Word: amini
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During the 14 months that Ali Amini was Premier of Iran, he cut inflation, introduced sweeping land reforms, battled corruption. But one thing Amini could not do was balance the budget. Last week, faced by a deficit of at least $85 million, he sorrowfully turned in his resignation to the Shah. Amini at first blamed lack of U.S. aid for his downfall; he has long felt that Washington is more generous to neutralists, particularly Egypt, than to its Iranian ally. Next day Amini withdrew the accusation...
Powerful Foes. Amini had tried to persuade his Cabinet, especially the army, to trim expenditures. The Shah could have used his authority to back the Premier's demands, but did not. While the ministers argued over the budget (two even came to blows), the financial crisis deepened, partly as a result of Amini's realistic reforms. The Treasury lost a major source of revenue after a ban on foreign luxury goods reduced import duties to almost zero; the punctured inflationary balloon resulted in a recession...
...Iranian government grew so sensitive on the subject that it suspended foreign publications that even mentioned his name. Even Premier Ali Amini said he was convinced that Ebtehaj was "honest and upright," but the Ministry of Justice continued to hold their prisoner without a trial or a formal indictment...
Last month, after the entire top echelon of the Plan Organization resigned because Justice Ministry gumshoes had brought all work to a standstill by asking "thousands of stupid, irrelevant and vexatious questions," Amini promised to take immediate action on Ebtehaj's case. More important, the Shah himself became a frequent visitor to a Teheran bowling alley owned by Mrs. Ebtehaj, promised to help her husband get out of jail...
Support from the Shah. A French-educated intellectual and onetime (1956-58) Ambassador to Washington, Premier Amini, 54, has already vigorously pruned back Iran's crooked, overstuffed bureaucratic and military hierarchy, on occasion has irked the sensitive Shah, who controls the security troops and secret police.* By ordering them into action at Amini's request, instead of allowing his government to be swept into limbo like four others in the past five years, the Shah belatedly demonstrated support for his Premier's far-reaching reform program. The Shah also exiled General Teymour Bakhtiar, a tribal potentate...