Introduction By 1971, the Shah of Iran thought he was in a good place. His fiercest critic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was in exile in Iraq, hundreds of miles away. SAVAK, Iran’s secret police were keeping a lid on political dissent, giving him complete political security. The tenets of the Shah’s White Revolution of 1963 were steadily underway. The Shah felt confident in his position and the direction of Iran. The new US President, Richard Nixon, was also confident of the Shah. The war in Vietnam was teaching the United States that their political and military strength had its limits. As such, President Nixon wanted Iran to become the new Middle East watchdog. Click here to continue reading…