The Storm over the Shah

From its earliest beginnings, the U.S. has been a haven for refugees. But never has the country paid a higher price for this tradition than it has for allowing in the deposed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi for treatment of his gallstones and cancer. For nearly a month, 50 Americans have been held hostage in Tehran under threat of execution by the revolutionary regime of the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, who demands the Shah's return.

The confrontation between President Carter and the fanatical Imam has caused a wave of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world, threatened the balance of forces in the Middle East and disrupted the world's oil and financial markets. All in all, it has been the most serious international crisis for the U.S. since Viet Nam.

There was thus a palpable sense of relief in Washington last week when the Shah's doctors reported that his medical treatment was completed and he would be able to return to exile at his walled estate in Cuernavaca, about 50 miles south of Mexico City. For better or for worse, his exit from the U.S. would mark a new turning point in the stalemate with Iran. Some American officials saw his departure as a first step toward a settlement; others predicted that it might provoke the Iranians to carry out their threat to put the American hostages on trial. Then, Mexican Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda abruptly announced that the Shah would not be allowed to settle in Mexico. It was a stunning turnabout. Only two weeks earlier, Castaneda had promised that the Shah would receive "a pleasant welcome" in Mexico.

Early Sunday morning the Shah left the hospital and was driven to New York's La Guardia airport. Accompanied by his wife, he boarded a U.S. Air Force DC-9, which flew directly to Kelly Air Force Base outside San Antonio. The Shah entered Wilford Hall hospital at nearby Lackland Air Force Base for what an Administration spokesman called "a period of recuperation under medical supervision." The White House, which had worked out the details of the transfer Saturday night, said that it would continue to assist the Shah in finding a permanent residence. He had very few choices. His old friend Anwar Sadat had invited him to stay in Egypt, as he had when the Shah was first ousted from Iran. But it was most unlikely that he would go to Egypt, partly because Sadat, already much criticized in the Muslim world for signing a peace treaty with Israel, might prove vulnerable to pressures from Iran.

No matter where he went, the Shah would still be at the center of the storm between the U.S. and Iran over the hostages in the captured U.S. embassy. That storm grew more menacing at week's end. First, Iranian militants produced what they declared was "proof of spying by embassy personnel. Then, after learning of the Shah's flight to Texas, the students announced that the hostages would be put on trial "immediately" if he left the U.S.

In response to Khomeini's demand for the Shah, Carter, in a forceful performance during a nationally televised press conference last week, renewed his vow never to yield to blackmail. His stand has won him the strongest support among Americans since he became President.