The Last Shah of Iran left Iran in exile on 16 January 1979, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and Shapour Bakhtiar, who was an opposition-based prime minister.
The once-powerful monarch who had ruled from the majestic Peacock Throne.As the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr, 59, flew out with his queen, Farah, for a ‘holiday’ abroad; a fairy tale came to an end.
His Imperial Highness, whose claim of belonging to a 2,500-year-old dynasty of emperors.
Iran — historically known as Persia — was ruled by monarchs known as Shahs, culminating in the 20th century with the Pahlavi dynasty.
These rulers shaped Iran’s infrastructure, politics, and international relations, until their reign ended with the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
While monarchy once defined Iran’s national identity, today the country is a theocratic republic deeply at odds with the West and locked in a conflict with Israel.
Who Are The Pahlavis?
His father, Reza Khan, was a usurper – a commoner, who was a colonel in the army of another Iranian king Qajar dynasty, whom he overthrew in 1921 in a bloodless coup, with British patronage and support.
Reza Shah initiated sweeping modernisation efforts — building roads, schools, and a centralised military. But his authoritarian rule and alignment with Nazi Germany led to his forced abdication in 1941 by Allied powers during World War II.
Reza Shah held court until 1941, when a British and Russian invasion forced him to abdicate. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, took over.
He was succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who ruled from 1941 to 1979. Known for his pro-Western stance and oil partnerships with the United States and Britain.
The younger Shah introduced the White Revolution, which included land reforms and women’s rights.
While this won him praise in the West, at home, critics saw it as aggressive westernisation and a threat to Islamic and traditional values.
Even as a boy Mohammad Reza showed signs of tyranny: while studying in school in Switzerland, he once walked into the school lounge and claimed, “When I enter a room everybody rises.”
None of his classmates did, but when he became king, he insisted that even prime ministers must bow before his personage.
The younger Pahlavi wasn’t as beloved or as confident a ruler as his father. But then the tides turned, at least for a bit, in his favor. In 1953, the United States and Britain were confronted with a problem:
Iranian nationalist leader Mohammad Mossadegh had been elected prime minister and was pushing to nationalize Iran’s oil industry, in which the two Western powers were heavily invested.
Once a shy, indecisive and withdrawn princeling, he became a ruthless and cruel monarch, who, faced with the swelling tide of popular revolt in 1978
And by world censure of the indiscriminate arrest and imprisonment without trial of political dissidents under his rule, ordered his army;”Don’t take any prisoners, kill them!”
And Teheran itself was drenched in the blood of 25,000 Iranians! He was a sad man who seldom smiled.
Even as an American President toasted him and his queen with lavish praise in a magnificent banquet hall after a white-tie dinner.
He looked into the distance with melancholy eyes.
Yet in his prime, he was known as a playboy, fond of women, card games and any amusement involving speed – flying a plane, driving racing cars, skiing.
“My life was protected,” Pahlavi believed. He took pride in liberating the women of Iran, but he divorced two wives merely because they bore him no son, and took a third one.
He spent 100 million (Rs 800 million) in 1971 to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy, yet he was not to royalty born.
His oil revenues rose from $1 billion (Rs 800 crore ) a year in 1970 to $21 billion (Rs 16,800 crore) in 1978, but 63,000 of Iran’s 66,000 villages still had no piped water, and Teheran, a city of 4.5 million, no sewer system.
He claimed to serve his people selflessly and single-mindedly, yet after his ouster, the revolutionary regime accused him of diverting $20 billion in national assets for his own use.
Spending $36 billion (Rs 28,800 crore) in arms over a period of 20 years to make Iran the fifth world power, and pushing industrialisation and agrarian “reforms” without taking measure of their social and political consequences.
The economic disorder which was everywhere was no less worrying than the agitation in the streets and around the universities. Strike followed strike.
The production of oil which normally reached 5.8 million barrels had fallen by December 25 to 1.7 million barrels, which was a disaster for our economy.
The carrying of gas (of which we were the main producer) to the Soviet Union was seriously hampered. Such a situation could not continue.
Strangely enough at that time the country’s leaders were not apparently worried about restoring order and relaunching the economy.
All that concerned them was the fate of the sovereign. Several members of my entourage advised me to go away for a few weeks to allow the excitement to cool.
On the other hand, my generals were resolutely opposed to this solution. “Sir, if you leave,” they kept saying, “everyone will give in.” Events in Iran filled the front pages of every newspaper in the world.
Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran by the government, and returned to Tehran to a greeting by several thousand Iranians.
However, in reality, this interest predates the 1979 revolution and reflects a deep-seated desire for national prestige and development, as well as a need to deter regional rivals.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, similar to the leadership under the Islamic Republic, believed that nuclear energy was the gateway to industrialization and the symbol of modernization.
The Shah was personally involved in the nuclear program and, in his private conversations with Etema (first chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran).
He instructed him that the primary purpose was to diversify energy resources, but that Iran should keep its options open in case “the regional military balance changes.”
The Shah occasionally lectured westerners about what he saw as the unfair treatment of Iran. In an interview with French journalists in 1976, he decried: “Why it is normal for you the Germans and the British to have atomic or hydrogen bombs.
While it is not for Iran although…it is not automatically protected by any other country…why for Iran [is] a simple matter of self-defense…a problem?” (Germany did not and does not have a nuclear arsenal, but it is under a NATO umbrella.)
It also bears noting that, despite the Shah’s alliance with the US, the Iranian leadership went to great lengths to insist on Iran’s “full rights” under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr, 59, flew out with his queen,
As the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Aryamehr, 59, flew out with his queen,
Farah, for a ‘holiday’ abroad; a fairy tale came to an end. His Imperial Highness, whose claim of belonging to a 2,500-year-old dynasty of emperors.
The Shah left Iran in exile on 16 January 1979, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and Shapour Bakhtiar,who was an opposition-based prime minister.
Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran by the government, and returned to Tehran to a greeting by severalthousand Iranians.
The royal reign collapsed shortly after, on 11 February, when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting, bringing Khomeini to official power.
The Shah never returned to Iran. He died in exile in Egypt in 1980.
He threw out Dr Bahktiar’s government on 11 February and, after a referendum, declared an Islamic Republic on 1 April.
Khomeini guided his country’s revolutionary social, legal, and political development until his death in 1989.
The year was 1979. His Imperial Majesty, the Shahanshah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran,was homeless and gravely ill.
The once-powerful monarch who had ruled amodern prosperous country for 37 years from the majestic Peacock Throne, commanded a powerful army and controlled massive oil wealth, had been driven out of Iran by the followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
He was now desperately seeking refuge, wandering from country to country, while battling a terminal illness, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a form of cancer of the immune system.
In February, pro-Khomeini revolutionary guerrilla and rebel soldiers had taken over the street fighting.
The military stepped to the side and, on the evening of 11th February 1977, the Shah’s reign was over.
The revolutionaries had won. The Iranian monarchy was formally abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic Republic led by Khomeini, who took over the reins of power.
The Revolutionary government in Iran ordered the arrest (and later execution) of the Shah and the Shahbanu.
The Shah and his family had already fled into exile to Egypt on 16th January 1979, as Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and First Lady Jehan Al Sadat were personal friends.
The world shut their doors on the royal family.
However, Iran started pressing for extradition. Over the next 14 months, to keep trouble at bay, one by one country around the world shut their doors on the royal family.
After Egypt, the Pahlavis stayed briefly in Morocco as guests of King Hassan II.
It was estimated that the Shah had a personal fortune of $1 billion. Despite this wealth, the family had nowhere to go.
The Pahlavis headed to the Caribbean, where they were granted temporary refuge in the Bahamas on Paradise Island, which the Empress recalled as the “darkest days in her life.
The Shah tried to buy the island for $425 million, but his offer was rejected. Next stop was South America.Mexico issued them a short visa and they moved into a rented villa in Cuernavaca near Mexico City.
The stress took a toll and the Shah’s long-term illness of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, rapidly got worse.
They got permission to seek medical treatment in the U.S. Iranis became incensed with the U.S. government for harboring the Shah and they attacked the American Embassy in Tehran.
The bungled attempt by the U.S. to rescue the Americans Embassy staff and citizens that were held hostage for 444 days became known as the Iran hostage crisis.
Again, the Shah and his family became a liability to the host nation and were asked to leave. This time, they headed to Contadora Island, Panama.
Learning that, succumbing to Irani pressure, the Panamanian Government wanted to arrest the Shah and extradite him to Iran, Farah pleaded with Jehan Al Sadat to let them return to Egypt.
With the Shah engaged in a life-and-death struggle with cancer, the US Government wanted him to leave the country.
Former queen Farah Pahlavi in desperation contacted Jehan Sadat, wife of the President of Egypt for help.
In the face of dire threats from Iran and opposition from domestic extremists, President Sadat bravely extended an invitation to them to come to Egypt.
The death of an emperor.
After acute surgery of his spleen in June 1980, the Shah’s condition worsened and he eventually passed away on July 27.
This study shows that the international intelligence organizations were probably aware of the Shah’s disease, and that the Shah was not cared for in accordance with good medical practice.
The funeral of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, was held in Cairo, Egypt in 1980 and attended by several dignitaries.
Key attendees included his widow, Empress Farah Pahlavi, his son Crown Prince Reza, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and former U.S. President Richard Nixon. King Constantine II of Greece was also present.
After the Shah’s death, the exiled Shahbanu remained in Egypt for nearly two years.
She was the regent in pretence from 27 July to 31 October 1980.President Anwar Sadat gave her and her family use of Koubbeh Palace in Cairo.
Few months after President Sadat’s assassination in October 1981, the Shahbanand her family left Egypt. President Ronald Reagan informed her that she was welcome in the United States.
Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. A new supreme leader takes power
During the recent escalation of conflict between Iran and Israel, the Supreme Leader of Iran has been Ali Khamenei. He has held this position since the death of Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest authority in the country, holding significant influence over the government, military, and religious affairs. Khamenei wields enormous constitutional power and spiritual authority.
The current Iran-Israel conflict involves direct attacks and retaliations between the two nations, following decades of proxy conflicts.
In the recent escalation, both Iran and Israel have directly attacked each other, marking a significant shift from their previous proxy conflicts.
The End
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