

  200. 200.

    Kimche, The Last Option, 190; Abdulghani, Iraq and Iran, the Years of Crisis, 140.

  201. 201.

    Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 70; see also Bakhash, “The Troubled Relationship”, 20.

  202. 202.

    Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 187–8; Bakhash, “The Troubled Relationship”, 20.

  203. 203.

    Houshang-Mahdavi, tarikh’e rabate khareji’e iran az payan jang jahani dovvom ta soqout’e regime Pahlavi [History of Iran’s foreign policy from the end of the Second World War to the fall of Pahlavi regime] (Tehran, 1988), 219–20.

  204. 204.

    Ambassador Meyer to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Hare), October 22, 1966, FRUS (1964–8), vol. 22, pp. 321–24.

  205. 205.

    Ramezani, Iran’s Foreign Policy 1941–73, p. 417.

  206. 206.

    Statement by Deputy-Foreign Minister Afshar before Senate, April 19, summary in US Embassy in Tehran to Secretary of State, April 22, 1969, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 12.

  207. 207.

    US Embassy in Tehran to Secretary of State, May 19, 1969, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 17.

  208. 208.

    Dana Adams Schmidt, New York Times, May 25, 1969.

  209. 209.

    Alam in The Shah and I, 59–60.

  210. 210.

    Dana Adams Schmidt, “Court in Iraq Dooms 16, 10 of Them Jews, as Spies; Iraq Hangs 16, Including 10 Jews, as Israeli Spies”, New York Times, January 27, 1969.

  211. 211.

    Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hughes) to Secretary Rogers, Washington, FRUS (1969–72): vol.E-4, doc, 251,Iraq, February 14, 1969.

  212. 212.

    Parsi on Iraqi Jews, The Treacherous Alliance, 54.

  213. 213.

    Parviz Sabeti and Erfan Qaneei-Fard, dar damgah’e hadeseh; barasi elat va avamel forupashi’ye hokumat’e shahanshahi, Sherkat Ketab publishers, Los Angeles, CA, p. 194.

  214. 214.

    See “Sepahbod Teymur Bakhtiar be Ravayat asnad’e savak” [Compilation of the SAVAK files on Gen Bakhtiar] (Tehran: Ministry of Information 1378/1999), vol. 2 (Lebanon period) and vol. 3 (Iraq period); see also Sabeti/Qaneei-Fard, 183–94, and Bakhtiar’s comprehensive biography in Bagher Agheli, sharh’e hal’e rejal’e siasi va nezami’e Iran [A comprehensive dictionary of contemporary Iranian political and military personalities], 3 vols. (Tehran: Goftar Publishers, 1380/2001), 1.273–82.

  215. 215.

    Kianouri, memoirs, 447–8; Sabeti/Qaneei-Fard, 183.

  216. 216.

    In late December 1969, The SAVAK arrested a number of ex-feudal and tribal notables in relation to links with General Bakhtiar, Agheli, Roozshomar, 2.236; see also Sabeti/Qaneei-Fard, 182.

  217. 217.

    SAVAK files in Seyyed Hamid Rouhani, Nehzat’e Imam Khomeini, vol. 3, 413 ff; Sabeti/Qanee-Fard: 186–88; Agheli, Roozshomar 2.245; Agheli, sharh’e hal’e, 1–280.

  218. 218.

    Sabeti/Qaneei-Fard, 184–6.

  219. 219.

    Keesing’s Record of World Events (KRWE), vol. XVII, February 1970, Iraq, p., 23827; see also FRUS (1969–72): vol. E-4, Iraq, doc. 265, “the Coup in Iraq” report from embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State, January 23, 1970.

  220. 220.

    Agheli, Roozshomar, 2.236; Keesing’s Record, vol. XVII, p. 23827.

  221. 221.

    Abdulghani, Iraq and Iran, the Years of Crisis, 135.

  222. 222.

    Special National Intelligence Estimate, Washington, September 3, 1970, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E-4, doc. 86.

  223. 223.

    The Baathist leadership had embarked on a program of Arabization of oil-rich Kurdish zones. Iraq had already dropped napalm and nitric acid bombs on Kurdish villages; see Keesing’s Record, February 1970, Iraq, p. 23827.

  224. 224.

    Harold Saunders to Kissinger, June 7, 1972, FRUS (1969–72), vol. E–4, doc. 313; Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 83–7.

  225. 225.

    Iran $9 million, the United States $5 million, Israel and Britain $2 million each.

  226. 226.

    New York Times, February 1, 1974.

  227. 227.

    Resolution 348 (1974), May 28 (1770th meeting).

  228. 228.

    Iraq had sent an expeditionary force, estimated at six divisions and 73 airplanes, to fight alongside frontline Arab states mainly on the Syrian–Jordanian front and the Golan Heights. This force was withdrawn after the American-brokered ceasefire between Egypt and Israel approved by the Security Council on October 24. Iraq sustained well over 1,000 casualties, 25% of which were fatal.

  229. 229.

    US Ambassador to the UN John Scali to Kissinger, June 5, 1974, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 252, and from US Interest Section in Baghdad normalization of Baghdad, June 25, 1974, ibid., doc. 255.

  230. 230.

    Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 106.

  231. 231.

    Backchannel message from the ambassador to Iran (Helms) to the president’s deputy assistant for national security affairs (Scowcroft) Tehran, March 18, 1974, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 242.

  232. 232.

    Backchannel message from the ambassador to Iran (Helms) to the president’s deputy assistant for national security affairs (Scowcroft), March 18, 1974, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 26, doc. 242; CIA director (Colby) to Kissinger, March 21, 1974, FRUS (1969–76), vol. 27, doc. 243.

  233. 233.

    Briefing memorandum from the director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hyland) to the under-secretary of state for political affairs (Sisco), December 16, 1974, FRUS (1969–76): vol. 27, doc. 267.

  234. 234.

    Ibid.

  235. 235.

    Lowrie (US Interest Section in Baghdad) to the Department of State, meeting with Foreign Minister of Iraq (Dr. Shathel) Taqa, August 29, 1974, FRUS (1969–76): vol. 27, doc. 260, para. 7.

  236. 236.

    Intelligence report, December 16, 1974, FRUS (1969–76): vol. 27, doc. 267; New York Times, March 7, 1975; Abdulghani, Iraq and Iran, the Years of Crisis, 142.

  237. 237.

    Alam in The Shah and I, 417–18.

  238. 238.

    Intelligence report, December 16 1974, FRUS (1969–76): vol. 27, doc. 267.

  239. 239.

    Alam in The Shah and I, 384–5.

  240. 240.

    Houshang-Mahdavi, tarikh’e rabate khareji’e iran, 280–1; Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 112.

  241. 241.

    Alam in The Shah and I, 417–18.

  242. 242.

    Sulzberger’s ‘Foreign Affair’ column, New York Times, March 29, 1975.

  243. 243.

    Akbar Etemad, the patron of Iran’s atomic agency under the Shah, has given several oral history and other interviews, which have sourced a host of recent studies; the figure of 70,000 MW is cited by Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 132.

  244. 244.

    In the course of a press conference on December 16, 1976, the Shah declared Iran’s oil reserves would be exhausted within 25 years. Agheli, Roozshomar, 2–313.

  245. 245.

    Helms to Kissinger, secret, 02091, March 15, 1974.

  246. 246.

    Akbar Etemad in Akbar Etemad in interview with Maziar Bahari, September 11, 2008, http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/?q=node/6289.

  247. 247.

    David Patrikarakos, Nuclear Iran: The Birth of an Atomic State (London: I. B. Tauris, 2012), 41.

  248. 248.

    Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 133–4; Mohammad-Reza Djalili and Thierry Kellner, L’Iran en 100 Questions (Paris: Tallendier, 2016), 343–4; Afkhami, The Life and Times of the Shah, 347ff.

  249. 249.

    NPT Articles IV, V and VI, U.N. Full text in Treaty Series.

  250. 250.

    Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 135.

  251. 251.

    Helms to Kissinger, secret, 11539, November 26, 1975.

  252. 252.

    Memorandum 292 of NSC, April 12, 1975, Ford Library online, https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0310/nsdm292.pdf; Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, March 27, 2005.

  253. 253.

    “US, Iran Resume Atom Power Talks,” Washington Post, August 9, 1977, in Lexis-Nexis, http://www.lexis-nexis.com/.

  254. 254.

    Patrikarakos, Nuclear Iran, 79–80.

  255. 255.

    William Burr, ed., The Iranian Nuclear Program, 1974–1977, the Nuclear Vault in National Security Archive portal, posted in 2009.

  256. 256.

    Interview with Maziar Bahari, September 11, 2008, http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/?q=node/6289; Patrikarakos, Nuclear Iran, 63–66.

  257. 257.

    Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah, 138–9.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nyon, Switzerland

    Darioush Bayandor

Authors
  1. Darioush Bayandor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bayandor, D. (2019). Nezam Shahanshahi: The Shah’s Imperial Order. In: The Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the United States. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96119-4_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96119-4_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96118-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96119-4

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation