World: Unity Against the Shah

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And Iran acts like a country without a king

His face looked tense, his eyes were tired, his smile strained. Posing for TV cameramen and photographers at Niavaran Palace overlooking Tehran last week, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi showed the physical exhaustion of many weeks of crisis. When asked if he planned to take a vacation, the Shah replied quietly, "I would love it, if the situation permits." A few days later, however, after issuing a royal decree naming Shahpour Bakhtiar, 62, as Premier-designate with power to form a civilian government, the Shah merely left Tehran with his family for a couple of days of rest at Jajrood, a ski resort 50 miles northeast of the capital.

It was hardly the "vacation" that Bakhtiar had in mind when he asked the Shah to leave the country for a year or two as the price for putting together a new government. Nonetheless, the consensus in Iran, and indeed in capitals around the world, was that it was only a matter of time before the Shah would follow his large and wealthy family (see following story) into exile. At week's end, after endorsing the Cabinet that Bakhtiar had presented to him for approval, the Shah issued a carefully guarded statement in which he complained of great weariness. His need for relaxation might oblige him to seek it outside Iran, he said. It was the first time the Shah had publicly conceded he might be ready to step down, if only for a time. Indeed, the Shah's fate seemed inevitable and imminent: sooner rather than later, he would slip away, carrying with him the elusive hope that at least his son Crown Prince Reza, now 18, may some day succeed him on the Peacock Throne. As part of the bargain, Bakhtiar will set up and head a Regency Council that will keep Iran a constitutional monarchy, greatly reducing the powers of the Shah.

Whether the Shah retires to St. Moritz or tries to stay on in Iran, there is no question that an era of imperial aspirations has come to an end. As the protests against him spread, gathering momentum with every strike and riot, the Shah's personal power has been completely eroded. Even those in the middle classes who still backed him, partly out of fear of what might follow, knew his cause was lost. His chief support remained high-ranking officers in the military. Several hard-lining generals urged the Shah to stay and pleaded with him for permission to launch an all-out military crackdown on dissent that probably would mean enormous bloodshed. To his credit, the Shah refused. But there was still a real fear that military officers concerned about the danger to the Shah's survival might yet attempt to shore up his power by staging a coup. In hopes of placating both the military and the opposition, Bakhtiar named General Feridun Jam, a popular officer who has had differences with the Shah, as Minister of Defense.