Assassinations of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Several attacks were carried out on Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi during his reign, which lasted from 1941 to 1979 . Two attacks are particularly well known, as Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi narrowly escaped death.

Mohammad Reza Shah in hospital after the assassination attempt on February 4, 1949

Assassination attempt on February 4, 1949 (15th Bahman 1327)

The first assassination attempt occurred on February 4, 1949 at around 3 p.m. It was a Friday and therefore a day of rest in Iran. February 4th was the founding day of Tehran University . It has been a tradition since Reza Shah that the Shah visits university on this day and hands over the diplomas for the current year. In the afternoon, Mohammad Reza Shah reached the university campus and walked to the law school building where the certificates were to be handed over. Suddenly a man with a camera walked up to the Shah, pulled out a 6.35 caliber pistol . He aimed at the Shah from a distance of two meters and fired five shots. The first three bullets only grazed the scalp, the fourth bullet pierced the lower lip and cheekbones, and the fifth bullet hit the collarbone. The sixth shot was missed due to a jam. The assassin, Nasser Fakhr Araϊ, was shot first in the leg and then by two bullets in the stomach and hip by the officers accompanying the Shah. He died immediately after the attack.

It later emerged that the assassin had gained access to the university campus using a press card issued by the newspaper Partcham-e Islam (The Flag of Islam). With the allegation that the assassin Fakhr Araϊ was a member of the communist Tudeh party , this group was banned with immediate effect, newspapers related to the party were closed and other political opposition members were arrested. On the day of the attack, the Tudeh party had held a large demonstration at Taqi Erani's tomb and had already started campaigning for the upcoming parliamentary elections in the summer of 1949. The ban prevented the party from officially taking part in the election.

Mohammad Reza Shah took advantage of the fact that he had survived the attack with minor injuries. He presented a law to parliament to establish a second chamber, the Senate (Kakh-e Majles-e Sena), which, although provided for in the 1906 constitution, had not yet been constituted. Parliament approved the bill on February 27, 1949, and the Senate was opened by the Shah on April 21, 1949. With the establishment of the Senate, Mohammad Reza Shah was able to expand his power base vis-à-vis parliament, since half of the senators were appointed by the Shah and half were elected by the population. The first session of the Senate took place on February 9, 1950.

On April 21, 1949, Mohammad Reza Shah opened the parliamentary session. At this meeting, Parliament approved an amendment to Article 48 of the Constitution, according to which the Shah can dissolve Parliament at any time and without reason. This gave Mohammad Reza Shah a means of pressure against the MPs that he knew how to use in the years to come to implement his political ideas.

Assassination attempt on April 10, 1965 (21st Farvardin 1344)

The second assassination attempt on April 10, 1965 at 10:00 a.m. was supposed to hit the Shah in the entrance area of ​​the Marble Palace and was carried out by Reza Shamsabadi - a conscript who had been assigned to guard duty that day. The marble palace in the middle of Tehran was used as the official office of the Shah. The palace guards ( pasdaran ) were made up of professional soldiers from the Shah's bodyguard (Imperial Guard) and conscripts who, in joint units, were supposed to ensure the protection of the royal family and their palaces. The soldiers assigned to the palace guard had been carefully checked. Even the palace guards' families were included in the surveillance. The change of palace guards took place according to a fixed ceremony, which was accompanied by a band. During the changing of the guard, the Kakh Street in front of the Marble Palace was usually cordoned off in order to allow the changing of the guard to proceed smoothly. On the April 10th in question, the guards marched as usual for the changing of the guard. The officer on duty came over to meet them and informed them that the changing of the guard today would be without ceremony, which was completely unusual. The guards were changed as ordered without ceremony.

The Shah usually walked from his apartment building near the Marble Palace to the Marble Palace with the Crown Prince at 9:00 a.m. on weekdays. The street leading to the Marble Palace opened up in front of the palace into a small, triangular square. At every corner of the square stood a guard, equipped with a German-made MP 40 submachine gun , dating from the Second World War , with twenty rounds and a spare magazine with another forty rounds. On the right and left side of the palace entrance there were two officers on watch with the same armament. On April 10, an hour before the arrival of the Shah, a plainclothes officer from a special unit came into the palace grounds. Another non-commissioned officer of this special unit named Laschgari was already in the palace. The guard Shamsabadi was on duty that day and was assigned to a guard position in the triangle in front of the palace. Shamsabadi was considered a particularly good marksman. As it later turned out, Shamsabadi had been contacted by opponents of the Shah while on home leave and won an assassination attempt.

A meeting between the Shah and the Pakistani chief of staff was scheduled for the morning of April 10 at 9:45 a.m. The Shah was a little late and therefore drove from his apartment building to the Marble Palace in a car without the Crown Prince. The car quickly passed the guards and stopped right in front of the palace entrance at 10:00 a.m. Mohammad Reza Shah got out of the car and hurried to the front door of the palace. Shamsabadi, who had probably planned to shoot the Shah who was coming on foot with the Crown Prince, left his post and ran towards the Shah. Officer on watch, Master Sergeant Mohammad Ali Babaian, immediately drew his pistol and shot Shamsabadi eight times. While Shamsabadi turned, pointed his weapon at Babaian and shot him, the Shah managed to enter the palace. Hasasi, the valet standing at the door, locked the door behind the Shah. Shamsabadi shot at the door, injured Hasasi's hand, kicked the door in and penetrated the palace. In the entrance area of ​​the palace, Shamsabadi was stopped with a pistol by the officer on watch, Master Sergeant Ayat Laschgari. Shamsabadi shot a volley from his submachine gun at Laschgari before collapsing, hit by two bullets from Laschgari. Sergeant Sari rushed to Laschgari's aid and killed Shamsabadi. After the exchange of fire, Babaian lay dead in front of the palace entrance. Laschgari and Shamsabadi were also found dead in the entrance hall of the palace. Mohammad Reza Shah, who was the subject of the attack, was initially able to flee to his office and later left the palace via a side entrance.

destroyed Babaian / Laschgari mausoleum

During the investigation into the backers, the alleged client, ex-general Teymur Bachtiar , who was in exile, was initially found . Six members of a Maoist group were arrested as possible assassins and brought to justice. Ahmed Mansuri and Ahmed Kamerani were sentenced to death, Parviz Nikkhah received life imprisonment and other defendants were acquitted. Mansuri and Nikkhah had asked for an audience with the Shah, which he also granted. After this audience, the death penalty for the two main defendants was commuted to life imprisonment. After less than six years in prison, Mansuri and his accomplices were released on January 2, 1971. Parviz Nikkhah made a career in state broadcasting and became a political analyst and later department head of the national radio and television (NIRT). After the Islamic Revolution, he was executed on March 13, 1979 for collaborating with the Shah.

The officers on watch Babaian and Laschgari, who were killed in the attack, were buried in a small mausoleum in the Emamzadeh Abdullah cemetery. After the Islamic Revolution , the mausoleum of Babaian and Laschgari was destroyed on behalf of Ibrahim Yazdi , who later became foreign minister of the Bazargan government .

From today's perspective it becomes clear why those accused of the conspiracy were not executed but pardoned and released from prison after a few years. The assassins did not come from the left-wing scene, as was alleged at the trial. Rather, Shamsabadi had been contacted by members of Fedayeen-e Islam who had murdered Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansour just three months earlier . Six months before the attack, Ruhollah Khomeini was deported to Turkey after he personally attacked the government and the Shah in a speech over a law passed on October 13, 1964 that diplomatic members of the American military stationed in Iran and their families Status and thus diplomatic immunity. The law, passed under pressure from the US government, touched a sore point in Iran's history. The British and Russian military had comparable privileges guaranteed at the end of the 19th century, and it was Reza Shah in 1928 that put an end to these privileges for foreign citizens. In his speech, Khomeini referred to Article 2 of a constitutional amendment of 1907, according to which every law had to be reviewed by a five-member council of clergy with regard to its conformity with the laws of Islam, and that this provision has so far not been taken into account by the parliamentarians. Khomeini ended his speech with an appeal that God destroy all who betray the country, Islam and the Koran. A short time later began a series of attacks, the first of which was Prime Minister Mansour to fall victim.

More assassinations

On May 19, 1967, the Shah's car was ambushed by a 40-man squad. However, the Shah was not in his car. The attack failed.

On June 3, 1967, the student Alikai Nadar tried in West Berlin to drive a car filled with bombs against the Shah's car. This attack also failed. According to information from KGB agent Vladimir Anatolyevich Kusitschkin, the KGB attempted to blow up the Shah with a bomb hidden in a VW Beetle.

Individual evidence

  1. Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and times of the Shah. UC University Press, 2009. pp. 116f.
  2. Interview with the eyewitness Colonel Mansour Grayeli, Commander Imperial Ground Force Base, Radio Iran, Huston USA, April 10, 2009.
  3. a b Gérard de Villiers: The Shah. Econ 1975. p. 382 ff.
  4. The information on the destruction of the mausoleum is based on personal information from eyewitnesses. The devastation does not only affect this mausoleum. Signs of the Pahlavi dynasty (crown and lion) have been removed from most of the gravestones throughout the cemetery. Tombs of prominent families of the Pahlavi dynasty were also demolished and graves devastated in other cemeteries in Ray. The former mausoleum of Reza Shah in Ray was completely demolished and the underground tombs were blown up and filled in.
  5. Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and times of the Shah. UC University Press, 2009. pp. 376f.
  6. Kuzichkin, Vladimir (1990). Inside the KGB: My Life in Soviet Espionage. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-8041-0989-3 .

See also