Bakhtiar's Heroic Battle: 37 Days: An Interview with Amouzegar

Deeply Riveting account of events preceding the departure of the Late Shah from Iran and Shapour Bakhtiar's (the Last Prime Minister of Iran) attempt to save Iran. Ironically, he was almost prophetic in predicting the horrondous fate awaiting the Iranian nation. The interview is full of detailed information about how the Islamic Jacobins operated to conduct their bloody takeover of the nation, as if Khomeini had taken a page out the French Revolution's handbook down to fabrication and manufacturing propaganda, false accusation and character assassination of the opposition. Here are some excerpts:

Bakhtiar's Heroic Battle: 37 Days
By Cyrus Kadivar
An interview with Jamshid Amouzegar (former finance Minister of Iran)
Author's Note: "My interview with Mr Amouzegar took place in Paris last August 2002. Story completed on February 10th, 2003. - Cyrus Kadivar

[...]After the audience, Bakhtiar left the Palace with a heavy heart. He kept reminding himself that if the Shah had summoned him it was because he had no one else to turn to.

"At this point," Bakhtiar later wrote in his memoirs, "I was tempted to tell the Shah to go find someone else. Yet, the truth is that it no longer concerned the Shah, not even the Constitution, but Iran. Iran, a reality superior to all other considerations."


The ministers were now led into a large reception room beautifully decorated with Persian glass and chandeliers. "None of us wore any gold-braided uniforms," Amouzegar remembered. "The Court Minister did not even bother to line us up according to our ranks. This would have been unthinkable a few months ago."

When the Shah walked into the room Amouzegar (former minister) was startled by his grave appearance. The monarch looked pale and there was a slight tremble in his face and hands. Looking tired and drawn in a somber business suit, he turned to Prime Minister Bakhtiar who courteously introduced his ministers. Despite his deteriorating health and anxious state of mind the Shah tried to keep up his haughty bearing.

"His Majesty walked down the row extending his hand for the nervous ministers to kiss," Amouzegar recounted. "When he approached me I simply bowed and shook the royal hand much to Bakhtiar's displeasure who later scolded me."

When he had finished greeting the ministers, the Shah turned and asked for a microphone so that he could make a small speech. "It was an embarrassing moment," Amouzegar said, rolling his eyes. "For a moment the Shah stood there waiting for someone to hand him the microphone but there was nobody there to help. It was a tragic moment. At the end, Bakhtiar had to leave the room and look for the microphone. It was really the end of the Shah's absolute rule."

Finally, the Shah addressed his ministers. "For some time," he said, "I have been ill and in need of medical treatment which due to the situation in the country has been long overdue. I urge you gentlemen to serve your country and support the Prime Minister. In my absence a Regency Council will be created. The Shahbanou and I plan to go abroad for a short trip and much needed rest."

On January 16th 1979 Sirous Amouzegar, now settled in his ministerial office, watched the royal departure on Iranian television. "Bakhtiar had gone to the airport to bid the Shah and the Empress farewell having received a confirmation vote from both houses of Parliament," he said. "When I saw the Shah's tears I could not hold back my own. A few moments before several loyal officers had thrown themselves at his feet urging him not to go. It was a pathetic scene."

No sooner had the Shah's plane lifted into the sky that the streets exploded with jubilant demonstrators burning his portrait and honking their car horns."Looking out my window," Amouzegar said, "I felt disgusted and told myself that in their hysteria the people were completely unaware of the dark future awaiting them. It was like witnessing a nation commit collective suicide. That day I decided to put a picture of the Shah on my desk. Whenever a colleague told me to remove it I said that I considered him the lawful king of our country until stated otherwise."

A few days later, Prime Minister Bakhtiar held his first Cabinet meeting in a large room. The ministers sat around a polished table. Khomeini and Sanjabi had called his government "illegal" and were urging his ministers to resign or face the music later. In Tehran and other major cities thousands of hysteric demonstrators marched chanting, "Bakhtiar, Nokar bee ekhtiyar, Bakhtiar, the Servant with no power."

Standing beside a photo of Mossadeq, Bakhtiar addressed his ministers in a strong voice. "Gentlemen," he said, "Our country is in mortal danger and we all bear a heavy burden on our conscience. I believe that if we stand firm and demonstrate our courage in the difficult days ahead we will be able to weather the coming storm. Of course, any minister who does not want to stick around can resign."

"Listening to Shapour Bakhtiar that day," Amouzegar confessed, "I was filled with renewed optimism. A few weeks ago I would have given him a five percent chance of success. But as he spoke my confidence rose and so did my belief that we could halt the madness and prevent Khomeini's followers from seizing the country. Only one minister resigned that day and ironically he was thrown in jail after the revolution. Each time I felt low Bakhtiar would raise my morale and urge me to hang in there. We needed three months to win public opinion and prepare the grounds for a genuine referendum and free elections, he would tell me."

Dubbed "the Iranian Kerensky" by foreign reporters, Bakhtiar made daily appearances on radio and television warning his compatriots of a dictatorship worse than anything seen in Iranian history. At the parliament he unveiled several measures designed to appeal to elements in the opposition. He lifted restrictions on the press; the newspapers, on strike since November, resumed publication. He set free the remaining political prisoners and promised the dissolution of the secret police, the lifting of martial law and free elections. But the masses ignored him.

On February 1st, after refusing to see Bakhtiar in Paris, Ayatollah Khomeini flew to Tehran amidst great popular acclaim. "Until the last minute the government was torn between diverting his plane to Kish Island in the Persian Gulf or letting him land," Amouzegar revealed. "A few Air Force officers like General Ayat Mohagheghi volunteered to crash their jets against the chartered Air France plane. At the end permission was granted and Khomeini landed safely with his entourage. During the coverage of his arrival a few loyalists interrupted the TV programme with a portrait of the Shah and the imperial anthem."

Escorted to the Behesht Zahra Cemetery where many of the revolution's martyrs were buried, Khomeini announced that he would "smash in the mouth of the Bakhtiar government." He called for strikes and demonstrations to continue. The military high command kept their nerve and General Abbas Gharabaghi, the Chief of the Supreme Commanders Staff, warned his fellow officers against any rash attempts to stage a coup against the Bakhtiar government.

But the loyalty of the imperial iranian armed forces was already eroding after months of confrontation with the people on the streets. Desertions became commonplace.

Meanwhile, a girls' secondary school at which Khomeini established his headquarters in Tehran became the center of the revolutionary movement. A multitude of decisions were handled here by what came to be known as the Komiteh-ye Imam, or the Imam's Committee. On Febuary 5th, Khomeini named Mehdi Bazargan as prime minister of a provisional government while in many large urban centers the local komitehs (revolutionary committees) seized control.

Bakhtiar reacted in true style. "The Iranian nation and the Iranian state are indivisable entities," he said. "One country, one government, one constitution, or nothing else."

Several pro-Bakhtiar demonstrations in the Aryamehr Stadium were held in Tehran with elegant men and women waving tricolor flags and weeping their support. "Bakhtiar hold your position," they chanted. The crowds soon grew from 40,000 to 100,000.

Encouraged by the demonstrations in his favour Bakhtiar declared: "I shall remain in the position of the legitimate prime minister of this country until future free elections are held. Whoever enjoys a majority, shall govern -- An Islamic government limited to Qom is permissible, and we shall then have a Vatican too."

Behind the scene however Bakhtiar and Bazargan engaged in furious secret negotiations. "Many meetings were held either at my house or that of Senator Jaffroudi," Amouzegar said. "Both sides were afraid of a civil war. One day Amir Entezam told me to quit. He said that many generals had secretly joined the revolution. I laughed. But when he hinted that Gharabaghi was among them I lost my smile."

On February 8th, uniformed airmen appeared at Khomeini's home and pledged their allegiance to him. "The armed forces must return to the people," the Ayatollah said. "They will be welcomed with open arms. Islam is a forgiving religion."

The end began unexpectedly on a Friday night, February 9th. In order to discredit Khomeini, Bakhtiar had instructed the television networks to broadcast the Ayatollah's interview with a foreign journalist before his return to Iran. Asked about his feelings after spending 15 years in exile, Khomeini had replied, "Nothing!"

Instead of generating support for the government's position the film provoked a mutiny among Homafar air force technicians at Doshan Tappeh Air Base outside Tehran. They poured out of the mess hall chanting religious slogans in support of Khomeini and attacked the outnumbered pro-Shah officers sent to arrest them.

"I rang the Prime Minister and gave him the news," Amouzegar explained. "It was about midnight. Someone woke up Bakhtiar. When he came to the phone he told me that he had heard about the troubles but that it was nothing serious and went back to sleep."

When units of the Imperial Guards failed to put down the mutiny the situation turned into an insurrection. By Saturday, February 10th, the arsenal was opened, and thousands of weapons were distributed to crowds outside the air base.

It was 3a.m. when Bakhtiar rang Amouzegar. "He sounded concerned," Amouzegar remembered. "We talked about a counter-insurgency plan which he planned to unveil later in the day at a special meeting of the National Security Council."

As people barricaded themselves against the tanks and jeeps sent to enforce a military curfew, Bakhtiar ordered the Air Force Chief General Rabii to bomb the defense and ammunitions factory. Rabii refused calling the plan crazy and impractical. Discussion then turned to a list that SAVAK General Moghaddam had prepared.

"The list which had included 200 names a few weeks ago had grown to 308," Amouzegar revealed. "These people were to be arrested and taken to a deserted camp near Tehran. They included Ayatollah Khomeini, his comrades at the Alavi School, and scores of journalists and national front and leftist activists."

For some mysterious reason the plan was never carried out. Worse the news was leaked to the revolutionary camp and this led to further fighting.Unable to enforce the curfew, General Mehdi Rahimi, the military governor, watched helplessly as the mob captured the key police stations, prisons, barracks, and ministry buildings.

No sooner had the Shah's plane lifted into the sky that the streets exploded with jubilant demonstrators burning his portrait and honking their car horns."Looking out my window," Amouzegar said, "I felt disgusted and told myself that in their hysteria the people were completely unaware of the dark future awaiting them. It was like witnessing a nation commit collective suicide. That day I decided to put a picture of the Shah on my desk. Whenever a colleague told me to remove it I said that I considered him the lawful king of our country until stated otherwise."...

[...]On the night of August 6th 1991, the 77-year old Bakhtiar and his secretary Soroush Katibeh were brutally assassinated by three undercover agents sent from Tehran."They cut his throat with a kitchen knife and left him to bleed to death on his leather sofa," Amouzegar said. "I know that he put up a fight until the end. At his funeral I was in a state of shock. I could hardly talk."

We felt sad for Bakhtiar, an Iranian patriot and liberal who had placed such great faith in France as a bastion of democracy and human values. As we talked in the semi-darkness on that August night a sense of disgust pervaded the gentle air.Clearly, the negligence of the French police chosen for Bakhtiar's safety and the trial of the suspects charged with the gruesome murders, continued to haunt Amouzegar. Although the court concluded that the killings had been ordered by the leaders of the Islamic republic, the Mitterand government had appeared ready to put the incident behind them in favour of lucrative trade deals.

The French, who had once harboured Khomeini as the leader of the revolution against the Shah did not want to upset the mullahs. Two of the assassins, Fereydoun Boyerahmadi and Mohammed Azadi, managed to escape to Iran...more

Dr Bakhtiar's gravesite in Paris


Many Thanks to Aryamehr for sharing this.