But Reza Shah Pahlavi discovered that the Iranian people’s
loyalty to their Muslim leaders was greater than their interest
in his vision for the future. It was one thing to discontinue
the Muslim requirement for women to wear veils in public.
It was quite another to take charge of trust and gift funds
accumulated by the ulema. The people undermined his policies
by continuing to support the Shiite clergy financially. Muslim
journalist Mohamed Heikal surmised in his book Iran: The
Untold Story, “A Persian citizen may be prepared to cheat the
tax-collector, but not his ayatollah.”^2
As the Second World War unfolded, the shah claimed neutral-
ity but seemed to show signs of supporting the German/Italian/
Japanese Axis. Regardless of whether he actually favored the
Axis powers, the Axis’s opponents (the Soviet Union and
Great Britain, known as the Allies) suspected he did. Their
forces once more occupied Iran. Reza Shah Pahlavi was forced to
abandon his throne. His oldest son Muhammad Reza took his
place in 1941. Reza Shah Pahlavi died in exile in South Africa
three years later.
The new leader, who had been schooled in Switzerland,
was only twenty-one years old at the time. His youth hardly
mattered, for he had little to do during the years of occupation.
After the war ended in 1945, he and his country became caught
up in superpower politics. Eastern European countries controlled
by the Soviet Union squared off against the United States and
Western Europe in what became known as the Cold War. Iran, like
many other non-European nations, was courted by both sides.
Iran under the Pahlavis made progress in modernization,
but the royal court indulged in glaring excesses—lavish living
and the granting of political favors. This was especially true
under the younger shah. While many of his people lived in
poverty, he was viewed as a flamboyant head of state, a playboy.
During the early years of his reign, Pahlavi became an object
of derision to an obscure Shiite cleric in an obscure Iranian
town. The two men were destined to clash one day for control
of their country.16 AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI
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