Royal Persia: Shah of Iran Interview on Democracy and Development (1960) | ITN Roving Report

On this day in 1980, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, died aged 60. He had been diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia in 1976, though remarkably this was kept from him until 1978. Dethroned and forced into exile by the Iranian Revolution some 18 months before his death, the Shah had sought refuge and medical treatment in the Bahamas, Mexico, the United States, Panama, and Morocco, before finally ending up in Egypt. There, the Shah developed an infection following an operation to remove his spleen, causing him to fall into a coma from which he did not recover. Under his Cairo hospital bed was a bag of Iranian soil.

On 22 June 1960, ITN’s Tim Brinton travelled to Iran to interview the Shah and his new Queen, Empress Farah Pahlavi (née Diba), whom the Shah had married the previous year. Prominent in Brinton’s special report as well as his interview with the Shah is the theme of security. The Shah survived an assassination attempt in 1949, Brinton recounts. And in 1953, amidst the chaos of a royalist coup d’etat against nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh organised by MI6 and the CIA, the Shah fled the country fearing for his life before returning days later following the coup’s success. Brinton references the “Mossadegh crisis” a number of times in his report. “Do you feel impelled to take any special precautions towards your personal safety?”, asks Brinton. “They want me to but I don’t know how,” replies the Shah. In fact, three years before this interview, the Shah had been assisted by the CIA in setting up SAVAK, the feared secret police apparatus that would over the years see thousands of Iranian citizens imprisoned and tortured. In the gardens of his palace, the Shah also discussed Iran's ongoing programme of economic development, speaking proudly of Iran's openness to foreign guidance and investment, and promised that Iran's upcoming elections would be as free and fair as any in the West.

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