M. Reza Vaghefi, Ph.D.
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Introduction
The Spring issue of Persian Heritage contains a very interesting story, documented by the Editor of the Quarterly, about Queen Farah, which sheds some light on some extremely painful important issues of the recent past and regrets that would not have to happen, only If the subjects were even superficially familiar with the Persian culture.
Revolutions do not happen overnight. The Bolsheviks revolution in Russia was inspired by Communist Manifesto conceived and announced by Carl Marx in Germany in l848. That Manifesto was the intellectual guidance of the Bolsheviks in Russia to rise and overthrow the emperor.
Very few aspects of the Manifesto were adopted and implemented by the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The dictatorship that replaced the regime of the emperor was even harder, under Stalin, for the rank-and-file millions of whom lost their precious life.
In France the French revolution was inspired by downtrodden and break of the main prison Bastille to overthrow the Queen Marie Antoinette who was put under Guillotine and created Robespierre, serial killer of French revolution, to put thousands to death. Islamic revolution had its own Robespierre by the name of Sadegh Khalkhali (he was judge and jury) who was commissioned by Ayatollah Khomeini to execute thousands of innocent people. So, all revolutions have their Robespierre’s to do the dirty job. To say that Shah and his queen left to prevent bloodshed does not tell the true nature of issues at hand.
The Islamic revolution in Iran began on 15th of Khordad, June l963 and was put down by Asadullah Allam with blessing of then Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. I am not sure if Queen Farah was there at the time but ignoring these facts is not acceptable and of course not reminding us the mistake do not heel the wound. Worse than that was the constant reminder, by Allam, that there will never be another uprising by the Mulla and Shah believing such lies and deceptive behaviors by his Minister of Imperial Court. All the people who lost their life in their quest had friends and relatives that began to work in earnest to revenge the unjustified slaughter of people by someone like Allam, whose affiliation with and love of Iran was less than zero.
He was a fifth generation Arab. Allam’s ambitions could only be fulfilled by being next to head of the state, the Shah who himself was totally unfamiliar with Persian/Iranian culture. More will come about Shah’s superficial statements about Iran.
During the high days of OPEC when Jamsheed Amusegarr (minister of Finance) was then chair of the Organization and before a crucial meeting to consider a price increase Allam called Amuzegar and invited him to a breakfast at Allam’s residence. Amuzegar reluctantly accepted the invitation during which Allam suggested to him to be careful about the next price increase. Recommending to no change in the price structure.
So Amuzegar went back to Shah and disclosed what he had been told by Allam. Shah told him “You know where he gets his orders from”. Proceed as I told you.” Meaning that Shah knew Allam that was a British spy.
Friend of Shah or a British Spy?
Queen Farah refers to General Hossein Fardoost as Shah’s classmate and trusted friend. That was true but how did he become a traitor needs some explanation that the Queen prefers not to mention. Fardoost was a trained spy by the British MI6, the British spying agency that even today provides reliable information from behind the battle lines in Russia. He did what he was trained for. During the turmoil of the pre-revolution days when the Supreme Council of the Armed forces met to decide what to do, he was the one who said Armed forces are to defend the country from aggression by foreign forces not to defend the regime.
Meaning of the statement put out for everyone to know was that the Iranian armed forces are neutral which led to people following Ayatollah Khomeini attack the armories, pick up guns to defend the new emerging regime against anyone attacking it and they laid the foundation of what is called Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. So Fardoost did what he was ultimately trained to do by the British Intelligent services MI6.
In general Shah and Shahbanoo loved Iran, but problem was that they were surrounded by spies and sycophants whose interest was basically financial. And the cheer leader of the group was Allam who had accumulated too much power and wealth and everyone in the government and even the private sector knew his influence on Shah. Allam’s toxicity created many corrupt people even Shah himself was not immune to such corruptive behavior which ultimately became known to public and further eroded his image in public eye.
British Influence
Shah should have never taken his eyes off the toxicity of the British influence on especially people around him, or he may have assumed that it would be safer to have them around, but a careful eye would have been most essential. It was the British influence that delayed the emergence of the Chinese nationalism under Mao Zedong although they used different technique to have control there. It was Opium war in 19th century. Under the Chiang Kai-shek use of Opium was popularized. The purpose was to weaken people’s desire to rise and defend their country. Mao Zedong stopped it.
They used different strategy in different countries and societies. It was their mischievous policy to subdue the Chinese and other methods to subdue the people of India for centuries. In Iran they had a deep network of spies beginning with Rashidian brothers, loyal members of the British Embassy in Tehran, and different members of Masonry network that did their bidding by overthrowing the legitimate government of Dr. Mossadegh that the Empress prefers not to talk about. Shah did not even approve Dr. Mossadegh’s travel abroad for treatment of his cancer and let him die in miserable pain.
The Queen refers to Shah’s miserable conditions toward the end of his life as he died almost anonymously, this is very unfortunate, but did he ever mention to Queen Farah the excruciating pain that he caused a national champion, Mossadegh, to go through.? Contrast this situation with death of Dr.Eghbal who was dismissed by Shah because he offered some advice at a critical time. Thousands of people took part in his funeral.
The head of the of NIOC Abdollah Entezam, who had suggested some precious advice, was removed from his job immediately. He was incorruptible. Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the champion of oil nationalization’ burial ground in Ahmad Abad, West of Tehran, has turned into an almost national shrine. Whether we talk about these issues or not, they do not disappear from Iranian history. These men, the Crown Jewels of Iran, were most honest and decent people the likes of whom do not exist today and probably may not in the future. It takes a long time for an honest man to emerge in a corrupt environment.
Toxicity that poisoned a lot
The toxicity was not just presence of Allam, it was the political system that was set up under the Shah who in violation of the Constitution, accumulated so much power that ultimately led to his demise. Queen Farah has no deep understanding of the system that collapsed once Shah left. There is a story about king Hussain of Jordan (a poor Arab country loaded with problems and impending conflicts, Palestinians, the majority, versus native tribes that are the backbone of kingdom) where he says every time the State Department (of U.S.) recommended that I should do this or that I did the opposite because they did not understand what we were going through.
Shah of Iran did exactly what the Americans were telling him. The main problem was that neither side, the Americans and Shah, did not understood the structure of Iranian culture. Take it from land reform (tiller of the land as the American were telling the Shah), to nationalization of forest (the main beneficiary was members of the royal family). There are quite a few items that have been discussed before in Mirrasiran.
Shahbanoo Farah was an innocent by-stander with minimum knowledge of the main issues. She states that Shah and Queen left to prevent bloodshed. This itself acknowledges that Shah was not telling the truth or maybe he did not know those replacing him were blood thirsty suckers. He was told by the American Ambassador Sullivan representing a naïve and globally, ignorant President Carter, that he should leave. Therefore, his departure was not a voluntary and the bloodshed that ensued was far beyond human imagination.
The top commanders of the armed forces were put to death which provided a fertile ground for another blood thirsty sucker like Saddam Hossein, a CIA pawn, to attack Iran.
In addition to hundreds that were executed before the war, thousands of young people were sent to battle ground many of whom never returned. Additionally, many students from cream -of -the -crop universities demonstrated against the atrocities of the regime. Five thousand were arrested and put in jail. At the end of the war Ayatollah Khomeini (who was called a Saint by Carter’s U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young) ordered their execution. The young men were the most talented but faced a regime whose insatiable appetite for blood knew no boundary. A committee of three, including the man who thinks he was elected as president of the Islamic republic Mr. Ibrahim Raisi ordered their execution which was carried out by Hamid Nouri who is in a Swedish prison, Sweden, for crime against humanity (NYTimes, July 15, 2022.)
Reign not Rule
In the interview with the Editor of Mirrasiran, the former Queen mentions that Shah was interested to train his successor, heir apparent, son not to govern like himself. He was told by numerous personalities, in and out of government, that it was unconstitutional (According to the Constitution) for the Shah to assume so much executive powers which were supposed to be held by civil servants.
Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the champion of oil nationalization, reminded the Shah that he must reign not rule, a strategy that would allow the government to be responsible for mistakes and the accountability that goes with it. In each case the corrupt and sycophants, a ubiquitous phenomenon, that were in line to benefit from Shah’s power, were telling him that it was the best for the country to have a powerful king at the top to run the affairs of the state.
At the end he had only himself to blame for the disarray that laid the foundation for the revolution. Shah had created a huge tent, and he was the main pillar. Once the pillar is removed the tent would collapse. Or probably he thought that day may never come.?
Shah was completely isolated from the common man with no real touch with the social problems that were brewing. This isolation was completed by Allam and Howeida, his prime minster who had his own network of people who would report to him any person that would visit the Shah, in return for Gold Pahlavi Coin. Shah did not know that POWER CORRUPTS, ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTLEY.? Right under his nose, his director of Protocols would get money to arrange a photo-op with the Shah. Corruption was everywhere.
It is quite fair to say that neither Shah nor his Queen had any knowledge of Iran history and for that matter the world. The clergy class, be it Christian, Jewish of Moslem, love power and anything that creates hurdle to achieving that must be removed or eliminated. It happened in Europe couple of centuries ago where Pope directed his army to acquire or dismiss properties or assets belonging to none- believers or even slaughtering those that deserted the Church to establish and enhance their own sect like Protestants were subject of numerous attacks and at times devastation by Pope’s army for their desire to establish their own sect.
Very similar to Bahais in Iran who were and are persecuted because what they advocate contradicts the very foundation of religious beliefs of governing clergy. Shah tried to change the direction of a corruptive modus operandi and provide a modus vivendi but could not because the weight of corruption had overwhelmed the attempts to improve things that were ailing the society.
Lack of understanding the culture
Shah and his queen had very limited understanding of the Iranian/Persian culture. All one needs to do is look at some authentic sources of the past that have had applicability then, now and will have in future. Golestan Saadi, is an indispensable source of advice and illuminates how the kings in the past ran their affairs. Saadi says numerously that a king’s survival depends on strength and satisfaction of his people.
If the people are unhappy, the king may not last long. It is as simple as this but the corrupt people around the royal family would make it impossible for the Shah and the Queen have access to real people which also means that the pain and suffering of people at the bottom go unnoticed, but the wealthy enjoy all the glamor and privileges that are totally unavailable to Middle class not to mention the total deprivation of the poor.
It was true then as is true now. Those privileges are maintained at the point of gun but someday there could be an eruption like a huge earthquake or a massive volcanic strike that creates lots of destruction and with deprivation.
Conclusion
Sycophancy and endemic corruption leave no room for honest people to meet the authorities to discuss the real problem that society faces. So ultimately it creates upheavals that are not easy to manage and that is where too little too late comes in. Corruption is a systemic phenomenon. Those that refuse to participate get passed.
No promotion, no special privileges or benefits (Personally I have witnessed this phenomenon). But the ones who are skilled in corruption, accumulate enough power to destroy the noncompliance the case of late Professor F. Reza, a renowned international scholar with a command of Persian literature, is a good example which has been mentioned in a previous issue of Mirassiran.
Systemic corruption rewards very few people but erodes trust in nonparticipants who try to avoid participation in corruptive performances suffer even more.
This happened at the Plan and Budget Organization, the only relatively clean organization, toward the end of Howeida’s premiership and gradually stopped the functions that could have helped maintaining some order in the structure of government.
This atmosphere enhanced the notion that government was ineffective in dealing with social problems.
Jamshid Amuzegar, a competent technocrat replaced Howeida and through some unnecessary measures, such as creating a department to supervise the religious endowments (a necessity though) but, a red line for the clergy who were the main beneficiary, helped create some issues which ultimately provided the ground for the Islamic revolution. A clean technocrat and a “Jewel “could not survive in a corrupt environment.