“the heads of two of them”: Ibid.
“August was the crucial time”: Author interview with Fereydoun Ala, May 8, 2013.
“Rhetoric and crowd activity”: Telegram from U.S. Embassy to Secretary of State, “Increase in Religious Pressure on Government.”
“Even before the inception of Zionism”: Cable from U.S. Embassy to Secretary of State, “Anti-Semitic Campaign by Religious Fundamentalists, Iran: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?,” August 16, 1978, Iran: The Making of US Policy, 1977–80, document 01471.
“People would break their fast”: Author interview with Reza Ghotbi, May 9, 2013.
“Things are terrible”: Author interview with Mahnaz Afkhami, August 16, 2013.
Brzezinski received a written report: Memorandum for the President from Zbigniew Brzezinski, NSC Weekly Report 70, August 11, 1978, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.
“On balance, I should think”: Ibid.
“On the one hand”: Author interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, September 4, 2015.
“Iran is not in a revolutionary”: Memorandum for the President from Zbigniew Brzezinski, NSC Weekly Report 78.
“The people will not rest”: Telegram from U.S. Embassy to Secretary of State, “Increase in Religious Pressure on Government.”
“Do your duty by Islam”: Liz Thurgood, “Iran Dissidents Seek Army Revolt,” Guardian, August 23, 1978.
“Death to the Shah is an Islamic slogan”: “Iraq Embarrassed by Iranian Exile,” Guardian, August 26, 1978.
Soldiers who disobeyed Khomeini’s fatwa: Author interview with Ali Hossein, 2013.
sent General Moghadam: Telegram from U.S. Embassy to Secretary of State, “Increase in Religious Pressure on Government.”
received Charlie Naas: “Country Team Minutes,” August 16, 1978, Iran: The Making of US Policy, 1977–80, document 01473.
“recent vandalism”: Ibid.
“predicted this development”: General Robert E. Huyser, Mission to Tehran: The Fall of the Shah and the Rise of Khomeini—Recounted by the U.S. General Who Was Secretly Sent at the Last Minute to Prevent It (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), p. 11.
“what do you think is going on in my country?”: Author interview with Charlie Naas, March 14, 2013.
“The Shah was asking”: Author interview with Elli Antoniades, April 4, 2013.
“We offer the people the Great Civilization”: Raji Samghabadi, “Communists ‘Stirred Up Wave of Riots,’” Kayhan International, August 19, 1978.
“Press noted this could mean change”: Telegram from U.S. Embassy to Secretary of State, “Shah Gives Warning and Promises to Dissidents,” August 21, 1978, Iran: The Making of US Policy, 1977–80, document 01479.
“The press conference went badly”: Author interview with Mahnaz Afkhami, August 16, 2013.
“somebody with [the] confidence”: Telegram from U.S. Embassy to Secretary of State, “Increase in Religious Pressure on Government.”
“because he is a religious man himself”: Ibid.
“When the revolution began”: Author interview with Hossein Nasr, August 21, 2013.
“I have heard [the ulama] believed”: Author interview with Hassan Shariatmadari, September 21, 2014.
“Musa Sadr was a threat”: Author interview with Ali Kani, February 23, 2013.
hosted an old friend: Author interview with Ali Reza Nourizadeh, May 1, 2015.
“You don’t know Khomeini”: Ibid.
“crazy”: Author interview with Parviz Sabeti, June 15, 2013.
“Our ambassador in Syria”: Ibid.
“in a virtual state of war”: “Reform-Minded Opposition Must Join the War Against Subversion,” Kayhan International, August 19, 1978.
“The Shah is on a tight rope”: Telegram from U.S. Embassy to Secretary of State, “Iran: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?,” August 17, 1978, Iran: The Making of US Policy, 1977–80, document 01474.
“Goose-stepping Iranian soldiers”: William Branigan, “Little Joy Greets Shah’s Anniversary,” Washington Post, August 20, 1978.
“More than half the doctors”: “Newsbriefs,” Kayhan International, July 29, 1978.
“The cinema is on fire!”: James Buchan, Days of God: The Revolution in Iran and Its Consequences (London: Murray, 2012), p. 213.
19. THE GREAT TERROR
“What did I do to them?”: Author interview with Reza Ghotbi, May 9, 2013.
“He will lead us straight into the abyss”: Hushang Nahavandi, The Last Shah of Iran (London: Aquilion, 2005), p. 124.
“In total darkness”: “Survivors Describe Panic-Filled Scene,” Kayhan International, August 21, 1978.
“It began at the corner”: Ibid.
“The cries for help”: Ibid.
The first fire crew: “Inquiry Rules Arson, Blasts Fire Service,” Kayhan International, August 27, 1978.
“The cinema was engulfed”: “Survivors Describe Panic-Filled Scene.”
“Several rescuers collapsed”: “Holocaust,” Kayhan International, August 21, 1978.
One of the few survivors: Arsonist Hossein Takbalizadeh was eventually tried and convicted of murder by an Iranian court after the revolution. This author’s account of his personal background and subsequent involvement in the Rex Cinema fire hews to that provided by James Buchan in Days of God: The Revolution in Iran and Its Consequences (London: Murray, 2012), pp. 210–213.
affiliated with the local chapter: Author interview with Assdollah Nasr, October 10, 2014.
at least 430: “Iran Theater Fire Death Toll Rises to 430,” Los Angeles Times, August 21, 1978.
“The holocaust stunned Iranians”: “Holocaust.”
cinemas closed their doors: “Cinemas Closing to Mark Tragedy,” Kayhan International, August 22, 1978.
“echo with scores”: “Abadan Still in Shock,” Kayhan International, August 22, 1978.
draped in black: Ibid.
treated hundreds of people for shock: Ibid.
ran out of tranquilizers: Ibid.
gathered in town squares: Ibid.
twenty-nine cinemas: “Cinemas, Restaurants Hit by Wave of Arson Bids,” Kayhan International, August 21, 1978.
“The Khomeini people selected August 19”: Author interview with Assdollah Nasr, October 10, 2014.
123 bombs: “Premier Unveils Marxist Plot,” Kayhan International, September 17, 1978.
set fire to a cinema in Mashad: “Cinemas, Restaurants Hit by Wave of Arson Bids.”
cinema fire in Shiraz: Ibid.
Hatam Restaurant, on Pahlavi Avenue: Ibid.
the Baccara, the capital’s biggest nightclub: Ibid.
plant explosives on the roofs: “30 Shops Gutted in South Tehran.” Kayhan International, August 24, 1978.
Southern Tehran’s vegetable market: Ibid.
three children were injured: Ibid.
arsonists destroyed a brewery: Tony Allaway, “Iran Police Protected from Mourners,” Times (London), August 23, 1978.
a mob threw rocks at a school: Ibid.
the Darvish nightclub was bombed: “Demonstrations, Riots Continue in Abadan,” Kayhan International, August 27, 1978.
a large blaze: Tony Allaway, “Iran Shuts All Cinemas as Abadan Toll Reaches 430,” Times (London), August 22, 1978.
restaurant was bombed in Yazd: “Demonstrations, Riots Continue in Abadan.”
private construction company: Ibid.
“There is no question now”: “We Must All Join Up to Stop This Madness,” Kayhan International, August 21, 1978.
“who have urged people”: “Holocaust.”
“hot-headed people”: “Nation Is Stunned by Tragedy,” Kayhan International, August 21, 1978.
“Such a crime”: “Fascists Behind Fire,” Kayhan International, August 28, 1978.
“As always, the reception was sumptuous”: Nahavandi (2005), p. 151.
“mingled with the guests”: Ibid.
“Usually when there was a tragedy”: Author interviews with
Farah Pahlavi, March 23–25, 2013.
“This heart-rending tragedy”: Imam Khomeini, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941–1980), trans. Hamid Algar (Berkeley, CA: Mizan, 1981), pp. 231–232.
“the burning of human life”: “Shariatmadari Leads Clergy Condemnation,” Kayhan International, August 22, 1978.
a crowd of thirty thousand: Allaway, “Iran Police Protected from Mourners.”
ten thousand mourners: “Wild Scenes at Mass Funeral,” Kayhan International, August 23, 1978.
“Men, women and children”: Ibid.
Boy Scouts, who sobbed: Ibid.
beaten and bloodied: Ibid.
Mourners rioted: Author interview with Assdollah Nasr, October 10, 2014.
the Shah telephoned Khuzestan governor: Ibid.
bag checks: “Nation Steps Up Security,” Kayhan International, August 24, 1978.
waving black flags: “Demonstrations, Riots Continue in Abadan.”
police were ambushed: Ibid.
rioted outside a mosque: Ibid.
set fire to a branch of Bank Saderat: Ibid.
In nearby Karaj: “Two Killed in Qom as Rioting Spreads,” Kayhan International, August 29, 1978.
burned the grand bazaar: “Abadan, Qom Hit by Continued Riot Wave,” Kayhan International, August 28, 1978.
“I cut my stay short”: Author interview with Reza Ghotbi, March 25, 2013.
“We were not panicking in August”: Author interview with Charlie Naas, March 14, 2013.
“While You Were Away”: Memorandum for Ambassador Sullivan from John Stempel, “While You Were Away … the Place Didn’t Turn to Crap, but It Might Have Looked Like It,” August 22, 1978, Iran: The Making of US Policy, 1977–80, National Security Archive (Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey, 1990), document 1483.
start drawing up: Uri-Bar Joseph, “Forecasting a Hurricane: Israeli and American Estimates of the Khomeini Revolution,” Journal of Strategic Studies 36, issue 5 (2013): 14.
“Some of the slogans say ‘Jews out of Iran’”: “Anti-Jewish Slogans Surface in Iran,” Jerusalem Post, August 25, 1978.
“calling on Iranian oil workers”: Ibid.
“Many of those who have already left”: Ibid.
“expressed concern that Jews”: Author interview with Charlie Naas, March 14, 2013.
“When the King came back”: Author interview with Reza Ghotbi, May 9, 2013.
“What did I do to them?”: Ibid.
“If the people are so ungrateful”: Author interview with Parviz Sabeti, June 15, 2013.
“In the past few days”: NSC Evening Report, August 29, 1978, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.
canceled the controversial deal: Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, “Iran Drops Plan to Store Austrian Nuclear Wastes,” Kayhan International, August 23, 1978.
sent his brothers and sisters: Author interview with Gholam Reza Pahlavi, conducted via e-mail, December 4, 2014.
On the morning of Thursday, August 24: Nahavandi (2005), p. 161.
“I permit myself to intercede”: Ibid., p. 162.
“I thought Nahavandi should be prime minister”: Author interviews with Farah Pahlavi, March 23–25, 2013.
“I proposed Nahavandi”: Author interview with Reza Ghotbi, May 9, 2013.
the palace confirmed: “Change of Government: Sharif-Emami Will Head New Cabinet,” Kayhan International, August 27, 1978.
“I thought it was a joke”: Author interviews with Ardeshir Zahedi, October 27–28, 2012.
was “astonished at the choice”: Ashraf Pahlavi, Faces in a Mirror (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980), p. 201.
“for us—and by us I mean the Pahlavis”: Parviz C. Radji, In the Service of the Peacock Throne: The Diaries of the Shah’s Last Ambassador to London (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1983), p. 224.
“had been too rapid”: “‘Save Iran from Edge of Abyss,’” Kayhan International, August 28, 1978.
the Pahlavi state was in full retreat: “Major Concessions to Clergy, Opposition,” Kayhan International, August 28, 1978.
“The Club Discotheque”: “After the Abadan Fire,” Time, September 4, 1978.
Imam Musa Sadr had arrived in Tripoli: The Sadr family has produced a time line of events documenting what they know to be true in relation to the disappearance of Imam Musa Sadr in Libya in August 1978. The undated document is titled “The Disappearance of Imam Mussa al Sadr, Sheikh Mohammad Ya’cub and Mr. Abbas Badreddin in Libya.”
“The Call of the Prophets”: Imam Musa Sadr, president of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council, “The Call of the Prophets,” Le Monde, August 23, 1978.
“Arriving at the Tripoli airport”: Kai Bird, The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames (New York: Crown, 2014), p. 205.
one of the Imam’s friends: Author interview with Ali Reza Nourizadeh, May 1, 2015.
Security was so tight: William Branigan, “Unrest, Soviet Shadow Upstaged Hua in Iran,” Washington Post, September 2, 1978.
“Security around Hua’s Golestan Palace”: Ibid.
An evening rally: Ibid.; “183 Detained as Rioters Take to Tehran Streets,” Kayhan International, August 31, 1978.
the King was approached by an aide: This account of the Shah’s discussion with Saddam Hussein concerning Khomeini was provided by Ahmad Ahrar in a letter dated October 24, 2015. Ahrar was personally briefed on the contents of the discussion the next day by Prime Minister Sharif-Emami.
recommended that his government: Joseph, “Forecasting a Hurricane,” p. 14.
“flooding back into town from Europe”: Konjkav, “Talk of the Town,” Kayhan International, September 2, 1978.
new Hyatt Crown Tehran: Ruth Iravani, ed., Iran Scene (Tehran: Iran Scene International, 1978), p. 5.
The Merry Widow: “Tehran Diary,” Kayhan International, September 6, 1978.
works by Corelli and Tchaikovsky: Iravani, “Iran Scene Calendar,” Iran Scene, pp. 6–7.
Museum of Contemporary Art: Ibid.
Shahin Farhat at the City Theater: Ibid.
final weekend of water skiing: Iravani, “Leisure Time Activities,” Iran Scene, pp. 18–19.
Mini-City amusement park: Ibid.
One wealthy couple: This story was told to the author by an Iranian living in the United States who wished to remain anonymous.
“the windows of their homes broken”: Amir Taheri, The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler, 1986, p. 216.
“Death to the Shah!”: Author interview with Elli Antoniades, April 3, 2013.
“There was usually dinner for forty people”: Ibid.
20. BLACK FRIDAY
“By saying this he lost God’s farr”: Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, trans.Dick Davis (New York: Penguin, 2006), p. 8.
“If my people don’t want me”: Author interview with Reza Ghotbi, March 25, 2013.
fifteen thousand people: Most estimates of the Qeitariyeh crowd settled on a figure of fourteen thousand to fifteen thousand. William Branigan, “Thousands Demand Shah End Exile of Muslim Leader,” Washington Post, September 5, 1978.
“long march”: “Massive March for Peace,” Kayhan International, September 5, 1978.
“Motorcyclists for Allah”: Charles Kurzman, The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), p. 63.
“Iran is our country!”: Branigan, “Thousands Demand Shah.”
“At one point”: “Massive March for Peace.”
pitchers of water: Charles Ismail Semkus, The Fall of Iran 1978–79: An Historical Anthology (New York: Copen, 1979), p. 119.
“clearly frightened by the size”: Ibid.
two hundred thousand: Estimates of the crowd’s size ranged from a hundred thousand to a million. Most observers settled on a figure of between two hundred thousand and a quarter million. See Kurzman (2004), p. 63.
“I was in the middle of the crowd”: Ibid.
“The never
before sighted”: “Massive March for Peace.”
reported violent clashes: “Clashes in Provincial Cities Claim Ten Lives,” Kayhan International, September 6, 1978.
“the meeting would be similar”: The deception is detailed in Kurzman (2004), pp. 62–63.
“These groups and ‘parties’”: Amir Taheri, “Liberalization or Iron Fist?,” Kayhan International, September 13, 1978.
asked his bodyguard Colonel Djahinbini: Author interview with Kiomars Djahinbini, May 13, 2015. Almost every account of that day has the Shah flying over the crowd; not so. According to Colonel Djahinbini, who never left his side, at no time did the Shah fly over street protests in 1978. But the sight of the Imperial helicopter flown by others created the legend that he did. In Mohammad Heikal’s The Return of the Ayatollah: The Iranian Revolution from Mossadeq to Khomeini (London: Deutsch, 1981), p. 152, the Shah is quoted as asking his pilot, “Are all these people demonstrating against me?” The conversation never happened. In Gholam Reza Afkhami’s The Life and Times of the Shah (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), p. 462, the Shah is said to have listened to a tape recording of the demonstrators calling for his downfall. In fact, the Shah received a verbal account of the chants from the three officials who made the helicopter reconnaissance at his request.
hastily arranged a visit: “Surprise Empress Tour Draws Crowd,” Kayhan International, September 5, 1978.
several thousand: Hushang Nahavandi, The Last Shah of Iran (London: Aquilion, 2005), p. 185.
“Long live the Shah!”: Ibid.
said “the crowd was so large”: “Surprise Empress Tour Draws Crowd.”
“It was a remarkable”: Nahavandi (2005), p. 185.
They estimated the crowd: Author interview with Kiomars Djahinbini, May 13, 2015.
“He was like a man”: Anthony Parsons, The Pride and the Fall: Iran 1974–1979 (London: Cape, 1984), p. 77.
“If my people don’t want me”: Author interview with Reza Ghotbi, March 25, 2013.
“The Shah was not in a good way”: Author interviews with Ardeshir Zahedi, October 27–28, 2012.
Zahedi tried to talk: Ibid.
picked up at the airport: Ibid.
“Don’t say anything bad”: Ibid. Zahedi has told the story of his dramatic late-night encounters with the Shah and Queen Farah on September 4, 1978, on at least two separate occasions. The version he told this author in 2012 was virtually identical to the one he relayed to Mike Evans, author of Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos (Phoenix: Time Worthy Books, 2009), pp. 143–44.
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