Welcome Introduction. info); Persian: سلسله قاجار ‎ Selsele-ye Qājār, Azerbaijani: قاجارلر, Qacarlar) was an Iranian royal dynasty of Turkic origin, specifically from the Qajar tribe, ruling over Iran from 1789 to 1925. Born in Tehran, to Reza Khan (later Reza Shah Pahlavi) and his second wife, Tadj ol-Molouk, Mohammad Reza was the eldest son of Reza Khan, who later became the first Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty, and the third of his eleven children. Iran was ruled by a constitutional monarchy prior to 1979 and progressed by huge leaps and bounds in the seventies and was labeled by the West as an outstanding economic performer with record earnings and revenues. [81], At least two unsuccessful assassination attempts were made against the young Shah. After an investigation, it was thought that Fakhr-Arai was a member of the Tudeh Party,[83] which was subsequently banned. Discover The Shah of Persia Welcome to The Shah of Persia in Poole—a busy family-friendly pub and hotel situated close to the town centre. General Omar Torrijos, the dictator of Panama kept Mohammad Reza as a virtual prisoner at the Paitilla Medical Center, a hospital condemned by the former Shah's American doctors as "an inadequate and poorly staffed hospital", and in order to hasten his death allowed only Panamanian doctors to treat his cancer. Also buried there is Farouk of Egypt, Mohammad Reza's former brother-in-law. [61], A general amnesty was issued two days after Mohammad Reza's accession to the throne on 19 September 1941. His programmes included projects in technologies such as steel, telecommunications, petrochemical facilities, power plants, dams and the automobile industry. [157] Milani noted it was sign of the liberalization of the middle years of Mohammad Reza's reign that Hussein Amanat, the architect who designed the Shahyad was a young Baha'i from a middle-class family who did not belong to the "thousand families" that traditionally dominated Iran, writing that it only in this moment in Iranian history that this was possible. The cancer had hit the liver. [258][260] Basic functional failures of the regime have also been blamed—economic bottlenecks, shortages and inflation; the regime's over-ambitious economic programme;[261] the failure of its security forces to deal with protests and demonstrations;[262] and the overly centralised royal power structure. Persia could hardly be called an Empire in 1836, but still Mohammed Shah of the Qajar dynasty saw that creating a Persian Empire was a difficult but an achievable goal. Overall in the centre is a circle depicting Mount Damavand with a rising sun, the symbol of the Pahlavi dynasty. President Carter did not wish to admit Mohammad Reza to the U.S. but came under pressure from many quarters, with Henry Kissinger phoning Carter to say he would not endorse the SALT II treaty that Carter had just signed with the Soviet Union unless the former Shah was allowed into the United States, reportedly prompting Carter more than once to hang up his phone in rage in the Oval Office and shout "Fuck the Shah!". [163] Intense Francophiles, Mohammad Reza and Farah preferred to speak French rather than Persian to their children. [236] Milani wrote that Mohamad Reza's view of the revolution as a gigantic conspiracy organised by foreign powers suggested that there was nothing wrong with Iran, and the millions of people demonstrating against him were just dupes being used by foreigners, a viewpoint that did not encourage concessions and reforms until it was too late. [182], Under Nixon, the United States finally agreed to sever all contact with any Iranians opposed to the Shah's regime, a concession that Mohammad Reza had been seeking since 1958. [59] Suffering from angina, a frail Foroughi was summoned to the Palace and appointed prime minister when Reza Shah feared the end of the Pahlavi dynasty once the Allies invaded Iran in 1941. [31] Mohammad Reza grew up surrounded by women, as the main influences on him were his mother, his older sister Shams and his twin sister Ashraf, leading the American psychologist Marvin Zonis to conclude it was "from women, and apparently from women alone" that the future Shah "received whatever psychological nourishment he was able to get as a child". Mohammad Reza also held many supplementary titles such as Bozorg Artestaran, a military rank superseding his prior position as captain. [148] Mohammad Reza had an insatiable appetite for sex, and Alam's diary has the Shah constantly telling him he needed to have sex several times a day, every day, or otherwise he would fall into depression. The great wealth generated by Iran's oil encouraged a sense of nationalism at the Imperial Court. He was crowned by the nobles in place of his deposed and blinded uncle Balash (484–488). A supreme ruler in some Middle Eastern or South Asian nations. [304] The message still rests on the lunar surface today. [133] In an attempt to mend relations after Nixon's defeat, Mohammad Reza sent General Teymur Bakhtiar of SAVAK to meet Kennedy in Washington on 1 March 1961. [266][267], Other actions that are thought to have contributed to his downfall include antagonising formerly apolitical Iranians—especially merchants of the bazaars—with the creation in 1975 of a single-party political monopoly (the Rastakhiz Party), with compulsory membership and dues, and general aggressive interference in the political, economic, and religious concerns of people's lives;[268] and the 1976 change from an Islamic calendar to an Imperial calendar, marking the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus as the first day, instead of the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. 2003. A third factor was his wish to present Iran as a prosperous and powerful nation; this fuelled his domestic policy of Westernisation and reform. However, independent feminist political groups were shut down and forcibly integrated into one state-created institution, which maintained many paternalistic views. [295] On 28 March 1980, Mohammad Reza's French and American doctors finally performed an operation meant to have been performed in the fall of 1979. 21–29, in: Grigor, Tallinn "Preserving the Antique Modern: Persepolis '71", pp. The shield is crowned by the Pahlavi crown and surrounded by the chain of the Order of Pahlavi. [51] In the summer of 1941, Soviet and British diplomats passed on numerous messages warning that they regarded the presence of a number of Germans administering the Iranian state railroads as a threat, implying war if the Germans were not dismissed. [177] Mohammad Reza financed Kurdish separatist rebels in Iraq, and to cover his tracks, armed them with Soviet weapons which Israel had seized from Soviet-backed Arab regimes, then handed over to Iran at the Shah's behest. Mohammad Reza was distrustful of both the Socialist government of Abd al-Karim Qasim and the Arab nationalist Baath party. They failed dismally and the Shah decided to leave the country. To see the arrogance and effrontery of the mullahs once again rampant in the holy city! [297], By that point, it was arranged by President Sadat that Soraya would quietly visit Mohammad Reza on his deathbed in Egypt without Farah present, but Milani noted the two were "star-crossed lovers" and Mohammad Reza died before Soraya could come to Egypt from her home in Paris. [166], Although the U.S. was responsible for putting the Shah in power, he did not always act as a close American ally. Thus began almost two hundred years of Carmelite activity in the region. [113] Starting in 1955, Mohammad Reza began to quietly cultivate left-wing intellectuals, many of whom had supported the National Front and some of whom were associated with the banned Tudeh party, asking them for advice about how best to reform Iran. [164] Mohammad Reza built the Niavaran Palace which took up 9,000 square feet and whose style was a blend of Persian and French architecture. Shah of Persia, Poole: See 340 unbiased reviews of Shah of Persia, rated 3.5 of 5 on Tripadvisor and ranked #95 of 342 restaurants in Poole. He was committed to nationalising the Iranian petroleum industry controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) (as Anglo-Persian Oil Company, or APOC, had become). But I have ... my White Revolution ... is a new original kind of socialism and ... believe me, in Iran we're far more advanced than you and we really have nothing to learn from you.[200]. Ethiopia and Iran, along with Turkey and Israel, were envisioned as an "alliance of the periphery" that would constrain Arab power in the greater Middle East. Shah of Persia, Poole by Marston's Inns beschikt over stijlvolle kamers met gratis WiFi en ligt op 3 minuten rijden van het treinstation van Poole aan de kust van Dorset. [157] The message was further reinforced the next day when the "Parade of Persian History" was performed at Persepolis when 6,000 soldiers dressed in the uniforms of every dynasty from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis marched past Mohammad Reza in a grand parade that many contemporaries remarked "surpassed in sheer spectacle the most florid celluloid imaginations of Hollywood epics". [34], By the time Mohammad Reza turned 11, his father deferred to the recommendation of Abdolhossein Teymourtash, the Minister of Court, to dispatch his son to Institut Le Rosey, a Swiss boarding school, for further studies. [300] Shortly after, the Shah slipped into a coma and died on 27 July 1980 at age 60. Due to his status as the last Shah of Iran, he is often known as simply the Shah. [177] Some of the Shah's advisers also felt it was unwise to support the peshmerga, saying that if the Iraqi Kurds won independence, then the Iranian Kurds would want to join them. In response, the Shah stated: "How could I go to a place [USA] that had undone me? [311] During the reign of the Shah, women gained the right to freely choose any profession, for example first female Iranian ministers such as Farrokhroo Parsa and judges such as Shirin Ebadi, while Mehrangiz Dowlatshahi became the first female cabinet member and ambassador of Iran. The Shah of Persia is close to the town centre of Poole, well known for its stunning harbour and busy quayside and the world renowned Poole Pottery. Abbas Milani, The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution, Mage Publishers, 1 October 2003; Milani, Abbas The Shah, London: Macmillan, 2011, p. 389. Stay at this 4-star inn in Poole. For example, the younger sons of the ruling Sikh maharaja of Punjab were styled "Shahzada [personal name] Singh Bahadur". [70] In June 1946, Mohammad Reza was relieved when the Red Army pulled out of Iran. [148] Milani further wrote that "Alam, in his most destructive moments of sycophancy, reassured the Shah—or his "master" as he calls him—that country was prosperous and no one begrudged the King a bit of fun". [157] To complete the message, Mohammad Reza finished off the celebrations by opening a brand new museum in Tehran, the Shahyad Aryamehr, that was housed in a very modernistic building and attended another parade in the newly opened Aryamehr Stadium, intended to give a message of "compressed time" between antiquity and modernity. [238], The revolution had attracted support from a broad coalition ranging from secular, left-wing nationalists to Islamists on the right, and Khomeini, who was temporarily based in Paris after being expelled from Iraq, chose to present himself as a moderate able to bring together all the different factions leading the revolution. In an era of high oil prices, Iran's economy boomed while the economies of the Western nations were trapped in stagflation (economic stagnation and inflation) after the 1973–74 oil shocks, which seemed to prove the greatness of Mohammad Reza both to himself and to the rest of the world. Despite the young king's enlightened decisions, the British Minister in Tehran reported to London that "the young Shah received a fairly spontaneous welcome on his first public experience, possibly rather [due] to relief at the disappearance of his father than to public affection for himself". The full title of the Achaemenid rulers was Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām, literally "King of Kings" in Old Persian, corresponding to Middle Persian Šāhān Šāh, and Modern Persian شاهنشاه (Šāhanšāh). [40], Mohammad Reza was the first Iranian prince in line for the throne to be sent abroad to attain a foreign education and remained there for the next four years before returning to obtain his high school diploma in Iran in 1936. [144] A soldier shot his way through the Marble Palace. As Roosevelt was congratulating Zahedi in the basement of his hiding place, the new Prime Minister's mobs burst in and carried him upstairs on their shoulders. Mohammad Reza's paternal grandfather, Abbas-Ali, was a Mazandarani,[11][12][13][14] commissioned in the 7th Savadkuh Regiment, and served in the Anglo-Persian War War in 1856. In 1873, he was the first Iranian king to visited Europe. Khomeini rejected Bakhtiar's demands and appointed his own interim government, with Mehdi Bazargan as prime minister, stating that "I will appoint a state. He also styled his wife شهبانو Shahbānu ("Empress"). [23], Reza Khan believed if fathers showed love for their sons, it caused homosexuality later in life, and to ensure his favourite son was heterosexual, denied him any love and affection when he was young, though he later become more affectionate towards the Crown Prince when he was a teenager. [291] When he first met Mohammad Reza, Torrijos taunted him by telling him "it must be hard to fall off the Peacock Throne into Contadora" and called him a "chupon", a Spanish term meaning an orange that has all the juice squeezed out of it, which is slang for someone who is finished. 2,500 years of continuous Persian monarchy, 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire, Jimmy Carter's engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini, Background and causes of the Iranian Revolution, New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center, rotating member of the UN Security Council, List of titles and honours of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Human rights in the Imperial State of Iran, Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II, "Historic Personalities of Iran: Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi", "March, 15, 1976 A.D.: Iran Switches To Imperial Calendar", "Torture still scars Iranians 40 years after revolution", "سندی نویافته از نیای رضاشاه", "First Party of Iran's 2,500‐Year Celebration", United States Army Center of Military History, "Premier Quits as Iran Speeds Nationalization of Oil Fields", "Message to the Prime Minister of Iran Following the Breakdown of Oil Discussions With Great Britain", "In declassified document, CIA acknowledges role in '53 Iran coup", "Princess Soraya, 69, Shah's Wife Whom He Shed for Lack of Heir", "The 5 Most Precarious US Allies of All Time", America's Mission: The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for Democracy in the Twentieth Century, Opposition to Mohammad Reza Shah's Regime, "Amnesty International Annual Report 1974-1975", "40 Years Ago Richard Nixon Strengthens Persian Ally", Ten Things the US needs to learn from Iran's Islamic Revolution, "Dr. Michael Debakey Describes the Shah's Surgery and Predicts a Long Life for Him", "The death of an emperor – Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and his political cancer", "A Criminal As The Successor To Khamenei? Leathers Publishing. On 4 February 1949, he attended an annual ceremony to commemorate the founding of Tehran University. Shah of Persia, Restaurants business in Poole. [193] In 1975, U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller declared in a speech: "We must take His Imperial Majesty to the United States for a couple of years so that he can teach us how to run a country. [56] The British would have liked to put a Qajar back on the throne, but the principal Qajar claimant to the throne was Prince Hamid Mirza, an officer in the Royal Navy who did not speak Persian, so the British had to accept Mohammad Reza as Shah. Mohammad Reza expressed concern for his exiled father who had previously complained to the British governor of Mauritius that living on the island was both a climatic and social prison. Between 1967 and 1977, the number of universities increased in number from 7 to 22, the number of institutions of advanced learning rose from 47 to 200, and the number of students in higher education soared from 36,742 to 100,000. [233] The Shah had exaggerated ideas about the power of the KGB, which he thought of as omnipotent, and often expressed the view that all of the demonstrations against him had been organised in Moscow, saying only the KGB had the power to bring out thousands of ordinary people to demonstrate. Another factor guiding Mohammad Reza in his foreign policy was his wish for financial stability, which required strong diplomatic ties. He curbed the power of certain ancient elite factions by expropriating large and medium-sized estates for the benefit of more than four million small farmers. The Shah, a fervent nationalist, responded "Iran is Iran." The Prime Minister requested direct control of the army from the Majlis. [139] Feeling pressure from demonstrations organised by the clergy, the Shah withdrew the offending law, but it was reinstated with the White Revolution of 1963. [84] However, there is evidence that the would-be assassin was not a Tudeh member but a religious fundamentalist member of Fada'iyan-e Islam. [100], Before the first attempted coup, the American Embassy in Tehran reported that Mosaddegh's popular support remained robust. In addition, literacy courses were set up in remote villages by the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, this initiative being called "Sepāh-e Dānesh" (Persian: سپاه دانش) meaning "Army of Knowledge". "[223] Empress Farah grew so frustrated with her husband that she suggested numerous times that he leave Iran for medical treatment and appoint her regent, saying she would handle the crisis and save the House of Pahlavi. "The Shāh-i Armanids", p. 197. [314] In his 1961 book Mission for My Country, Mohammad Reza wrote: From the time I was six or seven, I have felt that perhaps there is a supreme being, who is guiding me. The Shah Of Iran re-assumed its control, the West had its predictable oil supply and cozy relations with Iran, and as these images suggest, life for most seemed to be pretty comfortable--however superficially. Upon his accession, he adopted his father's coat of arms which included a shield composed of the Lion and the Sun symbol in first quarter, the Faravahar in the second quarter, the two-pointed sword of Ali (Zulfiqar) in third quarter and the Simurgh in the fourth quarter. [138] Afterwards, Mohammad Reza visited London. Mohammad Reza shared the Empress's sentiments as Westerners came begging to his court looking for his largesse, leading him to remark in 1976: Now we are the masters and our former masters are our slaves.