IRAN: Hard Choices in Tehran

After two weeks of mounting tension, the frightening holy days ended last week—and the Shah still sat upon the Peacock Throne. Tehran was like a city that had survived a siege all but unscathed. Shops and schools were reopening, and office workers were returning to their jobs. Chieftain tanks and Russian-built armored cars, which had been in evidence everywhere, were now out of sight. Soldiers ventured into restaurants and parked their automatic weapons in corners as they ate. Locked in a monumental traffic jam, a Western diplomat sighed: "Things are back to normal in Tehran."

Well, not quite. The Shah had gained, at best, some breathing time in which to come to terms with his massive opposition. Oil workers were still on strike, costing Iran as much as $60 million a day in lost revenues and cutting production to as little as one-fifth of the normal flow. Premier Gholam Reza Azhari went on television to appeal to the oil workers to go back to work, declaring that their strike was "bending the backs of 34 million Iranians." Azhari said he was "ashamed to admit" that petroleum-rich Iran was being forced to import kerosene, which most Iranians use for heating and cooking.

The flash point had been passed Sunday, when millions of Iranians staged peaceful demonstrations against the Shah throughout the country. Some government leaders, including the military governor of Tehran, General Gholam Ali Ovisi, had wanted to stop the demonstrators "mercilessly." But Premier Azhari, who is also the armed forces chief of staff, argued that bloodshed should be avoided at all costs, and the Shah agreed. Accordingly, the government promised to withdraw its forces to north Tehran, leaving the heart of the city free for the demonstrators. In return, the organizers of the demonstration promised to discipline their ranks and pledged that there would be no rioting or burning. Both sides kept their word.

On Monday, the Shi'ite Muslim day of mourning known as Ashura, the parades were much more hostile, with thousands chanting "Death to the Shah!" By tradition, the faithful demonstrate their sorrow over the slaying of Husain, the grandson of Muhammad, in the 7th century A.D. by flagellating themselves with chains. But this year the Ashura ceremonies were in reality political parades led by turbaned mullahs. When asked what had happened to the ancient observance that had dominated the day of mourning for more than 1,300 years, one young marcher in Tehran replied: "We have more important things to do today than mourn Husain."

The demonstrations were much more violent in the industrial city of Isfahan, 210 miles south of the capital, where troops first withdrew from the downtown area and then battled for hours to restore order. For two days thereafter, the army staged demonstrations in support of the Shah in several other cities. In a particularly ugly incident, three on-duty soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons in the mess hall of an army camp just two miles from the Shah's Niavaran Palace in north Tehran; six noncommissioned officers were killed and ten wounded in the shooting.