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Mohammad Reza Chah Pahlavi ou Muhammad Rizā Shāh Pahlevi dit Aryamehr , né le 26 octobre 1919 à Téhéran et mort le 27 juillet 1980 au Caire, était le second et dernier monarque de la dynastie Pahlavi de la monarchie iranienne. Dernier chah d'Iran, il régna du 16 septembre 1941 au 11 février 1979 . Contraint à l'exil le 16 janvier 1979, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fut remplacé par un conseil royal et renversé par la Révolution iranienne, mais n'a jamais abdiqué officiellement. Il succéda à son père, Reza Chah, lorsque ce dernier, jugé trop proche de l'Allemagne nazie, fut contraint d'abdiquer en septembre 1941 lors de l'invasion anglo-soviétique de l'Iran. Au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le jeune chah fut confronté aux tentatives sécessionnistes dans les provinces du nord-est lors de la crise irano-soviétique et aux rébellions tribales dans le sud du pays. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi se rapprocha par la suite des États-Unis et entretint des liens très étroits avec la Maison-Blanche, en particulier avec les présidents Dwight Eisenhower et Richard Nixon.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi assista à la nationalisation de l'industrie pétrolière iranienne, alors sous contrôle britannique depuis 1913, par son Premier ministre nationaliste Mohammad Mossadegh, à cause du refus de l'Anglo-Persian Oil Company de renégocier les termes du contrat d'exploitation des gisements pétroliers. Cette décision entraîna une crise internationale entre l'Iran et le Royaume-Uni. En réaction à l'influence grandissante de Mossadegh, les services secrets anglo-américains le renversèrent en 1953 pendant l'opération Ajax, non sans avoir envenimé la situation politique, obligeant le chah, qui les avait soutenus, à s'exiler en Italie. Cependant, grâce à l'armée dirigée par le général Zahedi, il fut rapidement restauré sur le trône. Évoluant ensuite vers une conception plus nationale, réformiste et autoritaire de la politique intérieure, le chah d'Iran entreprit, par référendum, un vaste programme de progrès social et de développement économique, la « Révolution blanche », associé à une répression des mouvements d'opposition incarnée par la SAVAK. À l'extérieur, tout en demeurant un allié de premier plan pour les Américains et les chancelleries occidentales, le chah se rapprocha aussi progressivement de l'Union soviétique puis de la Chine, traduisant ainsi un désir d'émancipation à travers plus de neutralisme.

Lorsqu'il entama une politique de partenariat économique privilégié avec l'Europe, en particulier la France , et surtout avec le Japon , au détriment des États-Unis, ces derniers lui retirèrent leur appui et décidèrent de précipiter son éviction. Les États-Unis vont ainsi soutenir fortement l'expression de mouvements contestataires étudiants, pourtant marxisants, et financer la communication pour la révolution islamiste de l'ayatollah Khomeini. Par ailleurs, il est clair que le poids de l'alliance américaine avec l'Arabie Saoudite et les autres monarchies du golfe , partenaires de l'Iran dans l'OPEP, mais rivaux pour la maîtrise du Golfe Persique, est un facteur qui amena les États-Unis à chercher à entraver le développement économique de l'Iran et son rôle de puissance politique régionale, à partir du moment où ils pensèrent ne plus être en mesure d'influencer l'Iran, du fait de la stratégie trop indépendante et ambitieuse du chah.

Si la politique volontariste du chah améliora considérablement le niveau de vie des Iraniens et permit au pays une modernisation rapide dans les années 1960 et 1970, elle contribua à élargir le fossé économique, social et culturel entre une partie de la population, fortement occidentalisée, et une autre, sensible au conservatisme religieux prêché par Khomeini. En 1978, de plus en plus critiqué, le chah dut faire face à un soulèvement populaire, la Révolution iranienne, qui s'accentua au fil des mois et d'où émergèrent les fondamentalistes chiites inspirés par l'ayatollah Khomeini. En janvier 1979, après avoir perdu progressivement ses soutiens traditionnels et l'appui occidental, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi nomma en dernier recours l'opposant social-démocrate Shapour Bakhtiar au poste de Premier ministre et quitta ensuite l'Iran. Le renversement du gouvernement Bakhtiar et la déclaration de neutralité de l'armée, quelques semaines plus tard, précipitèrent sa chute et contribuèrent à l'avènement de Khomeini. Contraint à l'exil et atteint d'un cancer, Mohammad Reza Chah Pahlavi mourut en Égypte l'année suivante. Wikipedia  

✵ 26. octobre 1919 – 27. juillet 1980
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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: 92   citations 0   J'aime

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: Citations en anglais

“Yugoslavia is, with Iran, the only country which under difficult, not to say agonising, circumstances stood up to Joseph Stalin. It was not easy to unite ethnic groups or to modernize a country like Yugoslavia, and it must be acknowledged that Marshal Tito achieved something extraordinary. May God grant that his successors be as capable as he.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 146-147
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On world leaders and statesmen

“Since the beginning of 1979, it has often been said that the Shiite religion, like the ephemeral French Republic of 1792 is "one and indivisible". Nothing could be further from the truth. Those in power do not represent the élite of the hierarchy. Narrow-minded and mediocre, they are as far removed as it is possible to be from the noble ideas of the Prophet. They are ignorant of essential political, economic and social realities of the day, but nonetheless they claim to legislate.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 205
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On Islam and the Islamic Revolution

“If I take a liking to someone, I need only the smallest shred of doubt to make me break it off. I am alone, but I don't feel alone… because God is up there. I know people sometimes make fun of me because I am religious, but I feel this profoundly. God is my only friend.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Gérard de Villiers (1975), The Imperial Shah: An Informal Biography, page 273
Attributed

“I want the standard of living in Iran in ten years' time to be exactly on a level with that in Europe today. In twenty years' time we shall be ahead of the United States.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Marvin Zonis (1991), Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah, page 65
Attributed

“Let the dog bark; the moon shall beam on.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Gholam R. Afkhami (2009) The life and times of the Shah, page 261
The 'dog' was a reference to Khomeini
Attributed

“You've never produced a Michleangelo or a Bach. You've never even produced a great chef. And if you talk to me about opportunity, all I can say is, are you joking? Have you ever lacked the opportunity, to give history a great chef? You've produced nothing great, nothing!”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Oriana Fallaci (December 30, 1973), The Mystically Divine Shah of Iran (interview), Chicago Tribune
Interviews

“Ashraf, keep this gun with you, and if troops enter Tehran and try to take us, fire a few shots and then take your own life. I'll do the same.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Ashraf Pahlavi (1980), Faces in a Mirror, page 41
Stated to his twin sister during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Attributed

“A person who does not enter the new [Rastakhiz] party… is either an individual who belongs to an illegal organization, or is related to the outlaw Tudeh Party, or in other words is a traitor. Such an individual belongs in an Iranian prison, or if he desires, he can leave the country tomorrow… because he is not an Iranian, he has no nation, and his activities are illegal and punishable according to law.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Marvin Zonis (1991), Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah, page 75
Attributed

“I will frankly confess that I was convinced that God had ordained me to do certain things for the service of my nation, things that perhaps could not be done by anyone else. In whatever I have done and whatever I do in the future, I consider myself as an agent of the will of God.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 16
Publications, The White Revolution (1966)

“The Times and the Guardian accuse us of operating a police-state. The BBC Persian programme has made similair allegations, saying that countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia should be denied access to Western military technology. What are the bloody fools on about? Do they seriously regard Iraq, or Algeria, or Libya as liberal regimes?”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Asadollah Alam (1991), The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77, page 490
Attributed

“Do you remember the afternoon, at one of our first meetings, when we'd been playing quoits? There were a lot of us, quite a crowd. Most of the quoits fell on the ground instead of the target, and you were kind enough to run and pick them up for everyone. You had already charmed me, but on that day I loved the way you were so natural.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Farah Pahlavi (2004) An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah, page 11
Attributed

“I have learned by experience that a tragic end awaits anyone who dares cross swords with me; Nasser is no more, John and Robert Kennedy died at the hands of assassins, their brother Edward has been disgraced, Krushchev was toppled, the list is endless.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Asadollah Alam (1991), The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77, page 202
Attributed

“This criticism is ridiculous. The twenty-five hundreth anniversary celebration cost me less than the inauguration of each new president of the United States.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Gérard de Villiers (1975), The Imperial Shah: An Informal Biography, page 284
The twenty-five hundreth anniversary celebrations of Persian monarchy, taking place on October 12–16, 1971, were estimated to cost 100 million dollars.
Attributed

“I wish to salute the intransigent patriotism and the unflinching determination for independence of the Roumanian president. I was allied to him by a true friendship.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 147
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On world leaders and statesmen

“It's always a tendency to compare our country in my time to the most perfect democracies of the world. I don't mind that. But now, what we hear is "oh let's try to understand these people. After all, Islam is something special," when what they are doing is absolutely contrary to Islam. Now, everybody is trying to say "well, let's try to understand these people", these people who are killing, massacring others, the people they don't like just like flies. But in my case, it is to compare it to the most perfect government of the world.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

David Frost (January 1980), The Shah Speaks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUQUDf5IBo&feature=related (video)
Interviews

“… the Saudis have never shown any respect for human rights, either now or in the past. Even a petty burglar faces having one of his hands chopped off. The liberal press in America prefers to ignore all this, although they don't hesitate to blacken the reputation of Iran.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Asadollah Alam (1991), The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77, page 535
Attributed

“Nobody can influence me, nobody. Still less a woman. Women are important in a man's life only if they're beautiful and charming and keep their femininity.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Oriana Fallaci (December 30, 1973), The Mystically Divine Shah of Iran (interview), Chicago Tribune
Interviews

“They want liberalization! I'll give them liberalization. I'll loosen the screws until the Americans beg me to tighten them again.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Marvin Zonis (1991), Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah, page 109
Attributed

“As for King Hussein of Jordan, I cannot praise him enough. He is not only a friend, but a brother. His qualities as a man and his goodness of heart are enhanced by great courage and a true love of his country.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 146
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On world leaders and statesmen

“I did not share the enthusiasm of certain politicians for the National Front leader, it was because I had noticed, in the past, some strange contradictions between Mossadeq's declared ends and his actions. Officially he defended nationalist anti-colonialism and was the most intransigent patriot who declared that no concessions or advantages should be granted to foreign powers. He described his doctrine as a "negative balance" and in fact his greatest failing was that he was negative.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 52-53
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On world leaders and statesmen

“Nikita Khruschev was a difficult man to deal with, often very hard, always determined. But his peasant side which made him alternatively good-natured and cunning, also made him likeable.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 142
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On world leaders and statesmen

“The great powers claim that whatever they possess is theirs by right, but whatever we, the smaller countries possess is negotiable.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Asadollah Alam (1991), The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77, page 262
Attributed

“I remember that on one occasion Mossadegh swooned in the midst of a speech to our Parliament. When a hastily summoned doctor started to loosen his clothes, Mossadegh instantly revived enough to clap his hand over his wallet. The old hypocrite had not been unconscious at all; he was merely pretending in the hope of impressing his audience. I think this incident, observed by many, illustrates one of Mossadegh's cardinal characteristics- namely, his insincerity.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 109
Publications, Mission for my Country (1961)

“I am not bloodthirsty. I am working for my country and the coming generations. I can't waste my time on a few young idiots. I don't believe the tortures attributed to the SAVAK are as common as people say, but I can't run everything. Besides, we have ways of using psychological pressure that are much more effective than torture… My people have every kind of freedom, except the freedom to betray.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Gérard de Villiers (1975), The Imperial Shah: An Informal Biography, page 259
Attributed

“I must enforce the Iranian laws, which are designed to combat communism. This is a very real and dangerous problem for Iran- and, indeed, for the other countries in my area and in the Western world. It may be that when this serious menace is removed, the laws can be changed, but that will not be soon. In any case, the complaints and recent disturbances originate among the very troublemakers against whom the laws have been designed to protect our country. They are really just a tiny minority, and have no support among the vast majority of Iranian people.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Jimmy Carter (1995), Keeping faith: memoirs of a president, page 445
Attributed

“It is woman's peculiar gifts, as well as man's, which make nonesense of any literal-minded notion of 'equality' of the sexes. Nobody could do greater harm to woman's real progress than to confuse 'equality' on the one hand with 'equality of opportunity' on the other. The Moslem religion and all the other great world faiths teach the complementary relationship of man and woman. They all reject the idea of their being 'equal' in the sense of identical or synonymous. Observation and common sense teach the same truths.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 235
Publications, Mission for my Country (1961)

“We may be delighted to see Israel putting the Arabs in their place, but we have repeatedly condemned their occupation of Arab territory.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Asadollah Alam (1991), The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77, page 65
Attributed

“You approach the Mullahs as if they are normal people. They are not. You see them in your own image; you should not.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

As quoted in Gholam R. Afkhami (2009) The life and times of the Shah, page 591
Attributed

“I heard the voice of your revolution… As Shah of Iran as well as an Iranian citizen, I cannot but approve your revolution… Let all of us work together to establish real democracy in Iran … I make a commitment to be with you and your revolution against corruption and injustice in Iran.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Broadcast to the nation. November 5
Speeches, 1978

“They say that [martial law] would have cost my country less than the bloody anarchy which is there now. I can only reply that it is easy to play the prophet a posteriori and that a sovereign may not save his throne by shedding his compatriots' blood. A dictator can, because he acts, because he acts in the name of an ideology which he believes must triumph whatever the price. But a sovereign is not a dictator. There is an alliance between him and his people which he cannot break. A dictator has nothing to hand over. Power lies in him, and in him alone. A sovereign receives a crown and it is his duty to pass it on.”

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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Page 182
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On himself