The Shah
Page 74
102. CPL, “Morning Summary, January 6, 1979.”
103. CPL, “Morning Summary, January 9, 1979.”
104. CPL, “Memorandum for Brzezinski, January 6, 1979.”
105. Fereydoon Jam, “Letter to Bani Ahmad,” in Nagin (new series), 1379/2000, p. 40.
106. Ball, “Issues and Implications,” p. 3.
107. King Richard II, 4.1.260.
20 The Shah’s Last Ride
1. NA, “Secretary of State’s Press Conference, January 11, 1979.”
2. NSA, “The Evolution of the US–Iranian Relationship,” document no. 3556, pp. 46–47. The text of telegram no. 2949. from Paris, January 29, has never been declassified. Only the segments quoted above are used in a brief history of the U.S.–Iran relations prepared by someone who clearly had access to all the declassified documents.
3. Several people, in separate interviews, told me independently about this flight. Some suggested there was more than one flight.
4. PRO, British Embassy in Tehran to Foreign Office, 25, September 1978, PREM 16/1719, p. 2.
5. NSA, “Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State: Secret Intelligence Report # 13,” document no. 603.
6. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah, translated by Patricia Clancy (New York, 2004), p. 295.
7. Aslan Afshar, interview with author, Cannes, France, March 29, 2009.
8. PRO, British Embassy in Tehran to Foreign Office, 25, September 1978, PREM 16/1719.
9. Christine Ockrent and Comte de Marenches, Dans les secret des princes (Paris, 1986), p. 255.
10. George Ball, “Issues and Implications of the Iranian Crisis,” Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Collection, Princeton University Library, p. 3.
11. Amir Aslan Afshar, interview with author, Nice, France, March 29, 2009.
12. NSA, “Proposed Meeting between Iran’s Military and Khomeini Supporters, January 15, 1979.”
13. PRO, Tehran to Foreign Office, January 20, 1979, PREM 16/2131.
14. David Frost interview with the Shah, January 1980.
15. Amir Aslan Afshar, interview with author, Nice, France, March 29, 2009.
16. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love, p. 8.
17. Colonel Jahanbini, interview with author, Washington, DC, November 8, 2004.
18. NSA, “Secretary of State, Outgoing Telegram, January 1979,” document no. 02072.
19. PRO, British Embassy, Bonn, to Foreign Office, December 28, 1978, PREM 16/1720.
20. NSA, “American Embassy to Secretary of State, June 17, 1979.”
21. In conversations with Afshar and Jahanbini, I was told about the food problems aboard Shahbaz.
22. Colonel Kiumars Jahanbini, interview with author, Washington, DC, November 8, 2004.
23. Ibid.
24. Several people, including Ardeshir Zahedi and Colonel Jahanbini, told me about the transfer of valuables and documents by special charter plane.
25. Etela’at, 3 Bahman 1357/1978.
26. Shapour Bakhtiyar, Siyo Haft Rooz Pas az Siyo Haft Sal [Thirty-Seven Days After Thirty-Seven Years] (Los Angeles, 2002), p. 57.
27. Hossein Borujerdi, Posht Parehaye Englab Eslami [Secret Stories of the Islamic Revolution] (Berlin, 2002), p. 424. The author even offers the name of the young man who was in the picture with Tehrani.
28. Ford was in Cairo at the time but his presidential library has no evidence that he ever met with the Shah in that period.
29. PRO, Prime Minister to Foreign Office, 19 February 1979, PREM/16/2131.
30. NSA, “Secretary of State to Embassy in Nassa, May 2, 1979,” document no. 2014.
31. Sir Denis Wright, interview with author, Duck Bottom, Hadenham, England, December 11, 2001.
32. Ibid.
33. Wright, “Memoirs,” Sunday May 20, 1979. He kept these journals often in something similar to shorthand. He kindly went over every page, reading out loud the parts I could not decipher.
34. David Harris, The Crisis: The President, the Prophet and the Shah—1979 and the Coming of Militant Islam (New York, 2004), p. 188.
35. Ibid., p. 189.
36. “The Shah’s Health: A Political Gamble,” New York Times, May 17, 1981.
37. NSA, “State Department Memo, The Shah of Iran, 29 September 1979,” document no. 2180.
38. NSA, “Precht to Saunders, 8/1/79.”
39. James A. Bill, The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American–Iranian Relations (New Haven, Conn., 1988), p. 346.
40. Ibid., pp. 344–347.
41. Ibid., p. 344.
42. NSA, “Secretary of State to US Embassy, Tehran, October 21, 1979,” document no. 3347.
43. “The Shah’s Health,” New York Times, May 17, 1981.
44. In The Eagle and the Lion, James Bill produces a figure portraying concentric circles of support surrounding the Shah. Senator Percy was particularly close to Ardeshir Zahedi, who was for years Iran’s ambassador to the United States. I have examined Zahedi’s own papers and he confirms Bill’s assessment.
45. NSA, “Saunders to Secretary of State, October 16, 1978,” document no. #3307.
46. “The Shah’s Health,” New York Times, May 17, 1981.
47. NSA, “US Embassy in Tehran to Secretary of State. October 22, 1979,” document no. #9951.
48. Bill, The Eagle and the Lion, p. 347.
49. NSA, “Memorandum to Mr. Warren Christopher, November 3, 1979.”
50. “The Shah’s Health,” New York Times, May 17, 1981.
51. Ardeshir Zahedi, interview with author, Montreux, March 29, 2009.
52. Harris, The Crisis, p. 245.
53. Ibid., p. 247.
54. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love, p. 343.
55. Harris, The Crisis, p. 247.
56. Ibid., p. 232.
57. Ibid., p. 254.
58. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love, p. 346.
59. Colonel Jahanbini, the Shah’s bodyguard, provided me with the account.
60. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love, p. 345.
61. Many sources have provided accounts of the Shah’s day in Lackland; see Harris, The Crisis, pp. 254–256.
62. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love, p. 347–349.
63. Times online, Money Central, “The 10 Most Decadent Dictators,”September 26, 2008.
64. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love, p. 349.
65. William Shawcross, The Shah’s Last Ride: The Fate of an Ally (London, 1989), p. 272.
66. Ibid., p. 274.
67. Ibid., p. 275.
68. Ibid., p. 276.
69. Ibid., p. 281.
70. Ibid., p. 278.
71. NA, “Panama to State Department, Dec 17, 1979.”
72. Ibid.
73. Shawcross, The Shah’s Last Ride, p. 282.
74. NA, Electronic Reading Room, document no. 84 DOS 2751 RSA. The text is not titled; not all of it is readable but a note indicates it to be the best available copy. It is the text of a press conference with the President of Panama in January 1980.
75. NSA, “British Embassy to State Department, January 15, 1980,” document no. 03545.
76. John Kifner, “Khomeini Restricts Sentence of Death to Crime of Murder, New York Times, May 14, 1979.
77. Iranian human rights lawyer, Payam Akhavan of McGill University, gave the two hundred figure at a recent conference. See “Iran: What Prospects for Change?” S&D Conference, European Parliament, June 30, 2010.
78. NSA, “American Embassy in Panama to State Department, January 24 1980,” document no. 03547.
79. NSA, “Request for Extradition, December 30, 1979, Secretary of State to American Embassy in Panama.”
80. NSA, “Memorandum of Meeting: Shah and Panama, January 30, 1980,” document no. 3571.
81. Gholam Reza Afkhami, The Life and Times of the Shah (Berkeley, Calif., 2009), p. 590.
82. Ibid., p. 595.
83. NSA, “US Embassy in Egypt to Secretary of State, July 1979.”
84. Minou Reeves, Behind
the Peacock Throne (London, 1986), p. 95.
85. I was given these tapes, by then in a private collection, and was allowed to take extensive notes.
86. I was given a copy of this document courtesy of Ahmed Ansari.
87. Ibid.
88. He has gone on to write a book in Persian about his court case and his acrimonious break with the royal family. The fact that he has appeared on television shows in the Islamic Republic of Iran has opened him to the charge of becoming a tool of propaganda for the regime in Tehran. The proceedings of the court are also available and partially reprinted in his book.
89. James Bill kindly provided me with a copy of the court proceedings.
90. Islamic Republic of Iran v. Ashraf Pahlavi, index no. 44327 [federal court document].
91. Farah Pahlavi, An Enduring Love, p. 391.
92. NSA, Stanley T. Escudero, “What Went Wrong in Iran,” document no. 2629.
INDEX
Abbasi (Tudeh officer arrested), 222
Abdin Palace, 64, 433
Abu-Musa, 326
Acheson, Dean, 142–3, 152
Adle, Dr. Yahya, 303
Afghanistan, 69, 309, 328, 355, 366, 472n73
Afshar, Aslan, 396, 410, 414–5, 433
Afshartus, General Mahmoud, 169, 176
AGIP Mineraria, 240
Agnew, Spiro, 325
Agricultural Union of Iran, 244
Ahmad Shah, 16, 18–22, 24, 26, 31, 104, 164, 170
Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, 293, 383, 423, 438
air force. See Iranian air force; Royal Air Force; U. S. Air Force
Akbari, Ali, 102
Akhavan-Sales, Mehdi, 341
akhi (brother, comrade), 328
akhvan-al Muslemin (Muslim Brotherhood), 202
Akram, Homayoon, 366
Al Janan-e Kabir (The Great Garden of Eden Palace), 1
Ala, Hussein, 91, 98–9, 119, 150, 154, 157, 159–65, 178, 194, 198, 200–1, 216–7, 227, 247, 281, 298–9
Al-Ahmad, Jalal, 378
Al-Ahram (newspaper), 64
Alam, Assadollah, 157, 159, 177–8, 246, 251, 257, 266, 318, 320, 370–1, 378–9, 382; Daily Journals, 93, 218, 242, 248, 261, 276, 309, 314–6, 319, 345, 417; Farland and, 374–5; Maleki and, 238; marriage of, 59; as Minister of Court, 333, 336, 345, 348–50, 355; as Prime Minister, 289–90, 292, 294, 297–301, 303, 305, 355; Razmara’s assassination and, 150; as Shah’s confidante, 2, 15, 199–200, 277, 370; on the Shah’s sensitive documents, 93; Zahedi’s resignation and, 201
A’lam, Majid, 25, 36, 239
A’lam, Mozaffar, 181, 190
Alamouti, Nouraldin, 258
Alavi Foundation, 241. See also Pahlavi Foundation
Alavi-Kia, Lieutenant Hassanali, 122–3, 207, 230, 232, 252, 358
Al-Azhar University, 64
Albright, Madeleine, 174
Alikhani, Alinaghi, 313
Aliov (Iranian mole), 361
Allen, George, 128, 136
Al-Rifa’i Mosque, 110, 433
Amanat, Hussein, 351–4
Ameri, Javad, 117
American Atoms For Peace program, 332
Amery, Julian, 146
Amin, Idi, 426
Amini, Abolgassem, 159, 192
Amini, Ali, 197, 200, 209, 212, 246, 253, 255–67, 270–4, 277–8, 281, 284–90, 304–6, 311, 318–22, 399
Amirani, Ali Asghar, 98, 391
Amir-Arjomand, Lili, 319, 348
Amjadiye stadium, 64, 134
Amuzegar, Jahanguir, 289,
Amuzegar, Jamshid, 267, 310, 384, 387–9
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), 55, 70, 144–6, 194, 196–7
Anne, Princess, 324–5
Annenberg, Walter, 414
Annual Political Report of 1940, 71–2
Ansari, Ahmad, 432, 480n88
Arabistan Liberation Front, 245
Arafat, Yasser, 327–8
Aram, Abbas, 305
Aramesh, Ahmad, 247
Arani, Taghi, 258
architecture, 12, 64, 339–54
Arfa, General Hassan, 226
Arghani, Abdullah, 133, 134
Armao, Robert, 423–4
Arsanjani, Hassan, 258–9, 288, 292
Aryanism, 60, 67–8
Asar, Nasir, 384
Asfia, Safi, 288
Ashraf, Hamid, 235
Ashraf, Princess (the Shah’s sister), 80, 124, 216, 303, 336, 349, 358; birth of, 13; childhood of, 13–5, 34, 42; desire to be president of UN General Assembly, 336, 374; exile of, 178, 358; Farouk and, 138; Hollywood career of, 92, 335; marriage to Ali, 59, 95; marriage to Bushehri, 335; marriage to Chafig, 241; political activity of, 130, 146, 216, 374, 397; Razmara and, 132, 149; son Shahram, 80, 325; visit to Le Rosey, 42, 51; visit to the Shah at Lackland Air Force Base, 425
ashrafi (gold coin), 24
Atabi, Abolfath, 181
Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal, 25, 100
Atlantic Charter, 77
Atlee, Clement, 152
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), 332
Ayadi, Dr., 156, 336, 369–70
aydee (New Year’s gift), 24
Ayrom, General, 69
Azarbarzin, General, 443n12, 471n27, 472n86
Azerbaijan, 114–7, 119, 121, 123–8, 130, 137, 229, 257, 453n26
Azhari, General, 396
Ba’ath Party, 301, 317–8, 328, 359–61
Bacall, Lauren, 199
Badrei, General, 413
Baghai, Mozzafar, 123, 143, 164, 169, 172, 271, 378
Baghdad Pact, 200, 225–7, 237, 264–5
Baghi, Emad, 471n40
Baha’i, 154, 199, 273, 291, 335–6, 353
Bahar, Malek-Shoara, 18
Baharmast, General, 165
Bahmanbeygi, Mohammad, 463n9
Bahrain, 69, 326–7
Bakhtar, 182, 267
Bakhtiyar, Shapour, 264, 266, 390, 400, 401, 402–3, 406–7, 413, 418
Bakhtiyar, Teymour, 183, 201, 207, 209, 221–3, 246, 249–50, 267, 270–1, 301–3, 316–8
Ball, George, 395, 411
Bani-Sadr, Abol-Hassan, 394
Barazani, Mullah Mustafa, 359, 361
Bas’idu incident, 55
Baska, Colonel, 209
Bazorgan, Mehdi, 272, 391, 407, 413, 422, 477n76
BBC, 80–3, 94, 161, 391–2
Beaton, Cecil, 90
Behbahani, Ayatollah, 165, 169
Behbahaniyan, Ja’far, 6, 242
Behboudi, Suleiman, 32
Behdini doctrine, 101
Beheshti, Ayatollah Mohammad, 412–3
Ben-Gurion, David, 230
Beria, Lavrenty, 115
Bernhard, Prince of Holland, 287
Bevin Plan, 118–9
Bible, 9
Big Tomb, 326
Black Friday incident, 388–9, 395, 410
Bogart, Humphrey, 199
Bolshevik Revolution, the, 16–21, 58, 81, 230–1, 356, 407
Boroujerdi, Ayatollah, 101–2, 160, 168–9, 173, 199, 208, 244, 271–3, 296–7
Bowles, Chester, 290
Boy Scouts, 65, 71
Bozorgmehr, Esfandiyar, 209–11
Braun, Lieutenant Colonel, 209
bread riots, 104–5
British hand, 80–1, 94
British Intelligence, 171–4, 177, 210–1, 300, 363, 420
British Petroleum (BP), 144. See also Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC)
Brooks, Peter, 335
Brzezinski, Zbigniew, 386, 401, 425, 440
Bullard, Sir Reader, 70–1, 73, 75, 77, 81, 85, 91, 94, 103–8, 113, 117–9
Bushehr Reactor, 333
Bushehri, Mehdi, 335
Bushehri, Parviz, 349
Cadman, Lord, 70
Cadogan, Sir Alexander, 77
Callaghan, James, 393, 401
Camp David Accords, 410, 414, 418, 440
Carnal, Paul, 44
Carter, Jimmy: administration, 331, 334–5, 372, 376, 383–4, 393, 421�
�3, 425, 428, 430, 439; Ambassador Sullivan and, 383, 386–7, 400; Camp David Accords and, 410, 414, 418, 440; Guadeloupe Summit and, 401–2; hostage crisis and, 428; human rights policy of, 375–7, 385, 389, 438; non-proliferation negotiations and, 335; the Shah’s exile and, 6–7, 410–1, 419–26
Celebration of 2500 Years of Iranian Monarchy, 322–6
Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). See Baghdad Pact
Chalabi, Ahmed, 360
Chapin, Selden, 206–7, 210–2, 237–8
Chase Manhattan Bank, 421, 431
Childs, Charlie, 46, 447n23
China, 125, 130, 142, 234, 264, 321–3, 359, 372, 401
Chubak, Sadeq, 271
Churchill, Winston, 73, 77, 81, 106–7, 112, 114, 122, 128, 143, 145, 152, 161, 192–3, 200
Collbarn, Dick, 135
Comintern, 115
Committee to Celebrate 2500 Years of Monarchy, 322
Confederation of Iranian Students, 269, 287, 301, 324, 372
Consortium Agreement, 197–8
Constituent Assembly, 27, 89, 136–7, 169, 321
Constitutional Revolution (1905–1907), 58, 104, 137
Contadora, 427–9
containment policy, 121
Cooley, John K., 474n26
Cossack Brigade, 12–14, 18–20, 94
“Council of Wise Men,” 213, 217
Crown Jewels, 93–4, 322
Cuban Missile Crisis, 304
Curzon, Lord, 16
Cutler, Lloyd, 425, 230
Cyrus the Great, 207, 338, 351, 377, 387
Daftary, Colonel, 186
Daneshkadeh (journal), 18
Darakhshesh, Mohammad, 288
D’Arcy Concession, 55
daroogeh (police), 13
Davar, Ali-Akbar, 43
De Gaulle, Charles, 2, 277–8
Democratic Party of Iran, 130
democratization, “third wave” of, 280, 435
“desert bash,” 351
Diba, Farah, 217, 367, 431
Diba, Farideh, 343
Diba, Kamran, 344
Donovan, “Wild Bill,” 177
Douglas, Associate Justice William, 269, 304
Dowleh, Fakhr al-, 256
Dowleh, Sarem al-, 155
dowrehs, era of, 282
Dreyfus, Louis, 77, 81
Drummond, Captain David, 146. See also Hamid, Prince
Dulles, Allen, 171, 228, 237, 250
Dulles, John Foster, 142, 171–2, 195–7, 206–7, 209–11, 219, 237
Ebtehaj, Abolhassan, 196, 201, 247, 253, 259–63, 354
Ebtehaj, Azar, 259
Eden, Anthony, 200
Egbal, Dr. Manouchehr, 131, 226–7, 246–7, 260, 347