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(crowd chanting)
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Downloaded from
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In 1979, a revolution topples Iranian ruler,
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Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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And with that, a monarchy of more than 2,500 years.
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(speaking foreign language)
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(crowd chanting)
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That's the way authoritarian regimes fall.
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First gradually and then suddenly.
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(crowd chanting)
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The Shah's mistake was to want to do too much too fast.
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Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
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Persia's last emperor,
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was a key figure in world politics
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in the second half of the 20th century.
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His fiercest opponent Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini.
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The Ayatollah becomes the bearer of hope
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for all those who are against the Shah.
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(speaking foreign language)
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They became very fierce antagonists absolutely.
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And the Shah developed an almost obsession with him.
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Their rivalry lasted
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for almost their entire lives.
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In the end, the Shah is defeated.
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The Ayatollah is victorious
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and with him Islamic fundamentalism.
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A new challenge for world politics.
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(crowd chanting)
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In September, 1941,
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a young man becomes the new ruler of Iran.
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At just 21 years of age Shan Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
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is sworn in as the new Head of State
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in the Iranian parliament,
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in the middle of the second world war.
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His father, Reza Shah Pahlavi had remained neutral,
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but he made no secret of his sympathies for the Nazi regime.
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The allies demanded his resignation.
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Since Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union,
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the British and the Americans depend on Iran
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for the transport of heavy war materials to Russia
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for the fight against the German Reich.
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(speaking foreign language)
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Mohammed Reza had been prepared for this task
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by his father from an early age.
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Among his siblings,
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he has a special role as Crown Prince.
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His father selects his playmates
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and sends him to a Swiss elite boarding school
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to give him a Western education.
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Finally, he tells him who to marry.
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It's the Egyptian Princess Fawzia.
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With the arranged marriage between the two dynasties,
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the father wants to reinforce the Pahlavi's power in Iran.
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And he was a very, very powerful charismatic figure,
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who completely dominates the son's life.
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300 kilometers Southwest of Tehran,
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the Oasis town of Khomein is situated.
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In 1902, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini
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is born in a house on the outskirts of that town.
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The youngest of six children.
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He never meets his father.
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His father is murdered when he's five months old
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under suspicious circumstances.
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Khomeini will later hold Reza Shah accountable.
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Until the end of his days Ayatollah Khomeini
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thought that Reza Shah personally had intervened
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to save the murder.
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That was that bitterness left in him,
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because in his writings, you know,
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every now and then he says,
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"Those whose fathers have been killed by Reza Shah."
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Khomeini grows up without a father.
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This will impact him all his life.
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His mother takes Khomeini to a wealthy aunt
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who makes sure he receives a good education.
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At five years of age, Khomeini starts school.
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A village teacher teaches him how to read and write.
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He's a fast learner.
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Among his classmates he's the most gifted.
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While others play, he studies and reads the Quran.
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Before Reza Shah was forced to abdicate,
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he had started extensive reforms in Iran.
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He wanted Persia to become a modern state.
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This included the fact
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that women were no longer allowed to wear a Chador,
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the traditional veil.
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The clergy saw this as an assault
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on religious matters and protested.
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For Khomeini who was studying Islamic theory of law by then,
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this was a fundamental violation of the principles of Islam.
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(speaking foreign language)
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Reza Shah's abdication
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under pressure from the allies
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must have been greatly gratifying for him.
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He demands that Iran will now be ruled
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according to Islamic law again.
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This demand doesn't have any effect yet.
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Reza Shah dies in exile in South Africa in 1944.
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If not before, now with his son transferring the body
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all eyes are on the new Shah.
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People wonder how he will solve
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the conflict with the clergy,
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which he inherited from his father.
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So far, he'd been perceived
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as rather restrained by the public.
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As Shakespeare says,
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"Some have greatness thrust upon them
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and some seize greatness."
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Mohammad Reza Shah had the monarchy thrown upon him.
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And there was a big difference
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with someone who goes and grabs power
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and creates the modern state,
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with someone who was essentially a reluctant king.
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The young Shah acts surprisingly resolutely.
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Like his father,
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he wants to modernize state and society
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but end his father's confrontational course with the clergy.
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His subsequent opponent Khomeini
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now teaches Islamic theory of law.
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He finds a sympathetic ear in younger students
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who become radicalized.
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One group names themselves Fadaiyan-e Islam
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These martyrs of Islam are Shiite fundamentalists.
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They come from the ghettos of Tehran
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and demand the establishment of a theocratic state
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on the basis of the Quran.
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Any Western influence is to be banned.
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Women must wear veils in public again.
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Within a couple of years,
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they really became very important.
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Because they first of all,
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they assassinated a top intellectual Mr. Ahmad Kasravi
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who campaigned against Islam as a whole.
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Then they proceeded further
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and assassinated the prime minister General Razmara.
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And Khomeini was the cleric who gave them clerical cover
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because you know in Islam or at least in Shiite Islam,
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you can't just go and kill somebody
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unless a clerical authority writes a fatwa.
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For example, like Khomeini wrote against Salman Rushdie.
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In early 1949,
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there's an assassination attempt on the Shah as well.
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It was probably carried out by a terror group
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but this has never been proven.
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The Iranian parliament blames
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the Moscow following Tudeh Party and bans it.
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This comes in useful for the Shah,
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for communist ideology
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is equally as suspicious to him as is radical Islam.
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His political path is directed towards the West.
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I'm looking forward with the keenest anticipation
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to all that I have to experience
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here in the greatest of the democracies in the free world.
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In November, 1949,
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the American President Harry S. Truman
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and the American people
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welcome Shah Mohammad Reza exuberantly,
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but not exactly selflessly.
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They want to secure access to the huge oil reserves in Iran.
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The Shah on the other hand
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needs support for his plans
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to modernize Iran from the bottom.
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He's interested in all technical innovations
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like the Hoover Dam.
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Not everyone likes his enthusiasm for the West.
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(speaking foreign language)
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The global economic boom after the war requires fuel, oil.
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In Abadan near the Persian Gulf,
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the world's greatest refinery is built.
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Since the beginning of the 20th century,
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oil production had been mainly in British hands.
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In Iran, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company,
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is like a State within a State.
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When the Iranian Parliament
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decides to nationalize the oil industry in March, 1951,
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Great Britain pulls the oil plug on Iran.
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Many British experts have to leave the country.
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The takeover of the oil facilities by a national company
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is cheered on boisterously,
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but the oil embargo soon forces
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the country's economy to its knees.
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Extremist parties like the communist Tudeh Party
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take advantage.
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They become very popular.
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The Shah temporarily flees into exile
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out of the line of fire.
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The Mullahs and their followers
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and different political groups like the communists
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who aim for the abolition of the monarchy,
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and a People's Republic,
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fight for dominance in Iran.
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The Shah only manages to stay in power
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through the intervention of the USA.
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The American secret service CIA,
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supports him with a lot of money
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and helps him to establish his own secret service,
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the SAVAK.
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Our Shah became a kind of Roman Caesar.
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You know, involved in day-to-day business,
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involved in day-to-day wars.
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And if like the Roman Caesar,
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you become involved in day-to-day
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like Julius Caesar, somebody will kill you.
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During this time,
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Khomeini doesn't make any public statements
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on political questions.
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He withdraws to his house in the Holy City of Qom,
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where he lives with his wife and children.
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Only his most dedicated followers come to see him,
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but they don't say a word
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about what Khomeini discusses with them either.
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In solitude, the clergyman continues his work on his ideas
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for the Islamization of the Iranian State,
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discreetly but with confidence.
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He is extremely confident when he meets the Shah in person.
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On behalf of the Grand Ayatollah,
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Khomeini asks the Shah to pardon one of the assassins
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from the terror group Fadaiyan-e Islam successfully.
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The Shah definitely wants dialog with the Mullahs.
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He keeps going on pilgrimages to Mecca in Saudi Arabia,
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Islams central pilgrimage site.
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As a Muslim, he shows respect for Islam
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and accepts the religious authority of the Imams.
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But such publicity performances
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always serve multiple interests.
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His religious feelings I think came from his mother.
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We know his mother was very religious.
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His father clearly was not.
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His politics towards religion
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has nothing to do with his religiosity.
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His politics to religion has to do with his fear
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that the greatest threat to Iran
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will come from the communist.
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And that the way to fight the communist
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is by strengthening religion
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and that's exactly what he does.
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Any ally in the fight against the influence
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of the communist Soviet Union is fine with the Shah.
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Therefore, he tries to win over the clergy
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which were traditionally anticommunist and monarchist.
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It's a calculation which won't add up.
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He certainly thought that
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that ideological backing was religion.
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And that's again, another mistake that he made.
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Religion particularly as incarnated by the Shia clergy
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could never have become
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the ideological framework
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on which to build modernization and westernization.
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In December, 1959,
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there are pompous festivities in Tehran.
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Tabloid reporters from all over the world
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fight for the best picture
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of Mohammad Reza Shah and Fara Diba.
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After two divorces, the new queen needs to produce
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the desired successor to the throne
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so that the Pahlavi Dynasty can live on.
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Fara Diba becomes an influential woman
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at the side of her husband.
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She also accompanies him
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on his trip to America in April, 1962,
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where the couple are received fanatically.
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The Shah seeks to deepen Iranian-American relations
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with President John F. Kennedy.
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Both agree that only a strong military
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can fend off the latent threat of the Soviet Union.
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Arming Iran is a done deal.
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For the Americans, it's a valuable business.
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00:15:43,630 --> 00:15:45,053
Weapons for oil.
270
00:15:46,350 --> 00:15:51,350
(intense dramatic music)
(plane engines roaring)
271
00:15:55,907 --> 00:15:59,574
(speaking foreign language)
272
00:16:21,296 --> 00:16:22,770
In the 1960s,
273
00:16:22,770 --> 00:16:24,923
Iran was still a developing country.
274
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,623
Most of the people were farmers without their own land.
275
00:16:29,750 --> 00:16:32,890
The land belonged to feudal masters and land barons
276
00:16:32,890 --> 00:16:35,883
including a number of mullahs and religious trusts.
277
00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,360
On the 11th of January, 1963,
278
00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,390
the Shah introduces an extensive program of reforms.
279
00:16:44,390 --> 00:16:47,250
He calls it the White Revolution.
280
00:16:47,250 --> 00:16:49,410
Its aim is to markedly improve
281
00:16:49,410 --> 00:16:51,313
the conditions of life for the people.
282
00:16:53,629 --> 00:16:57,296
(speaking foreign language)
283
00:17:08,015 --> 00:17:09,570
A national referendum
284
00:17:09,570 --> 00:17:11,680
strengthens the ambitious program.
285
00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,380
Which includes the abolition of the feudal system,
286
00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:16,850
privatization of state-owned companies,
287
00:17:16,850 --> 00:17:18,610
the fight against illiteracy,
288
00:17:18,610 --> 00:17:21,670
and the introduction of women's voting rights.
289
00:17:21,670 --> 00:17:24,850
Women are not allowed to take part in the referendum yet.
290
00:17:24,850 --> 00:17:27,310
However, they flock to the polling stations
291
00:17:27,310 --> 00:17:29,440
to demonstrate their approval.
292
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,280
He wanted Iran to modernize,
293
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:35,390
the White Revolution was intended to make Iran better.
294
00:17:35,390 --> 00:17:36,410
And it did.
295
00:17:36,410 --> 00:17:38,500
In many, many ways it did.
296
00:17:38,500 --> 00:17:41,060
It ended feudalism in Iran.
297
00:17:41,060 --> 00:17:43,142
That's not an easy thing to do.
298
00:17:43,142 --> 00:17:45,150
(intense dramatic music)
299
00:17:45,150 --> 00:17:47,290
The starting point of the White Revolution
300
00:17:47,290 --> 00:17:48,670
was a land reform
301
00:17:48,670 --> 00:17:51,510
against the determined resistance of the clergy.
302
00:17:51,510 --> 00:17:55,450
The Shah hands over more than 500,000 hectors of land.
303
00:17:55,450 --> 00:17:57,810
An area twice the size of Luxembourg,
304
00:17:57,810 --> 00:18:00,423
to some 30,000 destitute families.
305
00:18:01,766 --> 00:18:05,433
(speaking foreign language)
306
00:18:24,404 --> 00:18:26,290
(intense dramatic music)
307
00:18:26,290 --> 00:18:27,730
In order for children to learn
308
00:18:27,730 --> 00:18:29,500
reading, writing, and maths,
309
00:18:29,500 --> 00:18:31,793
soldiers teach them in village schools.
310
00:18:35,970 --> 00:18:39,810
Adult farmers and nomads have to go back to school.
311
00:18:39,810 --> 00:18:42,700
The Shah involves all strata of the population
312
00:18:42,700 --> 00:18:44,637
in his campaign.
313
00:18:44,637 --> 00:18:48,054
(intense dramatic music)
314
00:18:50,274 --> 00:18:53,941
(speaking foreign language)
315
00:19:20,020 --> 00:19:21,670
Khomeini takes on the role
316
00:19:21,670 --> 00:19:23,710
of a mouthpiece for a group of Mullahs
317
00:19:23,710 --> 00:19:26,273
who reject this policy as pro-western.
318
00:19:27,224 --> 00:19:30,442
(intense dramatic music)
319
00:19:30,442 --> 00:19:34,109
(speaking foreign language)
320
00:19:49,826 --> 00:19:53,493
(speaking foreign language)
321
00:20:14,120 --> 00:20:17,360
Khomeini takes advantage of his gain in power.
322
00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,110
He abandons his hitherto withdrawn position
323
00:20:20,110 --> 00:20:22,950
and openly opposes the Shah's politics.
324
00:20:22,950 --> 00:20:25,670
For the first time he publicly warns him
325
00:20:25,670 --> 00:20:28,003
not to carry on with his father's ways.
326
00:20:32,740 --> 00:20:34,470
Khomeini signed a couple of letters
327
00:20:34,470 --> 00:20:36,520
directly addressed to the Shah.
328
00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:38,710
And the Shah gave a couple of lectures,
329
00:20:38,710 --> 00:20:42,420
speeches directly responding to him.
330
00:20:42,420 --> 00:20:45,340
I've coded those at length in the Shah Book,
331
00:20:45,340 --> 00:20:46,880
and they're remarkable.
332
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,683
Khomeini for his defiance.
333
00:20:49,683 --> 00:20:50,827
Telling the Shah,
334
00:20:50,827 --> 00:20:54,140
"Boy, don't do something
335
00:20:54,140 --> 00:20:58,440
so that I throw you out of the country, like your father."
336
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:00,703
And the Shah saying, "These little..."
337
00:21:03,690 --> 00:21:06,000
The word is like ants,
338
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,370
like who survive in feces.
339
00:21:10,370 --> 00:21:12,993
We're not going to let them rule this country.
340
00:21:14,407 --> 00:21:16,410
Strengthening the role of women
341
00:21:16,410 --> 00:21:17,840
in Iranian society
342
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,313
is an integral part of the White Revolution.
343
00:21:21,570 --> 00:21:23,780
Iranian women grasp this opportunity
344
00:21:23,780 --> 00:21:26,790
to make public use of the newly acquired rights
345
00:21:26,790 --> 00:21:28,963
and the associated self-confidence.
346
00:21:30,910 --> 00:21:32,910
Women can not only vote now,
347
00:21:32,910 --> 00:21:35,293
they can also become political candidates.
348
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:37,840
For Iranian women,
349
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,853
this is a milestone on their path to emancipation.
350
00:21:46,115 --> 00:21:49,782
(speaking foreign language)
351
00:21:58,732 --> 00:22:01,732
But there was a lot of resistance.
352
00:22:04,570 --> 00:22:08,460
The first revolution in 63 happened,
353
00:22:08,460 --> 00:22:09,750
led by Khomeini,
354
00:22:09,750 --> 00:22:13,620
happened specifically on this particular item,
355
00:22:13,620 --> 00:22:16,503
of the voting decree.
356
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,290
For Khomeini and his followers,
357
00:22:20,290 --> 00:22:23,060
the new role of women in politics and society
358
00:22:23,060 --> 00:22:25,930
is a threat to the foundation of their faith.
359
00:22:25,930 --> 00:22:27,563
They mount a counter attack.
360
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,040
Khomeini denounces corruption, state violence
361
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,090
and the torture used by the state secret service, SAVAK.
362
00:22:36,090 --> 00:22:38,490
He threatens the tyrant of our time,
363
00:22:38,490 --> 00:22:42,463
in a speech with a black reaction to the White Revolution.
364
00:22:44,026 --> 00:22:47,693
(speaking foreign language)
365
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,130
There are demonstrations
366
00:23:20,130 --> 00:23:22,290
and counter-demonstrations.
367
00:23:22,290 --> 00:23:25,950
The Shah deploys the military to the Holy City of Qom.
368
00:23:25,950 --> 00:23:27,560
Blood is shed.
369
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,760
Khomeini is arrested and sentenced to death.
370
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,120
Thanks to the pleading of numerous clerics
371
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:34,770
the sentence is changed
372
00:23:34,770 --> 00:23:37,723
and Khomeini is exiled to Najaf in Iraq.
373
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:42,570
In the meantime,
374
00:23:42,570 --> 00:23:44,780
the implementation of the White Revolution
375
00:23:44,780 --> 00:23:48,750
is more difficult for the rural population than expected.
376
00:23:48,750 --> 00:23:51,630
The farmers now have their own fields to till,
377
00:23:51,630 --> 00:23:53,910
but they often lack seeds, water
378
00:23:53,910 --> 00:23:56,183
and modern agricultural machines.
379
00:24:04,628 --> 00:24:08,295
(speaking foreign language)
380
00:24:28,130 --> 00:24:30,173
If you're going to end feudalism,
381
00:24:31,210 --> 00:24:34,723
and you're going to bring millions of people into the city,
382
00:24:35,580 --> 00:24:37,947
you have to be prepared for it.
383
00:24:37,947 --> 00:24:39,340
You have to think
384
00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:41,660
who is going to teach these people
385
00:24:41,660 --> 00:24:45,500
the political rules of the new game?
386
00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:47,250
And then he made it impossible
387
00:24:47,250 --> 00:24:49,240
for anyone other than the clergy
388
00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:52,623
to have a political organization in Iran.
389
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,050
At first, Khomeini completely secludes himself
390
00:24:57,050 --> 00:24:58,630
in his exile in Najaf,
391
00:24:58,630 --> 00:25:01,830
a stronghold of Shiite Islam in Iraq.
392
00:25:01,830 --> 00:25:04,600
At 60, he believes he's finished.
393
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,240
He's isolated.
394
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:07,740
Many Iraqi scribes
395
00:25:07,740 --> 00:25:09,020
don't want to have anything
396
00:25:09,020 --> 00:25:10,820
to do with his political activities.
397
00:25:15,500 --> 00:25:16,730
He immerses himself
398
00:25:16,730 --> 00:25:19,510
in his studies of the Holy scriptures again.
399
00:25:19,510 --> 00:25:22,400
He only communicates with very few of his pupils
400
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,863
to stay abreast of the situation in Iran.
401
00:25:27,100 --> 00:25:29,800
One of his few pillars is his family
402
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:31,653
who had followed him into exile.
403
00:25:32,955 --> 00:25:35,705
(intense music)
404
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:40,440
He was this distant figure,
405
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:41,990
very little interest in anything
406
00:25:41,990 --> 00:25:45,410
other than his mosque and his books.
407
00:25:45,410 --> 00:25:47,540
He never went once,
408
00:25:47,540 --> 00:25:49,150
two blocks from his house,
409
00:25:49,150 --> 00:25:51,453
the other side to see a river.
410
00:25:52,460 --> 00:25:55,623
He went to his mosque and came home for 14 years.
411
00:25:58,630 --> 00:26:02,170
Meanwhile in Iran, in October, 1967
412
00:26:02,170 --> 00:26:05,460
the Shah continues the grandeur of the old days.
413
00:26:05,460 --> 00:26:07,060
The Shah had always stressed
414
00:26:07,060 --> 00:26:09,430
that he wanted to achieve something for his country
415
00:26:09,430 --> 00:26:12,353
before ascending the peacock throne with all honors.
416
00:26:13,300 --> 00:26:16,423
Now he has himself crowned Emperor in Tehran.
417
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:19,193
The clergy supports him.
418
00:26:20,510 --> 00:26:22,540
The Shah has always factored the clergy
419
00:26:22,540 --> 00:26:24,223
into his public appearances.
420
00:26:25,140 --> 00:26:26,810
He knows how important it is,
421
00:26:26,810 --> 00:26:28,810
especially for the ordinary people
422
00:26:28,810 --> 00:26:32,860
to reference the religious foundation of the ruling dynasty.
423
00:26:32,860 --> 00:26:34,920
Now it seems he has arrived.
424
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,283
He is the Shahan Shah, the King of Kings.
425
00:26:43,130 --> 00:26:46,500
And he also crowns his wife Empress,
426
00:26:46,500 --> 00:26:48,690
something that has never happened before
427
00:26:48,690 --> 00:26:51,075
in Persia's long history.
428
00:26:51,075 --> 00:26:54,742
(speaking foreign language)
429
00:27:19,740 --> 00:27:21,950
In May and June, 1967,
430
00:27:21,950 --> 00:27:25,600
the glamorous couple is on a State Visit in West Germany.
431
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:26,440
They are welcomed by
432
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,170
Federal President Luca and Federal Chancellor Kissinger.
433
00:27:30,170 --> 00:27:32,833
The visit mainly serves economic interests.
434
00:27:33,770 --> 00:27:35,770
The Shah visits the big steel companies
435
00:27:35,770 --> 00:27:37,233
along the Rhine and Rhone rivers,
436
00:27:37,233 --> 00:27:38,760
because he needs support
437
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,870
for the industrialization of his country.
438
00:27:40,870 --> 00:27:43,780
For instance, with the construction of new reservoir dams
439
00:27:43,780 --> 00:27:45,563
for the irrigation of farmland.
440
00:27:46,890 --> 00:27:49,693
It's a lucrative opportunity for the German economy.
441
00:27:51,816 --> 00:27:55,483
(speaking foreign language)
442
00:28:09,532 --> 00:28:12,680
When the ruling couple visits the German Opera in Berlin,
443
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,190
the ugly face of the Shah regime is revealed..
444
00:28:16,190 --> 00:28:18,400
Members of the secret service, SAVAK,
445
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:20,680
attack demonstrators who are protesting
446
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,650
against suppression and torture in Iran.
447
00:28:23,650 --> 00:28:25,770
The situation escalates.
448
00:28:25,770 --> 00:28:29,290
The visit of the Shah and the protests against his politics
449
00:28:29,290 --> 00:28:32,313
mark a turning point in the history of West Germany.
450
00:28:37,110 --> 00:28:38,190
In Tehran,
451
00:28:38,190 --> 00:28:41,120
the Shah's monument which Farah Diba had commissioned,
452
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,610
is meant as an architectural expression
453
00:28:43,610 --> 00:28:46,223
of the new modern identity of the empire.
454
00:28:48,660 --> 00:28:52,040
In the Old Imperial City of Persepolis on the other hand,
455
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:53,220
the Shah commemorates
456
00:28:53,220 --> 00:28:56,660
the Persian Empire's 2,500 years of history
457
00:28:56,660 --> 00:28:59,550
with an ostentatious celebration.
458
00:28:59,550 --> 00:29:02,600
In 1971, the biggest party in the world
459
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:04,870
is held in the middle of the desert.
460
00:29:04,870 --> 00:29:08,630
Monarchs, Heads of State and Dictators attend.
461
00:29:08,630 --> 00:29:11,643
The population is not invited.
462
00:29:12,777 --> 00:29:15,694
(trumpets blaring)
463
00:29:16,927 --> 00:29:20,820
It was one of those things that the intention was well,
464
00:29:20,820 --> 00:29:25,820
but the execution went so much in exaggerated way
465
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,713
mixed with cronyism and corruption
466
00:29:30,713 --> 00:29:32,893
that I think it backfired on him.
467
00:29:35,420 --> 00:29:36,340
In order to lead
468
00:29:36,340 --> 00:29:38,360
the White Revolution to success,
469
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,230
the Shah upgrades the technology of the country,
470
00:29:41,230 --> 00:29:44,210
with the help of capital assistance from abroad.
471
00:29:44,210 --> 00:29:47,080
He invests billions in electrification
472
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,220
and numerous other industries.
473
00:29:49,220 --> 00:29:52,080
He wants Iran to get in with modernity
474
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:53,750
and become great again,
475
00:29:53,750 --> 00:29:56,533
just like the Persian empire was historically.
476
00:29:58,620 --> 00:30:00,600
I think that our country,
477
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,283
in the next 10 years will be what you are today.
478
00:30:05,015 --> 00:30:06,370
In the next 25 years,
479
00:30:06,370 --> 00:30:08,550
according to other people I'm not saying that,
480
00:30:08,550 --> 00:30:13,063
will be among five most prosperous countries of the world.
481
00:30:14,710 --> 00:30:15,610
To this end,
482
00:30:15,610 --> 00:30:18,760
the Shah also invests in nuclear energy.
483
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,100
US, American, and French companies
484
00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:23,023
want to do this lucrative deal.
485
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:25,770
In the end however,
486
00:30:25,770 --> 00:30:29,053
it's West German businesses who sign the deal with Iran.
487
00:30:36,990 --> 00:30:40,657
(speaking foreign language)
488
00:31:09,140 --> 00:31:13,150
The motivation came from the necessity of his time.
489
00:31:13,150 --> 00:31:15,880
Whether we like it or not,
490
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:20,690
modernization is to a large extent westernization.
491
00:31:20,690 --> 00:31:25,303
You can't modernize without westernizing.
492
00:31:30,179 --> 00:31:32,160
The capital Tehran in particular,
493
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,320
opens itself up to the cultural lifestyle of the West
494
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:37,470
and becomes a modern metropolis.
495
00:31:37,470 --> 00:31:41,370
Veiled women are now hardly to be seen anywhere in the town.
496
00:31:41,370 --> 00:31:44,150
Young people are allowed to travel without restrictions
497
00:31:44,150 --> 00:31:45,770
and educate themselves.
498
00:31:45,770 --> 00:31:49,100
They enjoy all the advantages of a cosmopolitan city
499
00:31:49,100 --> 00:31:51,113
and show no inhibitions.
500
00:31:54,130 --> 00:31:55,300
On the other hand,
501
00:31:55,300 --> 00:31:58,630
the political power structures don't change at all.
502
00:31:58,630 --> 00:32:00,800
They remain traditionally monarchist
503
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:02,173
and tailored to the Shah.
504
00:32:04,665 --> 00:32:08,332
(speaking foreign language)
505
00:32:23,197 --> 00:32:26,864
(speaking foreign language)
506
00:32:53,510 --> 00:32:56,120
In contrast, in Najaf in Iraq,
507
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,113
time seems to have stood still.
508
00:32:59,030 --> 00:33:02,530
Khomeini holds lectures for a small circle of students.
509
00:33:02,530 --> 00:33:05,800
He thinks about what an Islamic legal system could be like,
510
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,283
with the clergy taking on a leading role.
511
00:33:10,060 --> 00:33:11,610
He condemns the shallowness
512
00:33:11,610 --> 00:33:14,160
and pure sensual pleasures of the West,
513
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:16,993
attacks the colonial powers and Israel.
514
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:21,890
And demands the end of separation of politics and religion.
515
00:33:21,890 --> 00:33:23,550
The transcripts of the lectures
516
00:33:23,550 --> 00:33:26,063
are published in a book about the Islamic State.
517
00:33:28,462 --> 00:33:31,380
I think I was one of the maybe first people to read it.
518
00:33:31,380 --> 00:33:32,753
I was shocked by it.
519
00:33:33,810 --> 00:33:38,425
But I, like a lot of other simple people like me
520
00:33:38,425 --> 00:33:39,950
thought this would never work.
521
00:33:39,950 --> 00:33:41,970
This is a medieval idea.
522
00:33:41,970 --> 00:33:46,373
Iran that has had a constitutional revolution in 1905-07,
523
00:33:49,430 --> 00:33:51,840
is not gonna let the clergy come
524
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,280
and cut off people's hands in public squares.
525
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:57,540
And it's not going to let the clergy rule,
526
00:33:57,540 --> 00:33:58,953
because they know Sharia.
527
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:01,830
I was wrong,
528
00:34:01,830 --> 00:34:06,653
as were a lot of other countries and forces.
529
00:34:09,610 --> 00:34:10,490
In Iran,
530
00:34:10,490 --> 00:34:13,380
this book about the Islamic State is not published,
531
00:34:13,380 --> 00:34:15,030
but banned.
532
00:34:15,030 --> 00:34:16,990
They want to prevent the radical ideas
533
00:34:16,990 --> 00:34:20,033
and theological demands of the Shiite cleric from spreading.
534
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,440
But the censorship only increases the fascination
535
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,440
Khomeini's book holds for the opponents of the ruling class.
536
00:34:31,296 --> 00:34:34,963
(speaking foreign language)
537
00:34:58,470 --> 00:35:01,200
Those who politically opposed the Shah's regime
538
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:02,390
face imprisonment
539
00:35:02,390 --> 00:35:05,233
in the Iranian Secret Service SAVAK's prison.
540
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,573
Where torture and executions are a daily affair.
541
00:35:10,910 --> 00:35:13,700
This was one thing the students had demonstrated against
542
00:35:13,700 --> 00:35:15,433
when the Shah visited Germany.
543
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,470
There is no getting out of the dreaded detention center,
544
00:35:19,470 --> 00:35:22,363
which was built by German architects in the 1930s.
545
00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:30,680
Iranian politicians who are active today,
546
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,960
like the current Supreme religious leader Ali Khamenei
547
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,510
were imprisoned there during the reign of the Shah.
548
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:38,930
Did they do bad things?
549
00:35:38,930 --> 00:35:39,763
Absolutely.
550
00:35:39,763 --> 00:35:40,840
Did they torture people?
551
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:41,673
Absolutely.
552
00:35:41,673 --> 00:35:44,440
You can't forget that they actually did torture people.
553
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,250
They tortured a lot of people.
554
00:35:46,250 --> 00:35:48,343
They executed a lot of people,
555
00:35:49,790 --> 00:35:53,130
but the opposition was also very successful
556
00:35:53,130 --> 00:35:57,080
in exaggerating the number of people who were in prison.
557
00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,832
We used to say in the Confederation that there are
558
00:35:59,832 --> 00:36:03,690
hundreds of thousands of prisoners in Iran.
559
00:36:03,690 --> 00:36:05,453
The actual number was about 4,000.
560
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,600
Dissent or worse resistance,
561
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,210
had no place in the Shah's regime.
562
00:36:13,210 --> 00:36:15,370
There is no open political dialogue
563
00:36:15,370 --> 00:36:17,870
on the country's social and political development.
564
00:36:18,780 --> 00:36:21,943
The parties from left to right are mostly silenced.
565
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,363
The opposition has fled abroad or is imprisoned.
566
00:36:27,450 --> 00:36:29,400
The Shah's autocratic regime,
567
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,360
results in him losing contact with the people in his country
568
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,124
more and more.
569
00:36:34,124 --> 00:36:39,124
(intense dramatic music)
(helicopter engine whirring)
570
00:36:48,243 --> 00:36:51,910
(speaking foreign language)
571
00:37:11,970 --> 00:37:12,803
For instance,
572
00:37:12,803 --> 00:37:14,140
the dealers on the markets
573
00:37:14,140 --> 00:37:17,000
play an important social role in Iran.
574
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,130
Millions of people come and shop with them every day.
575
00:37:20,130 --> 00:37:21,320
The Shah however,
576
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,210
doesn't really take the Baazaris, the market dealers,
577
00:37:24,210 --> 00:37:27,900
into consideration in his politics of westernization.
578
00:37:27,900 --> 00:37:30,840
Department stores, chain stores and supermarkets
579
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:32,770
like the ones you can find in the West,
580
00:37:32,770 --> 00:37:34,710
threaten their livelihood.
581
00:37:34,710 --> 00:37:37,950
The Shah doesn't realize the consequences of his policies
582
00:37:37,950 --> 00:37:40,883
and how many enemies he creates for himself with them.
583
00:37:42,618 --> 00:37:46,285
(speaking foreign language)
584
00:38:04,113 --> 00:38:05,330
Tehran in particular
585
00:38:05,330 --> 00:38:07,350
with its modern high rise buildings,
586
00:38:07,350 --> 00:38:11,030
becomes the symbol of this belief in progress.
587
00:38:11,030 --> 00:38:14,510
But many people can't keep up with the Shah's pace.
588
00:38:14,510 --> 00:38:18,070
So they turn to that institution which is familiar to them
589
00:38:18,070 --> 00:38:21,073
and which gives them security in their insecurity.
590
00:38:22,770 --> 00:38:25,680
It completely went after the left,
591
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:27,700
whether it was the left that was dependent
592
00:38:27,700 --> 00:38:29,080
on the Soviet union
593
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,570
or whether it was a social democratic left.
594
00:38:31,570 --> 00:38:33,310
The only people who were allowed
595
00:38:33,310 --> 00:38:38,310
to build mosques, build schools, teach their own cadres,
596
00:38:38,311 --> 00:38:41,010
were religious folks.
597
00:38:41,010 --> 00:38:46,010
And you bring millions into the cities in shantytowns,
598
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,780
concentrate them, made them easy to mobilize,
599
00:38:49,780 --> 00:38:54,560
and allow the clergy to be the only one who's active there.
600
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:56,010
And then people are surprised
601
00:38:56,010 --> 00:38:58,113
that the revolution was won by the clergy.
602
00:39:00,100 --> 00:39:01,490
The Shah has many mosques
603
00:39:01,490 --> 00:39:03,910
renovated in the 1970s.
604
00:39:03,910 --> 00:39:07,840
The number of Quran schools also rises immensely.
605
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,260
This way he wants to assure the clergy
606
00:39:10,260 --> 00:39:11,710
how important Islam,
607
00:39:11,710 --> 00:39:15,400
as an essential foundation of Iranian society is to him,
608
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,943
despite focusing his politics on the West.
609
00:39:20,860 --> 00:39:22,380
With his public appearances
610
00:39:22,380 --> 00:39:25,290
and his annual pilgrimages to the city of Mashhad,
611
00:39:25,290 --> 00:39:28,030
which is one of the seven Holy Cities of Islam,
612
00:39:28,030 --> 00:39:31,123
he hopes to keep the clergy securely on his side.
613
00:39:39,220 --> 00:39:43,500
He saw religion as his last line of defense.
614
00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:47,377
He saw religion as his most powerful,
615
00:39:47,377 --> 00:39:49,810
stronghold within the country.
616
00:39:49,810 --> 00:39:53,380
And that's where he made a massive miscalculation.
617
00:39:53,380 --> 00:39:55,960
Massive strategic and ideological
618
00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:57,880
and political miscalculation because
619
00:39:57,880 --> 00:39:59,910
what he thought of
620
00:39:59,910 --> 00:40:03,350
as his most powerful stronghold and backing,
621
00:40:03,350 --> 00:40:08,350
turned out to be his most fatal and dangerous enemy.
622
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,670
The first protest marches against the Shah,
623
00:40:13,670 --> 00:40:16,263
take place in Qom in 1978.
624
00:40:17,250 --> 00:40:20,470
The reason is a defamatory article against Khomeini,
625
00:40:20,470 --> 00:40:23,990
which is published in a big Iranian daily newspaper.
626
00:40:23,990 --> 00:40:26,320
The article accuses him and the clergy
627
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:28,270
of counter revolution.
628
00:40:28,270 --> 00:40:31,383
His followers organize a demonstration of support.
629
00:40:32,250 --> 00:40:35,240
It was very the fast-moving revolution.
630
00:40:35,240 --> 00:40:38,900
Maybe it is the fastest revolution in human history,
631
00:40:38,900 --> 00:40:41,400
because everything happened within four months.
632
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,440
With every passing day,
633
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:45,520
the resolve of the Shah's regime
634
00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:48,490
to stay in power was weakening
635
00:40:48,490 --> 00:40:50,550
and the resolve of the opposition
636
00:40:50,550 --> 00:40:52,823
to demand his removal was increasing.
637
00:40:55,770 --> 00:40:59,600
There were fatalities during this demonstration in Qom.
638
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:01,480
According to Islamic custom,
639
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,730
the dead are commemorated every 40 days.
640
00:41:04,730 --> 00:41:08,490
Soon, hundreds of thousands take to the streets.
641
00:41:08,490 --> 00:41:10,393
Each time there are more of them.
642
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,913
The Shah wasn't anticipating this kind of resistance.
643
00:41:16,130 --> 00:41:19,970
It catches him and his regime completely off guard.
644
00:41:19,970 --> 00:41:23,123
The growing power of the streets paralyzes him.
645
00:41:24,010 --> 00:41:26,420
On August the 19th, 1978,
646
00:41:26,420 --> 00:41:29,658
an arson attack on Cinema Rex in the oil city of Abadan
647
00:41:29,658 --> 00:41:32,180
kills 422 people.
648
00:41:32,180 --> 00:41:33,300
The opposition blames
649
00:41:33,300 --> 00:41:36,090
the Iranian Secret Service and the Shah.
650
00:41:36,090 --> 00:41:36,923
Later on,
651
00:41:36,923 --> 00:41:38,380
there's a growing body of evidence
652
00:41:38,380 --> 00:41:40,320
for the clergy being behind the attack,
653
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:44,450
with Khomeini as the mastermind in the background.
654
00:41:44,450 --> 00:41:46,960
After Cinema Rex, it was a different story.
655
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:51,150
Both in magnitude and the anger and in the slogans.
656
00:41:51,150 --> 00:41:52,727
For the first time I heard
657
00:41:52,727 --> 00:41:54,437
thousands of people say,
658
00:41:54,437 --> 00:41:55,507
"Death to the Shah."
659
00:41:56,510 --> 00:41:59,453
That would have been unimaginable in 77.
660
00:42:02,100 --> 00:42:03,350
The protest of the masses
661
00:42:03,350 --> 00:42:05,220
turns into open violence.
662
00:42:05,220 --> 00:42:06,880
Tehran is ablaze.
663
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,120
The military intervenes.
664
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,490
On the 8th of September in 1978,
665
00:42:11,490 --> 00:42:14,970
a day which will go down in Iranian history as Black Friday,
666
00:42:14,970 --> 00:42:18,093
64 people are killed on the Central Jaleh Square.
667
00:42:19,820 --> 00:42:22,990
The opposition claims there were 15,000 deaths.
668
00:42:22,990 --> 00:42:26,113
A general strike ensues paralyzing the country.
669
00:42:34,782 --> 00:42:38,449
(speaking foreign language)
670
00:43:06,340 --> 00:43:07,670
At the behest of the Shah,
671
00:43:07,670 --> 00:43:11,790
the government declares Khomeini a persona non grata.
672
00:43:11,790 --> 00:43:14,590
He's forced to leave his exile in Najaf.
673
00:43:14,590 --> 00:43:17,710
His confidants advise him to leave for Europe
674
00:43:17,710 --> 00:43:19,243
which he declines at first.
675
00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:23,940
What is he to do in a Non-Islamic country?
676
00:43:23,940 --> 00:43:25,450
He is wrong.
677
00:43:25,450 --> 00:43:27,290
When he goes to Neauphle-le-Château,
678
00:43:27,290 --> 00:43:28,920
a little suburb of Paris,
679
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:30,140
thousands of his followers
680
00:43:30,140 --> 00:43:32,233
from all over the world flock there.
681
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:36,460
Western politicians and intellectuals like
682
00:43:36,460 --> 00:43:38,760
John Paul Sadler, Michel Foucault,
683
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:42,370
and (indistinct) also support Khomeini.
684
00:43:42,370 --> 00:43:44,640
In France, he suddenly finds himself
685
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:46,733
the center of the global public.
686
00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:54,310
He was suddenly catapulted into an international celebrity
687
00:43:54,310 --> 00:43:56,340
and was much more clever
688
00:43:57,580 --> 00:44:02,580
than the Shah, the British, the Iranian opposition
689
00:44:03,900 --> 00:44:05,660
gave him credit for.
690
00:44:05,660 --> 00:44:07,780
Because initially the idea was that,
691
00:44:07,780 --> 00:44:10,330
they would send him to Neauphle-le-Château
692
00:44:10,330 --> 00:44:12,010
and he would become an embarrassment.
693
00:44:12,010 --> 00:44:15,713
He would say reactionary things and would frighten people.
694
00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:18,850
Well he didn't say the reactionary things.
695
00:44:18,850 --> 00:44:20,280
He was very careful.
696
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:24,470
He never once in a hundred and I think 10 interviews
697
00:44:24,470 --> 00:44:27,348
never once mentioned the word (speaking foreign language).
698
00:44:27,348 --> 00:44:31,015
(speaking foreign language)
699
00:44:40,572 --> 00:44:43,570
Khomeini mentions none of the radical ideas
700
00:44:43,570 --> 00:44:46,163
he expressed in his book on the Islamic State.
701
00:44:47,780 --> 00:44:49,790
Since his writings are banned in Iran
702
00:44:49,790 --> 00:44:51,410
and unknown in the West,
703
00:44:51,410 --> 00:44:53,333
no one can confront him with them.
704
00:44:54,240 --> 00:44:55,790
His speeches against the Shah
705
00:44:55,790 --> 00:44:58,223
are recorded and distributed in Iran.
706
00:45:01,019 --> 00:45:04,686
(speaking foreign language)
707
00:45:14,457 --> 00:45:17,690
The generals in Iran are waiting for the Shah
708
00:45:17,690 --> 00:45:20,693
to give them the order to crack down on the insurgence.
709
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:23,910
But he is weakened by cancer
710
00:45:23,910 --> 00:45:26,730
and doesn't signal anything of that sort.
711
00:45:26,730 --> 00:45:29,393
The military is perplexed and backs off.
712
00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:37,100
When the soldiers stopped shooting at the people,
713
00:45:37,100 --> 00:45:39,140
the people put flowers in their guns
714
00:45:39,140 --> 00:45:40,840
and gave them pictures of Khomeini
715
00:45:42,350 --> 00:45:44,390
they celebrate their new leader.
716
00:45:44,390 --> 00:45:47,430
In a televised appeal to the Iranian people
717
00:45:47,430 --> 00:45:50,493
the Shah wants to change tack one more time.
718
00:45:52,342 --> 00:45:56,009
(speaking foreign language)
719
00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:09,960
He looked weak.
720
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:12,163
He looked absolutely despondent.
721
00:46:13,170 --> 00:46:14,813
He couldn't read the text.
722
00:46:16,060 --> 00:46:19,137
And the point that he was saying is that,
723
00:46:19,137 --> 00:46:20,230
"I have heard."
724
00:46:20,230 --> 00:46:21,277
That's the famous phrase.
725
00:46:21,277 --> 00:46:24,690
"I have heard the call of your revolution
726
00:46:24,690 --> 00:46:27,767
and give me another chance."
727
00:46:29,250 --> 00:46:32,560
And people saw it rightly as a sign of his weakness.
728
00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:34,640
If ever there was a sign
729
00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:38,650
that he is not going to be able to master the situation,
730
00:46:38,650 --> 00:46:41,593
that was to me the speech.
731
00:46:42,940 --> 00:46:44,720
The crisis in Iran also
732
00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:47,540
causes ripples at international level.
733
00:46:47,540 --> 00:46:49,970
French President of State Giscard d'Estaing,
734
00:46:49,970 --> 00:46:52,440
invites the German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt,
735
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,830
US President Carter and British Prime Minister Callaghan,
736
00:46:55,830 --> 00:46:58,020
to Guadeloupe for a conference.
737
00:46:58,020 --> 00:47:01,307
Here they decide on the fate of Iran.
738
00:47:01,307 --> 00:47:05,057
(speaking foreign language)
739
00:47:24,770 --> 00:47:25,603
This means that
740
00:47:25,603 --> 00:47:28,473
the Western powers drop the Shah and his regime.
741
00:47:29,340 --> 00:47:31,900
On the 16th of January, 1979.
742
00:47:31,900 --> 00:47:34,840
The Shah and his family leave Iran.
743
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,510
The Shah expects the crisis to be over soon
744
00:47:37,510 --> 00:47:39,380
so that he can return.
745
00:47:39,380 --> 00:47:41,693
It turns out to be a farewell for good.
746
00:47:42,749 --> 00:47:46,416
(speaking foreign language)
747
00:47:54,660 --> 00:47:58,690
The Shah was a good King for the time of peace.
748
00:47:58,690 --> 00:48:01,580
He wasn't a good King for the time of big trouble.
749
00:48:01,580 --> 00:48:05,263
He was really a double personality.
750
00:48:06,110 --> 00:48:10,900
When he felt strong, he was extremely self-assured.
751
00:48:10,900 --> 00:48:15,900
And the first signs of weakness made him very, very timid.
752
00:48:16,870 --> 00:48:18,700
There was no other figure.
753
00:48:18,700 --> 00:48:23,700
Mr. Khomeini became the point of union.
754
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,630
14 days later on the 1st of February, 1979,
755
00:48:27,630 --> 00:48:30,280
Khomeini flies from Paris to Tehran.
756
00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:33,220
No one knows how this journey will end.
757
00:48:33,220 --> 00:48:34,520
Will the Shah's military,
758
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:37,490
force the plane to turn back or even shoot it down
759
00:48:37,490 --> 00:48:40,039
to prevent Khomeini from returning?
760
00:48:40,039 --> 00:48:43,706
(speaking foreign language)
761
00:49:07,453 --> 00:49:09,350
After 14 years of exile,
762
00:49:09,350 --> 00:49:12,790
Khomeini now steps onto Iranian soil again.
763
00:49:12,790 --> 00:49:16,370
Millions of people frenetically celebrate his return.
764
00:49:16,370 --> 00:49:18,780
After 2,500 years,
765
00:49:18,780 --> 00:49:22,490
the Persian Monarchy has outlived its usefulness.
766
00:49:22,490 --> 00:49:25,220
Khomeini is received as the new savior.
767
00:49:25,220 --> 00:49:27,990
No one has any idea of the consequences
768
00:49:27,990 --> 00:49:30,170
which the Islamic revolution will have
769
00:49:30,170 --> 00:49:32,111
for the Iranian State.
770
00:49:32,111 --> 00:49:34,944
(crowd cheering)
771
00:49:47,636 --> 00:49:50,870
Literally all intellectuals supported Khomeini,
772
00:49:50,870 --> 00:49:51,810
from right to left.
773
00:49:51,810 --> 00:49:54,603
Including those who had supported the Shah.
774
00:49:55,890 --> 00:49:59,850
All our big business, you know, our big tycoons, you know
775
00:49:59,850 --> 00:50:02,010
our billionaires, they all supported him.
776
00:50:02,010 --> 00:50:05,470
So he had created a degree of unity
777
00:50:06,430 --> 00:50:10,070
among all these different factions in Tehran,
778
00:50:10,070 --> 00:50:11,323
which was impressive.
779
00:50:13,330 --> 00:50:14,940
Khomeini's first visit
780
00:50:14,940 --> 00:50:18,280
to the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of Tehran,
781
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:21,030
where the victims of the Shah regime are buried
782
00:50:21,030 --> 00:50:22,910
and to the Holy City of Qom
783
00:50:22,910 --> 00:50:25,573
where his resistance began many years before.
784
00:50:33,590 --> 00:50:35,680
The confrontation between these two
785
00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:37,830
could be summarized to the confrontation
786
00:50:37,830 --> 00:50:39,383
of two opposing will's.
787
00:50:41,090 --> 00:50:42,490
And in such a confrontation,
788
00:50:42,490 --> 00:50:45,540
it is always the stronger will that will win, you know.
789
00:50:45,540 --> 00:50:48,453
And that's what exactly what happened in Iran.
790
00:50:49,550 --> 00:50:53,230
Khomeini's will was far stronger
791
00:50:54,270 --> 00:50:56,370
to conquer power
792
00:50:56,370 --> 00:50:58,833
than the Shah's will to keep power.
793
00:51:02,850 --> 00:51:05,260
After an Odyssey through several countries,
794
00:51:05,260 --> 00:51:08,040
the Shah dies of terminal cancer in Cairo,
795
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:10,940
on the 27th of July, 1980.
796
00:51:10,940 --> 00:51:13,400
He lived to be 60 years of age.
797
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:16,100
His body is buried in the Al-Rifai Mosque
798
00:51:16,100 --> 00:51:17,533
in the Egyptian capital.
799
00:51:22,780 --> 00:51:25,430
Ayatollah Khomeini dies of a heart attack
800
00:51:25,430 --> 00:51:29,150
on the 3rd of June, 1989 in Tehran.
801
00:51:29,150 --> 00:51:31,383
His resting place is a mausoleum.
802
00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:34,750
During his 10 year reign,
803
00:51:34,750 --> 00:51:38,020
he implemented his ideas of an Islamic revolution
804
00:51:38,020 --> 00:51:40,130
with uncompromising vigor
805
00:51:40,130 --> 00:51:43,360
and turned Iran into a theocracy.
806
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:45,660
Thus setting the dynamic in motion,
807
00:51:45,660 --> 00:51:49,658
which even today keeps the world in suspense.
808
00:51:49,658 --> 00:51:52,241
(sombre music)
58844
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