Mohammed Reza Shah; debunking the myths by Peter Khan Zendran

Nothing is more upsetting than when myth becomes treated as fact. In Iranian history this has happened all too often, with harmful results occurring. In the past century this has happened so much that people’s lives have been wrongly ruined and progress hindered. One area of Iranian history this has affected is the reign of Mohammed Reza Shah.

No figure in Iranian history has been so maligned as Mohammed Reza Shah. About him myths and lies abound. “Shah was murderer, Shah was imperialist puppet, Shah was tyrant, Shah was colonialist” and the like are said about Mohammed Reza Shah and his reign. Nothing could be further from the truth, and when people take a look at the facts and the people who say these myths one sees a different picture. Let us examine the myths that have sprung up about him and look at the facts.

MYTH: Mohammed Reza Shah was a British puppet.

FACT: Mohammed Reza Shah became Shah on September 16, 1941 when his father, Reza Shah, abdicated because of the Russian-British invasion of August 1941. That invasion was to seize Iranian oil so Germany would not get it. Britain left Iran immediately after World War II ended, as did America, and Russia left after American pressure over Azerbaijan. Iran also received the lion’s share of profits from British companies in Iran. If Mohammed Reza Shah was a British puppet Mossadeq would have never been allowed as Prime Minister of Iran and Britain would have used more force against Iran in 1951 and MI6, not the CIA, would have assisted Mohammed Reza Shah in removing Mosadeq in 1953. Even in 1953 the British presence in the Middle East was marginal so Britain could not have exerted much influence in Iran anyway.

MYTH: Mossadeq was the legitimate ruler of Iran in 1953 and was removed from power to put Mohammed Reza Shah in power.

FACT: Mohammed Reza Shah was the legitimate ruler of Iran in 1953. Mossadeq had allowed units of the Iranian Army to be placed under his control which was illegal under the Iranian Constitution. Mossadeq had also recruited members of the Tudeh party, which was a front for the Soviet Union, into positions of power in preparation for a takeover of Iran. Members of the Royal family and Iranian government had discretely asked for aid against Mossadeq. When Mohammed Reza Shah went on vacation in August 1953 and Mossadeq and the Tudeh attempted to seize power the CIA assisted forces loyal to Mohammed Reza Shah in removing Mossadeq. An investigation after Mossadeq’s arrest found that the Tudeh had planned to take control of Iran as a Russian satellite and had prepared documents in regards to the “Peoples Iranian Republic” including currency and stamps in preparation for this takeover.

MYTH: Mohammed Reza Shah created SAVAK to terrorize the Iranian people.

FACT: Mossadeq had proposed the creation of SAVAK in 1951 but was rejected by Mohammed Reza Shah. American advisors urged Mohammed Reza Shah to create SAVAK after Mossadeq’s removal as a means of protection from future revolutions. SAVAK agents were trained by the CIA, MI6, and Mossad in methods of brutality towards people and were trained to lie to their superior officers as well as the Shah about their activities. The first head of SAVAK, General Teymour Bakhtiar, tried to use SAVAK as a means to achieve control of Iran but was removed from command in 1961 and murdered by SAVAK agents in 1970. SAVAK atrocities got so out of control that when finally confronted with the real facts in the late 1970’s Mohammed Reza Shah allowed Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar to dissolve SAVAK. It should also be noted that an Amnesty International report released in 1978 mentioned that Iran had one of the lowest rates of police brutality and prison torture in the world.

MYTH: Mohammed Reza Shah built up Iran’s military to oppress Iran’s people.

FACT: During Mohammed Reza Shah’s rule the Iranian military underwent a massive modernization and buildup. The improvement of the Iranian Air Force and Navy, was a priority in development. During Mohammed Reza Shah’s reign Iran had imported American made F-4, F-5, F-14, and F-15 fighter planes, radar equipment for the Iranian Air Force, and had begun creating a Corps of Iranian Airborne forces from the Army and Air Force. The Iranian Navy had imported Destroyers, Frigates, and Corvettes and had built the largest Amphibious Assault force in the world. The Iranian military had further plans to import F-16 fighters as well as more of other fighters it already had, tanker planes, several more radar stations, four destroyers and three submarines from America and had contracted West Germany to build nine submarines for Iran and was negotiating with West Germany and Holland. None of those weapons are designed for use by a nation to repress it’s population and the majority of the Naval forces ordered were to be deployed in the Persian Gulf, where they could repulse a foreign invasion from the sea. If anything Mohammed Reza Shah was short-sighted in importing these weapons and not building up Iran’s industry to make those weapons themselves, focusing on manufacturing small arms, howitzers, missiles, and ICBM’s. Although more tanks, and armored troop carriers were made the Iranian Army did not seek to acquire tear gas, rubber bullets and other weapons used in riot control nor did it train for riot suppression.

MYTH: The Iranian people rose up by themselves in the revolution of 1978-79.

FACT: Iranian opposition groups received support from the CIA, MI6, Mossad, and factions within the American and British governments. The CIA and MI6 leaked information regarding the daily schedules of Mohammed Reza Shah, the Iranian Royal family, and government during their visits to America and Britain before the 1978 revolution. Nelson Rockefeller even admitted to Mohammed Reza Shah in the spring of 1978 that the CIA was backing the insurgents in Iran to overthrow the Iranian government and would support a Russian invasion of Afghanistan. American and British mainstream media would lie in their forums in support of Iranian insurgents and distort the facts to their population as to what was really going on in Iran and those same groups, including the BBC, would give to Khomeini once he arrived in Paris and afterwards. Support for the insurgents would be demonstrated by CIA and MI6 complicity in the 19 August cinema fire that killed over 400 people when the real arsonist was hidden from prosecution by Iranian forces. Once Bakhtiar became Prime Minister and order was restored the governments of America, Britain, France, and West Germany met a Guadeloupe on January 4, 1979 where they agreed to support the overthrow of Mohammed Reza Shah. By sending American General Robert Huyser into Iran to assist the insurgents by undermining the Iranian military’s command structure to get the soldiers to support Khomeini, against the orders of his commander, General Alexander Haig. When Mohammed Reza Shah left Iran on January 16, 1979 on vacation, despite advice from the Iranian military to stay and keep the situation under control, Imperial defenses crumbled under a sense of hopelessness and without a strong sense of leadership the Imperial government caved in to Khomeini. Even with this plotting Mohammed Reza Shah refrained from having Khomeini murdered and from taking action that would have caused mass casualties among the Iranian people and was tolerant of Islamic militants that opposed him.

These are the major myths addressed here. Minor stories promoted by disinformants are not discussed here since any intelligent person can easily refute them. If anyone doubts what I say here do some research of your own and see what you will come up with and don’t be surprised if you get the same results I have.