World: Washington's Caviar Coup

Iran's opulent embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington has long been famous, perhaps even notorious, as a dazzling showcase for the Shah's vision of the good life.

There the beautiful people would gather to devour gossip and caviar, sip Dom Perignon and dance until dawn under the indulgent stewardship of the Shah's trusted adviser and former son-in-law, Ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi. Last week this stately pleasure dome had turned into a microcosm of the political chaos back home.

Shortly after Zahedi left Washington to escort the Shah's children to their parents' refuge in Morocco, the acting deputy of the mission, Assad Homayoun, received instructions from his Foreign Min istry in Tehran: remove all por traits of the Shah from the premises. Homayoun duly complied.

Learning of this, six irate military attaches at the mission, led by Ma jor General Mokhateb Rafii, called Zahedi in Morocco and told him what had happened. Equally irate, Zahedi ordered them to put the pictures back in place. Armed with revolvers, the attaches marched into the embassy last Tuesday night, remounted the Shah's por traits, and settled down for a siege.

When Homayoun and other diplomats showed up for work next morning, General Rafii and his mini-army brandished their weapons and declared they were under orders from Zahedi to maintain control of the embassy until his return. After vainly arguing with the attaches that he held the reins of authority in Zahedi's absence, Homayoun hurried over to the State Department. The department's Iran desk officer, Henry R. Precht, was sympathetic but unable to help. Reason: Washington was baffled by the imbroglio and did not want to meddle in a family quarrel.

Ever the diplomat, Homayoun met again with the occupyuig attachés in an attempt to break the impasse, but negotiations ended in stalemate. Meanwhile twelve other members of the embassy staff, who had walked off the job in a mutiny against Zahedi and the Shah two weeks ago, announced their support of the acting deputy and his demand that the military officers give up the embassy.

When the guards stubbornly refused to abandon their occupation, Homayoun revoked the diplomatic status of Major General Rafii and Zahedi's spokesman Ali Tabatabai, who was accused of lying to cover up the minicoup. But at week's end, Zahedi returned from Morocco and stepped back into the fray. He asked Homayoun to reverse his decision; when he declined, Homayoun was summarily fired along with four other diplomats who supported him.