Reza Pahlavi, the last shah: the absolutist who wanted to modernize Iran and was overthrown by the ayatollahs

Israel and the United States have bombed Iran in an attempt to cripple its nuclear program and thus prevent it from developing an atomic bomb . It is unclear whether they succeeded. The war appears to be over, remaining with the somewhat hasty title Donald Trump gave it: the "12-Day War."

Were Israelis and Americans simply seeking to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons , or were they also seeking regime change in Iran? Just in case, some have taken advantage of the situation to demand such a change . This is what Reza Cyrus Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979, did.

He has presented himself as a consensus figure to lead a hypothetical political "transition" in Iran. Although perhaps Pahlavi Jr. "forgets" that his father wasn't exactly a democratic leader. No, the Shah of Persia wasn't an example.

From parents to children

Reza Shah, also known as Reza Pahlavi, was Shah of Persia from 1925 to 1935, when he changed his nation's name to Iran. A nationalist military leader, he served as Shah from 1935 to 1941. That year, he was forced to abdicate by the United Kingdom due to his sympathies with Hitler in favor of his 22-year-old son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. "We put him there, we took him away," said Winston Churchill , then British Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq was attempting to nationalize oil resources when, in 1953, he was ousted from power in a coup orchestrated by the United Kingdom and the United States. The Shah remained in power with the support of both countries. While he began modernizing the country's industry, he simultaneously eliminated all opposition to his regime.

Because Pahlavi wanted to modernize the country, yes, but at any price. He banned the compulsory veil and allowed women to vote; he created infrastructure; he modernized the Armed Forces; and he even built shopping malls. But by force.

SAVAK, the terrible secret police

Making sure that no one questioned the Shah's policies was the responsibility of SAVAK, Iran's intelligence and internal security service , which worked for the benefit of the Shah, who behaved as if he were an absolute monarch. Composed of 5,000 agents (15,000 according to other sources), it was always associated with the American CIA.

SAVAK became feared: for more than two decades, it operated as a secret police force punishing the Iranian people. With virtually unlimited powers to arrest and interrogate, it tortured and murdered thousands of the Shah's opponents . AsTime magazine reported in 1979 , SAVAK was considered Iran's most feared and hated institution. Its duties also included censorship of all press, books, and films.

The reforms implemented by Reza Pahlavi's absolute monarchy generated significant class differences in society. While 42% of Tehran's population was homeless and lived in the slums, the wealthiest sectors, those closest to the monarchy, lived in the palace. Meanwhile, in the West, the luxury and wealth of the Shah and his wife, Farah, were featured on the covers of magazines like Hola .

Between the poverty of the people and the luxury of the Shah

In 1967, in a lavish coronation ceremony attended by world leaders, Pahlavi named himself Shahanshah , the Persian monarchical title first used by rulers of the Achaemenid Empire. After 2,500 years of Persian history, he was the last ruler to use the term.

Under the Shah, economic changes came, but also social ones (or so he intended). For example, in 1971, the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire was celebrated, and in 1976 , the calendar was changed from the Hijri (Muslim calendar) to the year of the founding of Persia.

Iran's appearance as a modern country, in the Western sense, had unforeseen consequences. In the mid-1970s, inflation soared . The Shah froze credit, hurting small businesses and generating more poverty and discontent.

The Islamic Revolution breaks out

By the end of the decade, political unrest was growing throughout Iran. Various sectors of society, such as university students and intellectuals, joined the movement led by Imam Khomeini from his exile in Paris . This quickly escalated into street protests. Popular discontent erupted into the Islamic Revolution.

Pahlavi's position became untenable due to two specific events: the fire at the Rex Cinema in Abadan and the Jaleh Square massacre . The Rex burned down in 1977, killing nearly 400 people inside. The revolutionaries claimed that SAVAK had burned the cinema because its doors were locked.

On September 7, 1978, half a million people demonstrated in Tehran under the slogan "Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic." In response, the Shah declared martial law. The following morning, people gathered again in Jaleh Square . The army broke up the demonstration using live ammunition. It was a massacre, remembered today as "Black Friday." According to current Iranian authorities, around 15,000 people died that day.

During the entire revolution, it is estimated that between 540 and 2,000 people died (figures from independent studies) or 60,000 (according to the Islamic government). And this was despite the fact that the monarch had said he would rather leave the country than fire on his own people.

The exile

At the Guadeloupe Conference, Pahlavi's Western allies declared that there was no way to save the Iranian monarchy. The Shah ultimately fled Iran in January 1979. The Shiite Islamist cleric Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile, and under his leadership, Iran became an Islamic Republic on April 1 of that same year.

Rainier of Monaco offered asylum to Reza Pahlavi, but the French government refused. Along with Queen Farah, he then traveled to Morocco as a guest of King Hassan II, the Bahamas, and Mexico, where he was welcomed under pressure from the White House . It was a short stay.

During his escape, he wanted to live in the United States; then he passed through Panama, until he landed in Egypt in March 1980, where President Anwar el-Sadat granted him political asylum. He died there on July 27, 1980. His son declared himself the new Shah of Iran in exile.