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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
Once installed as prime minister, Bakhtiar took several
measures designed to appeal to elements in the opposition movement.
He lifted restrictions on the press; the newspapers, on strike
since November, resumed publication. He set free remaining
political prisoners and promised the dissolution of SAVAK, the
lifting of martial law, and free elections. He announced Iran's
withdrawal from CENTO, canceled US$7 billion worth of arms orders
from the United States, and announced Iran would no longer sell oil
to South Africa or Israel. Although Bakhtiar won the qualified
support of moderate clerics like Shariatmadari, his measures did
not win him the support of Khomeini and the main opposition
elements, who were now committed to the overthrow of the monarchy
and the establishment of a new political order. The National Front,
with which Bakhtiar had been associated for nearly thirty years,
expelled him from the movement. Khomeini declared Bakhtiar's
government illegal. Bazargan, in Khomeini's name, persuaded the oil
workers to pump enough oil to ease domestic hardship, however, and
some normalcy returned to the bazaar in the wake of Bakhtiar's
appointment. But strikes in both the public and the private sector
and large-scale demonstrations against the government continued.
When, on January 29, 1979, Khomeini called for a street
"referendum" on the monarchy and the Bakhtiar government, there was
a massive turnout.
Bakhtiar sought unsuccessfully to persuade Khomeini to postpone
his return to Iran until conditions in the country were normalized.
Khomeini refused to receive a member of the regency council
Bakhtiar sent as an emissary to Paris and after some hesitation
rejected Bakhtiar's offer to come to Paris personally for
consultations. Bakhtiar's attempt to prevent Khomeini's imminent
return by closing the Mehrabad Airport at Tehran on January 26,
1979, proved to be only a stopgap measure.
Khomeini arrived in Tehran from Paris on February 1, 1979,
received a rapturous welcome from millions of Iranians, and
announced he would "smash in the mouth of the Bakhtiar government."
He labeled the government illegal and called for the strikes and
demonstrations to continue. A girls' secondary school at which
Khomeini established his headquarters in Tehran became the center
of opposition activity. A multitude of decisions, and the
coordination of the opposition movement, were handled here by what
came to be known as the komiteh-ye Imam, or the Imam's
committee. On February 5, Khomeini named Mehdi Bazargan as prime
minister of a provisional government. Although Bazargan did not
immediately announce a cabinet, the move reinforced the conditions
of dual authority that increasingly came to characterize the
closing days of the Pahlavi monarchy. In many large urban centers
local komitehs (revolutionary committees) had assumed
responsibility for municipal functions, including neighborhood
security and the distribution of such basic necessities as fuel
oil. Government ministries and such services as the customs and the
posts remained largely paralyzed. Bakhtiar's cabinet ministers
proved unable to assert their authority or, in many instances, even
to enter their offices. The loyalty of the armed forces was being
seriously eroded by months of confrontation with the people on the
streets. There were instances of troops who refused to fire on the
crowds, and desertions were rising. In late January, air force
technicians at the Khatami Air Base in Esfahan became involved in
a confrontation with their officers. In his statements, Khomeini
had attempted to win the army rank and file over to the side of the
opposition. Following Khomeini's arrival in Tehran, clandestine
contacts took place between Khomeini's representatives and a number
of military commanders. These contacts were encouraged by United
States ambassador William Sullivan, who had no confidence in the
Bakhtiar government, thought the triumph of the Khomeini forces
inevitable, and believed future stability in Iran could be assured
only if an accommodation could be reached between the armed forces
and the Khomeini camp. Contacts between the military chiefs and the
Khomeini camp were also being encouraged by United States general
Robert E. Huyser, who had arrived in Tehran on January 4, 1979, as
President Carter's special emissary. Huyser's assignment was to
keep the Iranian army intact, to encourage the military to maintain
support for the Bakhtiar government, and to prepare the army for a
takeover, should that become necessary. Huyser began a round of
almost daily meetings with the service chiefs of the army, navy,
and air force, plus heads of the National Police and the
Gendarmerie who were sometimes joined by the chief of SAVAK. He
dissuaded those so inclined from attempting a coup immediately upon
Khomeini's return to Iran, but he failed to get the commanders to
take any other concerted action. He left Iran on February 3, before
the final confrontation between the army and the revolutionary
forces.
On February 8, uniformed airmen appeared at Khomeini's home and
publicly pledged their allegiance to him. On February 9, air force
technicians at the Doshan Tappeh Air Base outside Tehran mutinied.
Units of the Imperial Guard failed to put down the insurrection.
The next day, the arsenal was opened, and weapons were distributed
to crowds outside the air base. The government announced a curfew
beginning in the afternoon, but the curfew was universally ignored.
Over the next twenty-four hours, revolutionaries seized police
barracks, prisons, and buildings. On February 11, twenty-two senior
military commanders met and announced that the armed forces would
observe neutrality in the confrontation between the government and
the people. The army's withdrawal from the streets was tantamount
to a withdrawal of support for the Bakhtiar government and acted as
a trigger for a general uprising. By late afternoon on February 12,
Bakhtiar was in hiding, and key points throughout the capital were
in rebel hands. The Pahlavi monarchy had collapsed.
Data as of December 1987
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