Then They Came For Me (42 page)

This time line is not meant to be a history of Iran. Rather, it is designed to provide background information on some of the events in the book while highlighting Iranians’ ongoing struggle for self-determination since 1906.

The home of one of the most ancient civilizations in the world has been called Iran by the natives since
A.D.
200. The country was known to the West as Persia until 1935.

Persia is ruled by the corrupt, religious, and reactionary kings of the Qajar dynasty, who came to power in the late eighteenth century. Persia in the time of the Qajars is a collection of fiefdoms run by local strongmen and princes. Meanwhile in the capital, Tehran, the shahs, or kings, support their lavish lifestyles by acting as puppets to the British and Russian Empires, which bribe the shahs and treat Iran as part of their territories.

After centuries of tyrannical rule under the shahs and foreign interference in their country, Persian merchants, clerics, and secular intellectuals rebel and, in the first revolution of its kind in Asia, force the shah to accept the establishment of the Majlis, or parliament, and the passage of a constitution. The king at the time, Mozaffaredin Shah, reluctantly signs a decree, according to which the crown becomes “a divine gift given to the shah by the people.” This is the first time that a monarch in Asia accepts the idea that his actions should be supervised by representatives of the people.

A year later, the new king, Mohammad Ali Shah, attacks the parliament
building with cannons and tries to abolish the Majlis. For many years, the country is engulfed in chaos. Persians look for a government to provide them with security and rule of law, as well as the freedom promised to them in the Constitution.

Under the supervision of British engineers and scientists, oil is discovered in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. A British entrepreneur named William Knox D’Arcy had already obtained exclusive rights to pump oil in many parts of the country. The company that inherits D’Arcy’s rights is called the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later known as BP, British Petroleum. Even though Iran has not been a British colony, the British Empire has treated it as one for many years. After the discovery of oil, the situation becomes worse. Corrupt and weak central and local officials are bribed or coerced into helping the British exploit Persian oil freely. The taxes paid by the oil company to the British government are more than the percentage paid to Iran for the oil itself.

Reza Khan, a commander of the Persian army, and several other disgruntled prominent Iranians stage a coup to rid Iran of corruption and insecurity and establish a strong central government. Reza Khan, who eventually becomes the head of the army, wants to abolish the monarchy in Iran and establish a republic. But the mullahs, or Shia clerics, object to this decision. The mullahs believe that Persia needs a strong king who can protect Islam in the country.

Reza Khan becomes the new king in 1925, and is subsequently known as Reza Shah. He changes the country’s international name to Iran in 1935. Reza Shah tries to resurrect the glory of the Persian kings while modernizing Iran by using Western models. New industries, roads, and railroads are built, universities are established, and hundreds of young Iranians are sent to Europe to be educated. A generation of the Persian elite learns Western technical know-how, and at the same time becomes familiarized with such modern concepts as democracy, rule of law, and freedom of expression. Despite his fascination with the West, Reza Shah, a ruthless despot, has little patience for civil liberties. He jails, tortures, and kills his critics and bans opposition political parties. Reza Shah also thinks of the mullahs, who helped him come to power, as obstacles to his modernizing of Iran. He bans the wearing of the Islamic veil for women and forces men and women to wear Western clothes.

Toward the end of his reign, Reza Shah tries to put an end to British and Russian interference in Iranian affairs by allying with Nazi Germany. During the Second World War, the Allied powers—Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union—invade and occupy Iran for use as a route to strengthen the eastern front against Hitler. The Allies remove Reza Shah from power and replace him with his twenty-two-year-old son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who becomes known as the shah.

Occupation means more chaos and insecurity in Iran, as well as, for ordinary Iranians, the humiliation of living under foreign occupation. But the end of Reza Shah’s tyranny also brings a certain level of freedom to the country, and different political parties are established. The most influential of these is the communist Tudeh Party, which receives organizational and financial help from the Soviet Union. The Tudeh attracts many educated and working-class Iranians who are tired of centuries of corrupt autocratic rule in their country. The Tudeh also acts as the Soviet Union’s fifth column and works against British and American influence in Iran.

At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union refuses to pull its troops from Iran’s province of Azerbaijan, in the northwest of the country. The Soviets help Iranian communists establish the People’s Republic of Azerbaijan. The American president, Harry S. Truman, warns Joseph Stalin of the negative consequences of occupying Iran, and, according to some sources, threatens Stalin with a nuclear bomb. In a meeting in Moscow, Iranian prime minister Ahmad Qavam negotiates a deal in which Stalin will withdraw from the province in exchange for certain rights in Iran; Qavam later makes sure that these never materialize. After the Soviet troops withdraw, in December 1946, the shah’s army and Iranian nationalists massacre thousands of communists. In 1949, an unsuccessful assassination attempt against the shah, allegedly by a member of the Tudeh Party, gives the shah the perfect excuse to declare the Tudeh Party illegal and jail many of its leaders.

Mohammad Mossadegh, a popular nationalist politician, is chosen by the shah and the Majlis as the new prime minister; in less than a month he nationalizes Iranian oil, which had been controlled by the British for half a century. Mossadegh also tries to restrict the powers of the shah and turn him into a titular head of state. The British government embargoes Iran, lands troops in the Persian Gulf, and starts a secret campaign against Mossadegh
with the help of the shah and his supporters. The British also warn the United States that Mossadegh’s government will lead to a Soviet annexation of Iran.

Mossadegh tries to garner American help in his battle to put an end to British interference in Iran. He tells the Americans that his failure will lead to a communist takeover of his country. Communists call Mossadegh an American stooge and try to undermine him through riots and by getting their members in trade unions and an underground military network to conspire against his government. President Truman remains sympathetic to Mossadegh until the last day of his presidency, in January 1953. Republicans in the U.S. Congress, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, criticize Truman for not taking a tough stance against Soviet influence around the world.

After two years of embargo, Iranians are poorer, less secure, and disenchanted with Mossadegh’s government. Meanwhile, the communists are becoming more vocal and increasing their activities. The British secretly convince the new American administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, which comes to power in January 1953, to help remove Mossadegh. On August 19, 1953, a coup plotted by the Central Intelligence Agency and a British spy network in Iran is executed by Iranian army officers. Mossadegh is put on trial, and within the next few years dozens of Iranian communists are incarcerated and executed.

After the 1953 coup, the shah, with American help, expands his authority; like his father, he eventually becomes a tyrant. He continues to industrialize Iran, and has the same contempt for his critics and the mullahs. He calls himself the Shadow of God and tries to change the country through a series of decrees. In 1961, the shah grants women the right to vote and distributes large tracts of land among the farmers. These changes, among others intended to modernize Iran, later become known as the White Revolution.

The large landowners have been the main benefactors of the clerical establishment, and the majority of mullahs regard women as second-class citizens. In October 1962, in a letter to the shah, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a high-ranking seminarian at the time, expresses his concern about the shah’s reforms and calls them un-Islamic.

The shah refers to his religious critics as “black reactionaries,” and he claims they are working with the communists to undermine Iran and take it back to the Dark Ages. In June 1963, after Khomeini is arrested, his followers
rebel against the shah, and the shah’s army kills dozens of people in clashes all over the country.

In November 1964, after months under house arrest and in prison, Khomeini is sent into exile. He eventually settles in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, the bastion of Shia Islam. In exile, Khomeini communicates with his followers inside Iran through letters, leaflets, and, eventually, audiocassettes.

In Najaf, Khomeini publishes his theory of
velayat-e faqih
, or the governance of the jurisprudent, a collection of his teachings about the necessity of establishing a system of government in which a high-ranking cleric is in charge of the affairs of the state until the reappearance of Imam Mahdi, the twelfth saint of Shias. The book is a theological text with many references to the teachings of traditional Shia theologians and interpretations of the Koran. Many nonreligious opponents of the shah, among them socialists, nationalists, and communists, support Khomeini’s anti-shah struggle but don’t read his book on governance. They dismiss it as a complicated, esoteric text like thousands of books on Shia theology before it. Years later, they regret following Khomeini’s path without having understood his philosophy.

The 1973 oil crisis, triggered by many factors, including an embargo of the West by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and an earlier stock market crash, benefits Iran immensely. The increasing oil prices mean that the shah has more money with which to buy arms and new technology from the West. Consequently, he becomes even more ambitious—some claim that he is delusional—in his plans to modernize Iran. He believes that by the end of the twentieth century, Iran can be among the five most advanced nations in the world. In the early 1970s, the shah is diagnosed with cancer, but for many years he keeps his illness secret from most people, including his wife. Many observers contend that the shah’s insistence on the fast pace of change stems from his feeling that he is fighting against time.

Much of the progress in Iran happens in its major cities, and many villagers from traditional religious communities move to the big cities in hope of finding a better life. As OPEC members again start selling oil to the West, the price of oil decreases and the shah has a hard time financing his ambitious projects. Most of the villagers who have migrated to the cities do not benefit from his changes. They live mainly on the outskirts and feel alienated by the fast pace of Westernization.

Contrary to public opinion, the shah is not a stooge of the West. In fact, toward the end of his reign, he becomes quite resentful of Western attitudes toward Iran. In interviews, the shah reprimands the West for allowing too
much freedom and for the decline of its economies and cultures. In 1976, Jimmy Carter becomes president of the United States. Because one of Carter’s campaign promises entailed pressuring American allies, such as Iran, to have more respect for human rights, Carter’s election convinces the shah’s opponents that they have an ally in the White House. They become more vocal in their opposition to the shah. The shah, whose illness has worsened in the past few years, becomes paranoid about the change in American attitude, but he refuses to make any compromises with the opposition.

In January 1978, the shah orders the biggest Iranian daily newspaper,
Etela’at
, to publish an article against Khomeini. The article calls the ayatollah “a non-Iranian of Indian origin and a reactionary agent of the British who rose against the shah in protest against advancement of the country, including the progress of women.” The publication of the article leads to a series of demonstrations in the cities of Qom and Tabriz, where the shah’s army kills many protestors. According to Shia tradition, people gather to mourn for the dead forty days after their death. The suppression of each gathering on the fortieth day results in yet another protest, and increasing numbers of murdered protestors every forty days.

In this period Khomeini’s supporters start calling him Imam Khomeini for the first time, even though “imam” is a title reserved by Shias for saints. On September 8, 1978, the shah announces martial law in Tehran and eleven other cities. Many Khomeini followers take to the streets. The army opens fire on them in central Tehran. The reported number of dead varies from forty to eighty, but in the absence of any accurate report, and as anti-shah sentiments heighten in the country, there are rumors that four thousand people were martyred by the shah’s henchmen. The rumors intensify the public’s resentment of the shah.

A few weeks after the massacre, the shah forces the government of Iraq to deport Khomeini to another country. The shah hopes that Khomeini’s influence will subside once he is outside Iraq, but Khomeini moves to Paris, where he gains access to international media and can easily communicate with his followers inside Iran. Over the next four months he grants hundreds of interviews in which he promises greater liberties and prosperity for Iranians. There is not a single mention of governance of the jurisprudent; in many interviews, he offers freedom of expression, equality between men and women, and a better economic situation for every Iranian.