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The Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the United States

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Abstract

Archive-based evidence presented in this chapter reveals the first instances of disloyal manipulations by the American ambassador, William Sullivan, in league with the lower echelons of the State Department, to promote a policy line that was at variance with that of the White House. In the wake of unprecedented tumult in Tehran in the first week of November, Carter’s National Security Advisor, Brzezinski, got Washington to commit itself to “unreserved support” for whatever line the Shah took in his handling of the crisis, but, in a daring stroke, Sullivan managed to frustrate that attempt. The chapter provides a narrative of events in Tehran and Washington that led the Shah to opt for a milder version of military rule and to blunder into an ill-prepared media appearance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Parsons to FCO, 707, October 25, 1978, PREM. 16/1719.

  2. 2.

    UK Embassy SITREP 718, October 30, 1978, PREM. 16/1719.

  3. 3.

    Sullivan to DOS, 10776, November 5, 1978, DSWL; Stemple, Inside the Iranian Revolution, 130; Kurzman, The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran, 105.

  4. 4.

    Ibid, Kurzman,105.

  5. 5.

    Dr. Abolfazl Qazi Shariat-Panahi had just replaced Houshang Nahavandi as the minister of higher education on October 17, Agheli, Roozshomar, 2.368, 2.372. Mayor of Tehran protesting, ibid. 2.273.

  6. 6.

    Stemple, Inside the Iranian Revolution, 130.

  7. 7.

    Sullivan to Department of State, 10826, November 6, 1978, DSWL; Sick, All Fall Down, 74; Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 178.

  8. 8.

    Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 96; Stemple, Inside the Iranian Revolution, 131; Buchan, Days of God, 188; Sick, 74; Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran, 115–16.

  9. 9.

    Vladimir Kuzichkin, Inside the KGB, Myth and Reality, translated by T. W. Beattie (London: Andre Deutsch, 1990), 250–1.

  10. 10.

    Stemple, Inside the Iranian Revolution, 131. He attributes the attacks against the police stations to the guerrilla groups, by which he means MKO and FK; by then the so-called Tohidi hit squads linked to hardcore Islamist entities were also active.

  11. 11.

    Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 93; Stemple, Inside the Iranian Revolution, 137.

  12. 12.

    Paraphrased translation from Taleghani’s message dated 13 Aban/November 4; full text in Payam bi-monthly (official organization of the Freedom Movement), no. 3, Aban 1357/October–November 1978.

  13. 13.

    Eyewitness Trevor Mostyn, in Buchan, Days of God, 188.

  14. 14.

    Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 500.

  15. 15.

    Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 94–95.

  16. 16.

    Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 179.

  17. 17.

    Ibid.

  18. 18.

    Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 95.

  19. 19.

    This degree of certainty is partly grounded in the fact that the most thorough search of the former regime’s security files by the post-Revolution historians in Iran has not turned up any incriminating material.

  20. 20.

    Sullivan to DOS, 278554, November 2, 1978 DSWL.

  21. 21.

    Sullivan to DOS.10786, November 2, 1978, DSWL; Sick: 63; Brzezinski: 358; Afkhami:470.

  22. 22.

    Sullivan to Vance, 10698, November 2, 1978, DSWL.

  23. 23.

    Sullivan to Vance, (eyes only), 10698, November 2, DSWL 1978.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    PREM.16/1719, November 1, 1978; for the passage in Parsons’s memoir see The Pride and the Fall: 90.

  26. 26.

    Parsons to FCO, telegram no. 726, October 31, 1978, PREM.16/1719; Sullivan to Department of State, 10623, October 31, 1978, DSWL.

  27. 27.

    Parsons to FCO, November 1 and 4, PREM.16-1719; Sullivan to DOS 19677, November 1, 1978, DSWL; Sick: 63; Brzezinski: 362.

  28. 28.

    Parsons to FCO, telegram 740, November 4, 1978, PREM. 16/1719.

  29. 29.

    Flora Lewis, New York Times, November 6, 1978.

  30. 30.

    Vance, Hard Choices, 328.

  31. 31.

    Brzezinski, Power and Principle, 380.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., 362.

  33. 33.

    Sick, All Fall Down, 62.

  34. 34.

    Sullivan to DOS, 273428, October 27, 1978, DNSA.

  35. 35.

    Brzezinski had, inter alia, recommended a public presidential declaration of support and the dispatch of a high-profile emissary to Tehran to reassure the Shah of US support; Brzezinski: 362.

  36. 36.

    See, “William Healy Sullivan, in Contact with Hanoi,” New York Times, April 30, 1968, and “Negotiator Behind the Truce Scene,” New York Times, January 29, 1973.

  37. 37.

    For references to Sullivan’s close supervision of the CIA’s secret war in Laos, see William M. Leary, “CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955–1974,” published in the official CIA portal; for Brzezinski’s remark, see Zbigniew Brzezinski, Power and Principle, 359.

  38. 38.

    New York Times, April 30, 1968, and January 29, 1973.

  39. 39.

    Guerrero, “Human Rights and Tear Gas,” 31.

  40. 40.

    Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 16.

  41. 41.

    Parsons to FCO, telegram 938, December 7, 1978, PREM. 16/1720.

  42. 42.

    Brzezinski, Power and Principle, 363.

  43. 43.

    Full text of the dispatch to Sullivan dated November 2, 1978, is reproduced in Brzezinski’s memoirs, ibid., 364; see also Sick, All Fall Down, 67–69; Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 170–71; Carter, White House Diary, 257.

  44. 44.

    Hedrick Smith, New York Times, November 6, 1978.

  45. 45.

    Brzezinski, Power and Principle, 365.

  46. 46.

    Sullivan to Vance, 10751, November 5, 1978, DSWL; Parsons to FCO, 740, November 4, 978, PREM. 16/1719. In his memoirs (The Pride and the Fall, 90), Parsons recalled that, while waiting to be received in the Shah’s “ante-room,” Sullivan had confirmed to him that he had received “some instruction” from Washington, but there is no mention there or elsewhere in the files that Sullivan informed the Shah of the contents of instructions.

  47. 47.

    Narrated by Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 91.

  48. 48.

    Sullivan to DOS, 10751, November 5, 1978, DSWL.

  49. 49.

    Ibid.

  50. 50.

    They were Lieutenant-General Badreh’i, commander of the Imperial Guard; Lieutenant-General Mohsen Hashemi-Nejad, the Shah’s adjutant-general; Major-General Manouchehr Khosrowdad, commander of airborne ground troops; Lieutenant-General Mehdi Rahimi, deputy Martial Law Commander, and Brigadier Javad Moein-Zadeh.

  51. 51.

    Afshar memoirs, 474–5.

  52. 52.

    The details of the plan are taken from the recollections of General Javad Moin-Zadeh in Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 499–500.

  53. 53.

    Afshar memoirs, 474–5.

  54. 54.

    Oveissi conversation with General Philip Gast, ARMISH-MAAG chief in Iran; Sullivan to DOS, 10653, November 1, 1978, DSWL.

  55. 55.

    Recollections of General Azhari, March 1994, cited in Tarikh’e Irani, http://tarikhirani.ir/fa/events/3/EventsDetail/432/.

  56. 56.

    Afshar memoirs, 475.

  57. 57.

    Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 178.

  58. 58.

    Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 96.

  59. 59.

    Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 178.

  60. 60.

    The Shah’s query makes it crystal clear that the Shah had not seen Brzezinski’s wired message of November 2. In his memoirs, Sullivan fudged the issue further by mixing up dates, skipping a 16-day period in his narrative of this episode. See his explanation on pages 171–72.

  61. 61.

    Sullivan to DOS, 10818, November 6, 1978, DSWL.

  62. 62.

    Ibid.

  63. 63.

    Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 178–9, and cables 10787 and 10818 respectively dispatched on November 5 and 6, DSWL.

  64. 64.

    Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 179; Sullivan to DOS, cable 10818, November 6, 1978, DSWL.

  65. 65.

    Sullivan to Vance, 10787, November 5, 1978, DSWL.

  66. 66.

    Recollections of General Azhari, March 1994, cited in Tarikh’e Irani, http://tarikhirani.ir/fa/events/3/EventsDetail/432/.

  67. 67.

    Fardoust memoirs, 1.589.

  68. 68.

    Agheli, sharh’e hal’e, 1.87–94.

  69. 69.

    Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 425.

  70. 70.

    Alam diaries, December 6, 1973; Buchan, Days of God, 134.

  71. 71.

    Fardoust memoirs, 1.588–89.

  72. 72.

    Sullivan Mission to Iran, 180.

  73. 73.

    Qotbi interviewed in May 2001 by Afkhami, who also cites his December 2003 conversation with Nasr; see Afkhami, The Life and the Times of the Shah, 477–9.

  74. 74.

    Biographical sketches of Nasr could be found on the web, including Wikipedia; for his millenarian belief, see his interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-OsYQ0nxX4.

  75. 75.

    Afkhami, The Life and the Times of the Shah, 477–8; Afshar memoirs, 479–81: Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 502–3; Milani, The Shah, 396–7.

  76. 76.

    Afshar memoirs, 481.

  77. 77.

    Full text of the Shah’s televised address is available on several Persian language websites, see as one example, http://jamejamonline.ir.

  78. 78.

    Jonathan Kandell, in two separate articles, New York Times, November 8 and 7, 1978.

  79. 79.

    Mehdi Bazargan, enqelab dar do harakat, 24–25.

  80. 80.

    Nicolas Gage, “The Oppositions Quandary,” New York Times, November 8, 1978.

  81. 81.

    Nahavandi, Carnets Secrets, 197–8.

  82. 82.

    Shawcross, The Shah’s Last Ride, 92, 222, citing a letter of blame written by Princess Ashraf to Farah in exile; Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 503; Afkhami, The Life and the Times of the Shah, 473–4.

  83. 83.

    Jonathan Kandell, New York Times, November 8, 1978.

  84. 84.

    Agheli, Roozshomar, 2–374; Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 100; Buchan, Days of God, 192.

  85. 85.

    Sullivan to Department of State, 08445, September 5, 1978 DSWL; Sullivan’s Iranian source was Houshang Ram, the president of bank’e omran, belonging to the Pahlavi Foundation.

  86. 86.

    Pahlavi, Answer to History, 166; Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 507; Milani, The Persian Sphinx, 294.

  87. 87.

    Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 101.

  88. 88.

    Milani, The Persian Sphinx, 300.

  89. 89.

    Diary of Ali Amini, November 10, in Iraj Amini, 547–8.

  90. 90.

    Ibid.

  91. 91.

    Milani, The Persian Sphinx, 291.

  92. 92.

    UK Ambassador in Washington, Peter Jay, in conversation with Ambassador Zahedi, September 11, 1978, PREM. 16/1719; Acting Secretary of State Christopher in conversation with Zahedi, 234445, September 15, 1978, DSWL.

  93. 93.

    Milani, The Persian Sphinx, 326 (copying a handwritten letter by Hoveyda smuggled out of prison shortly before he was executed on Khomeini’s orders after the victory of the Revolution).

  94. 94.

    Milani, The Persian Sphinx, 296–7; see Christopher to Sullivan, 245918, September 27, 1978, DSWL.

  95. 95.

    Parsons, The Pride and the Fall, 101; Parsons to FCO, 772, November 7, 1978, PREM. 16/1720.

  96. 96.

    Author’s personal recollections.

  97. 97.

    They were Ali-Qoli Ardalan (Hoveyda’s successor at the court ministry), General Hassan Pakravan, Houshang Nahavandi, Reza Qotbi, Javad Shahrestani, and Seyyed Mehdi Pirasteh.

  98. 98.

    Coverage of the Niavaran meeting on November 8 relies on direct testimony of Houchang Nahavandi, one of the participants (Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 505–7). See also Milani, The Persian Sphinx, 296–8.

  99. 99.

    Queen Farah, An Enduring Love, 288.

  100. 100.

    Ehsan Naraghi, 97–98; Milani, The Persian Sphinx, 299–300; Nahavandi, Carnets Secrets, 204; Queen Farah, An Enduring Love, 285.

  101. 101.

    See: Bakhtiar, Ma Fidélité, 96; Naraghi, Des Palais du Chah, 86–8; Nahavandi and Bomati, Le dernier Shah, 268–70.

  102. 102.

    Afkhami, The Life and the Times of the Shah, 441n1, citing a source close to the Queen.

  103. 103.

    Queen Farah, An Enduring Love, 312.

  104. 104.

    The phrase translating “I am your majesty’s soldier” is knowledge from the author’s personal connections.

  105. 105.

    Queen Farah, An Enduring Love, 312.

  106. 106.

    Interrogated by the French journalist/anchorwoman Christine Ockrent, Hoveyda said in his best French, “il voulait faire un bouc émissaire de moi” (“he wanted to make me a scapegoat”). The video is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zG-yjaTl-4.

  107. 107.

    Buchan, The Days of God, 165.

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    Darioush Bayandor

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Bayandor, D. (2019). November Countdown. In: The Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the United States. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96119-4_12

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