Word: shahs
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Support for the Shah...
...Shah vs. the Shi'ites" [June 5]: I must state that the people of Iran can surely afford full political freedom. Those ruthless troublemakers causing the current riots are the puppets of the Mullahs and those rich guys who were badly upset by the land reforms of the white revolution...
...believe that the Shah is in any danger of being overthrown. Iran's monarch still has the machinery of power firmly in his hands. The Shah also has a broad base of popular support, particularly in the army and among farmers and a newly created industrial working class, who have benefited from land reforms and measures giving workers 20% of the profits of companies employing them and allowing them to buy up to 49% of the company's shares...
Although no one seriously thinks that the Shah, who is 58, is about to allow full political freedom, he apparently believes that some liberalization is necessary if the country is to remain stable through any period of succession. (Crown Prince Reza, who becomes 18 this year, is next in line to rule.) Last August, faced with discontent over the skyrocketing cost of living and government-ordered power cutbacks that caused several hundred million dollars in industrial losses, the Shah named Jamshid Amuzegar, 54, the country's tough oil and energy negotiator, as Premier. Amuzegar took swift action against inflation...
...Soviet-armed Iraq to the west and a new leftist regime in Afghanistan to the east, Iran is the major pro-Western military power in the Persian Gulf region. Although down 3% last year, Iran's oil income still brings the country about $22 billion a year. The Shah's problem is to see that this treasure is channeled into enough social benefits to defuse public discontent, thus allowing political reforms to be carried out in a relatively tranquil atmosphere...