Pahlavi dynasty

The Pahlavi dynasty was an Iranian royal dynasty of Mazandarani ethnicity. The Pahlavi dynasty originated in Mazandaran province. In 1878 Reza Shah Pahlavi was born at the village of Alasht, located in Savadkuh County, Māzandarān Province. His parents were Major Abbas Ali Khan from Pahlavan tribe of Alasht, and Noushafarin Ayromlou.[5][6] His mother was a Muslim immigrant from Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire),[7][8] whose family had emigrated to mainland Persia after Persia was forced to cede all of its territories in the Caucasus following the Russo-Persian Wars several decades prior to Reza Shah's birth.[9] His father was commissioned in the 7th Savadkuh Regiment, and served in the Anglo-Persian War in 1856.

Persia on the eve of Reza Pahlavi's coup

In 1925, Reza Khan, a former Brigadier-General of the Persian Cossack Brigade, deposed the Qajar dynasty and declared himself king (shah), adopting the dynastic name of Pahlavi, which recalls the Middle Persian language of the Sasanian Empire.[10] By the mid-1930s, Rezā Shāh's strong secular rule caused dissatisfaction among some groups, particularly the clergy, who opposed his reforms, but the middle and upper-middle class of Iran liked what Rezā Shāh did. In 1935, Rezā Shāh issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term Iran in formal correspondence, in accordance with the fact that "Persia" was a term used by Western peoples for the country called "Iran" in Persian. His successor, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, announced in 1959 that both Persia and Iran were acceptable and could be used interchangeably.

Reza Shah tried to avoid involvement with the UK and the Soviet Union. Though many of his development projects required foreign technical expertise, he avoided awarding contracts to British and Soviet companies because of dissatisfaction during the Qajar Dynasty between Persia, the UK, and the Soviets. Although the UK, through its ownership of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, controlled all of Iran's oil resources, Rezā Shāh preferred to obtain technical assistance from Germany, France, Italy and other European countries. This created problems for Iran after 1939, when Germany and Britain became enemies in World War II. Reza Shah proclaimed Iran as a neutral country, but Britain insisted that German engineers and technicians in Iran were spies with missions to sabotage British oil facilities in southwestern Iran. Britain demanded that Iran expel all German citizens, but Rezā Shāh refused, claiming this would adversely affect his development projects.

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On 13 September 1943 the Allies reassured the Iranians that all foreign troops would leave by 2 March 1946.[11] At the time, the Tudeh Party of Iran, a communist party that was already influential and had parliamentary representation, was becoming increasingly militant, especially in the North. This promoted actions from the side of the government, including attempts of the Iranian armed forces to restore order in the Northern provinces. While the Tudeh headquarters in Tehran were occupied and the Isfahan branch crushed, the Soviet troops present in the Northern parts of the country prevented the Iranian forces from entering. Thus, by November 1945 Azerbaijan had become an autonomous state helped by the Tudeh party.[11][12] This puppet government of the Soviet Union only lasted until November 1946.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his wife Farah Diba upon his coronation as the Shâhanshâh of Iran. His wife was crowned as the Shahbanu of Iran.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi replaced his father on the throne on 16 September 1941. He wanted to continue the reform policies of his father, but a contest for control of the government soon erupted between him and an older professional politician, the nationalistic Mohammad Mosaddegh.

In 1951, the Majlis (the Parliament of Iran) named Mohammad Mossadegh as new prime minister by a vote of 79–12, who shortly after nationalized the British-owned oil industry (see Abadan Crisis). Mossadegh was opposed by the Shah who feared a resulting oil embargo imposed by the West would leave Iran in economic ruin. The Shah fled Iran but returned when the United Kingdom and the United States staged a coup against Mossadegh in August 1953 (see Operation Ajax). Mossadegh was then arrested by pro-Shah army forces.

Major plans to build Iran's infrastructure were undertaken, a new middle class began flourishing and in less than two decades Iran became the indisputable major economic and military power of the Middle East.

The Shah and his wife left Iran on 16 January 1979.

The last Shah of Iran meets clergy. Some of Iranian clergy opposed him while some others supported him as "The only Shi'ite ruler".

The Shah's government suppressed its opponents with the help of Iran's security and intelligence secret police, SAVAK. Such opponents included leftists and Islamists.

By the mid-1970s, relying on increased oil revenues, Mohammad Reza began a series of even more ambitious and bolder plans for the progress of his country and the march toward the "White Revolution". But his socioeconomic advances increasingly irritated the clergy. Islamic leaders, particularly the exiled cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, were able to focus this discontent with an ideology tied to Islamic principles that called for the overthrow of the Shah and the return to Islamic traditions, called the Islamic revolution. The Pahlavi regime collapsed following widespread uprisings in 1978 and 1979. The Islamic Revolution dissolved the SAVAK and replaced it with the SAVAMA. It was run after the revolution, according to U.S. sources and Iranian exile sources in the US and in Paris, by Gen. Hossein Fardoust, who was deputy chief of SAVAK under Mohammad Reza's reign, and a friend from boyhood of the deposed monarch.

Mohammad Reza fled the country, seeking medical treatment in Egypt, Mexico, the United States, and Panama, and finally resettled with his family in Egypt as a guest of Anwar Sadat. On his death, his son Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi succeeded him in absentia as heir apparent to the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Pahlavi and his wife live in the United States in Potomac, Maryland, with three daughters.[13]

Under the Qajar dynasty the Persian character of Iran was not very explicit. Although the country was referred to as Persia by westerners, and the dominant language in court and administration was Persian the dichotomy between pure Persian and Turkic elements had remained obvious until 1925. The Pahlavi rule was instrumental in Iran's nationalisation in line with Persian culture and language which, amongst other ways, was achieved through the official ban on the use minority languages such as Azerbaijani and successful suppression of separatist movements. Reza Pahlavi is credited for reunification of Iran under a powerful central government. The use of minority languages in schools and newspapers was not tolerated. The succeeding regime – the Islamic Republic of Iran – has adopted a more inclusive approach in relation to the use of ethnic minorities and their language, however the issues as to Azeris, the Iran's largest ethnic minority, remain and pose considerable challenges for the unity and territorial integrity of Iran.[14]

• Shâh: Emperor, followed by Shâhanshâh of Iran, with style His Imperial Majesty
• Shahbânu: Shahbânu or Empress, followed by first name, followed by "of Iran", with style Her Imperial Majesty
• Valiahd: Crown Prince of Iran, with style His Imperial Highness
• Younger sons: Prince (Shâhpūr, or King's Son), followed by first name and surname (Pahlavi), and style His Imperial Highness.
• Daughters: Princess (Shâhdokht, or King's Daughter), followed by first name and surname (Pahlavi), and style Her Imperial Highness.
• Children of the monarch's daughter/s use another version of Prince (Vâlâ Gohar, "of superior essence") or Princess (Vâlâ Gohari), which indicate descent in the second generation through the female line, and use the styles His Highness or Her Highness. This is then followed by first name and father's surname, whether he was royal or a commoner. However, the children by the last Shah's sister Fatemeh, who married an American businessman as her first husband, are surnamed Pahlavi Hillyer and do not use any titles.

As Ganji writes, the group submitted at least 30 solid reports within 13 years on a corruption of high-ranking officials and the royal circle, but Shah called the reports "false rumors and fabrications". Parviz Sabeti, a high-ranking official of SAVAK believed that the one important reason for successful opposition to the regime was corruption.[16]

Succession order is who should take over if the monarch dies or abdicates. The succession order of the Persian throne in 1979 was: (If Mohammad Reza Shah were to die or abdicate, "number 1" would take over the throne)

1. Crown Prince Cyrus Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of Mohammad Reza Shah
2. Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi II, youngest son of Mohammad Reza Shah
3. Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi, son of Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi I. The second son of Reza Shah.
4. Prince Gholam Reza Pahlavi, third son of Reza Shah
5. Prince Bahman Pahlavi, eldest son of Prince Gholam Reza Pahlavi.
6. Prince Abdul Reza Pahlavi, fourth son of Reza Shah
7. Prince Ahmad Reza Pahlavi, fifth son of Reza Shah
8. Prince Mahmud Reza Pahlavi, sixth son of Reza Shah

Reza Shah also had a seventh son, Prince Hamid Reza Pahlavi, but Mohammad Reza Shah ejected him from the Royal House, on the grounds that Prince Hamid Reza was a promiscuous "fun-lover," partying from club to club to private parties night after night, and he was also deeply addicted to drugs. After the 1979 Revolution, Prince Hamid Reza was one of the few members of the Pahlavi Dynasty who stayed in Iran.

Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah both had several daughters but at that time in Iran women could not inherit the throne.

If the Pahlavi Dynasty were still to rule Iran now, women would probably be allowed to inherit the throne. So if the Pahlavi Dynasty returns to Iran now, with Crown Prince Cyrus Reza as the King, here is how the succession order might look like:

1. Princess Noor Pahlavi, eldest daughter of Crown Prince Cyrus Reza
2. Princess Iman Pahlavi, second daughter of Crown Prince Cyrus Reza
3. Princess Farah Pahlavi, youngest daughter of Crown Prince Cyrus Reza
4. Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, eldest child of Mohammad Reza Shah
5. Princess Zahra Mahnaz Zahedi, eldest child of Princess Shahnaz
6. Prince Keykhosrow Jahanbani, second child of Princess Shahnaz
7. Princess Fawzia Jahanbani, youngest child of Princess Shahnaz
8. Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi, third child of Mohammad Reza Shah
9. Princess Irvana Pahlavi, daughter of Prince Ali Reza II
10. Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi, son of Prince Ali Reza I

• Abdolhosseyn Teymurtâš
• Abdolrezâ Pahlavi
• Ey Irân
• Daheye Fajr
• Qolâmrezâ Pahlavi
• Kamâl Habibollahi
• Kašfe hijâb
• Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr.
• Persian Corridor
• Sorude Šâhanšâhiye Irân
• Tehran Conference ("Eureka")
• Trans-Iranian Railway
• List of Shi'a Muslims dynasties

• The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran, by Andrew Scott Cooper (Henry Holt and Company, 2016) ISBN 9780805098983.
• What Really Happed to the Shah of Iran, Payvand News, 10 March 2006.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pahlavi.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Imperial State of Iran

• Pahlavi dyasty at Iran Chamber
• The Pahlavi Dynasty coins and insignia