Thank you for this post. I recently found the recent HBO documentary series on the Iran Hostage crisis, the first episode provides the build up in the 1970's, the local socio-economic situation, amidst the larger geo-political context. Fascinating how the US completely misread the volatile situation on the ground in Iran. Yet another cold war causality with the Iranian people being the primary victim.

One aspect, I find particularly interesting is the Carter admin mishandling, ironically as they had a major human rights initiative. When Carter continued backing the Shah in spite of human rights abuses, this hypocrisy fueled even more anti-American sentiment. What a lost opportunity to support serious change and reform in the Middle East.

I found this paper that addresses the Carter humanitarian issue:

https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1029&context=mhr

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I am about to take a deep dive into this, no doubt this is a case study taught in political science.

Societies in that area of the world follow different family and mating patterns. They’re organized more patrilineally along the father’s line, resulting in what’s called Father’s Brothers Daughter, or FBD marriage. It’s where cousins marry within the man’s family, so if a man has a son, the son would marry his dad’s uncle’s daughter, which essentially creates a band of brothers.

I’m guessing the Islamic Revolution promoted this kind of traditional structure that’d probably been in existence for generations. Perhaps the resistance to the shah wasn’t so much about modernity as it was about upsetting the patriarchy by giving women rights. The revolution may have been a backlash against modern changes in spite of a thriving economy under the Shah.

Great book and movie. I’ve always been interested in Iranian/Persian culture. As a 9 year old kid growing up in Canada, my mom made me watch “Not without my Daughter” starring Sally Field and Alfred Molina. I now know this movie exposes an exaggerated perspective on Iranian culture under Islamic rule but understanding the real Iranian culture is difficult since Iran is considered a pariah.

It is more complicated than what he said. The shahs father was the ruler but when he died there was a democratic government elected. The democratic government nationalized British oil which was wildly popular. Britain responded with an embargo. This tanked the economy. Mossadegh was the prime minister and called an election. Exit polls indicated his party was losing and he canceled the election. He then started to rule without parliament. Britain and the US then paid for a coup that installed the Shah as ruler. The Shah planned to restore democracy but predictably never got around to it.

So people did protest Khomeini but he had them killed which Shah did not do?

I think the simple answer, is "less corruption, less nepotism, and democracy and/or rule of law for all"...

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Iran did well in the early 70s, but oil markets adjusted, while the government kept spending. The economy started doing poorly and the newly empowered middle class wanted political power.

> Iran was doing very well economically

Well it wasn't. Inflation rate from 1964 to 1974 was on average %2.6. Then from 1974 to 1978 it reached %24.9, and the cost of living was doubled. There was just too much money pouring in Iran as a result of the 1973 oil shock and the economy overheated. More money more problems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease

the revolutionaries convinced people shah was compromised by uk/usa.

once they sized power with Khomeini return, Khomeini used the same trick to convince people that revolutionaries are against god and his new government.

Khomeini wasn't afraid to incite his followers to kill something which the shah didn't have it in him to kill his own people, as he had fled.

My knowledge on this matter is based on Wikipedia. Even with his lavish life, Was not there economic growth and relative stability in the country during Shah’s rule?

I watched this documentary https://www.pbs.org/video/part-1-taken-hostage-american-experience-a56dcc/

At the time, the world viewed a happy, prosperous, content Persia, a model for autocratic rule.

The Iranians were somewhat less happy than the world was shown!

usually story - the Shah and his cronies lived a luxurious lifestyle while the majority of people were poor and the country run down.. plus the secret police, (the SAVAK ) were particularly brutal with thousands tortured / extrajudicially killed / disappeared during their time... if you look at pictures of anti-Shah protests from the late '70's there were MILLIONS of people on the streets - they really wanted him gone !

I dont mean this in the reddit way of like I dont believe you, but do you have a decent source? Id love to read more about it it sounds really fascinating

Why did Iranians want to remove Shah? Iran was doing very well economically and was stable. So why did not people like him? And when they realized what kind of government Khomeini created, why did they not protest to remove him like they removed Shah?

I'd even go so far as to say that the inadvertent suppression of democracy due to "fear of communism" wasn't inadvertent at all. As much as the West loves democracy, they really only seem to want it when it's to their benefit. A democratic resource-rich nation might have a bunch of annoying citizens that vote not to allow the systematic exploitation of their country. Dictatorships and juntas are much more reliable to control.

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Yes B-52's can carry Nuclear weapons just as every jet fighter built since 1958 can carry Nuclear bombs or nuclear tipped missiles. F117 and B-2 Stealth aircraft can also carry Nuclear bombs or nuclear tipped missiles. F-22 & F-35 can carry Nuclear bombs and nuclear tipped missiles, and are both Stealthy. Yeah we did Christmas Bombings during the Vietnam War just as the North Vietnamese attacked during their (New Years) Tet Offensive in 1968.

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I found this graphic novel quite the change in perspective. https://www.amazon.com/Best-Enemies-History-Relations-1783-1953/dp/1906838453 edited because idiot.

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with all the x-rays ever made that could be a lot of useful data

well, he was a random white dude