On August 18, 1953, a military coup in Iran toppled Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadek’s regime. With this, then nominal monarch, King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, regained real power. In fact, it was later discovered that the coup was orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It is said that the U.S. government had been expecting a pro-U.S. government in Iran because the Mossadek regime had approached the Soviet side with an excessive emphasis on Arab nationalism. Taking power, King Pahlavi actively pursued the westernization of Iran, named the “White Revolution,” in satisfaction of U.S. expectations. The Pahlavi royal family’s westernization policy soon made Iran the most powerful country in the region and stand tall as an important ally of the West. At the same time, King Pahlavi was called a Shahansha (“King of Kings”) and became a figure showing off his greatest power.
But at the same time, Iran’s antipathy to the rapid westernization and dissatisfaction with the gap between the rich and the poor increased. Then, the ruling regime imposed a secret police system and relentlessly suppressed dissidents. Under King Pahlavi’s rule, Iran became a regional power in every way and reached the threshold of becoming a developed country. In the West, Iranians were expected that economic affluence and advancement would prevent them from doing anything radical. However, the people of Iran were different from the “rational people” in the West. They chose radical religious restraint over economic affluence. Slowly Khomeini and other radical Islamic leaders, who fled the King Pahlavi regime’s oppression, led the Iranian anti-government movement from overseas. By the end of the 1970s, the anti-government movement, which continued to expand despite harsh oppression had grown dramatically stronger and stronger. The anti-government movement, which had gained much strength since 1978, eventually spread beyond control in 1979.
Eventually, King Pahlavi and his family went into exile on January 17, 1979, and never returned to Iran. We all know what happened to Iran since 1979. Obviously Iran has been living worse economically than in the 1970s since the start of the Islamic Republic. Today, Iran stands for fanatical oppression and ever-lasting dictatorship. Who is to blame? The stupid majority of the population who are deceived by small groups of agitators and extremists, and who remain silent due to misconception or stupidity when they had to resist. But the tragedy of Iran looks very familiar to us even today.
