Word: bakhtiar
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Other Iranians in exile scorned the idea of joining him in a united front against Khomeini. In particular, Banisadr was spurned by Shapour Bakhtiar, the last Prime Minister appointed by the Shah, who had also taken refuge in Paris. Bakhtiar argued, correctly, that Banisadr had helped build the Islamic Republic of Iran. Said the former Prime Minister: "What is happening to Banisadr is a direct result of what he himself created...
...shah left Iran in January 1979, and the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took power following a provisional governments headed by Shahpour Bakhtiar and Mehdi Bazargan. Sullivan wrote in the current issue of Foreign Policy that Brezezinski asked him over an open international telephone line "whether I thought I could arrange a military coup against the revolution...
Logically, in light of the previous week's assassination attempt against former Prime Minister Bakhtiar in a Paris suburb, the Washington slaying aroused speculation that the long arm of revolutionary vengeance had reached all the way from Iran. Police officials, so far, have no concrete evidence to link the crime to Tehran. But one thing is certain: Salahuddin was a devout believer in Khomeini's gospel of killing one's enemies...
Even before his narrow escape from assassination, Bakhtiar vigorously denied charges that he had masterminded the aborted coup. He nonetheless professed full sympathy for its aims. "It is the natural right of a people, when they are deprived of freedom, of human rights, to rebel," he said. "It was an insurrection. It was not a plot. It is Khomeini himself who is pushing people to revolt." Bakhtiar, who has been an active leader of the anti-Khomeini forces among Iranian exiles in Europe, had no choice but to deny involvement. To do otherwise might jeopardize the political asylum that...
...Bakhtiar's implication was also affirmed in a series of dramatic televised confessions by some of the alleged conspirators, including Colonel Nader Vahdatipour and retired Brigadier General Ayatullah Mohaqqeqi. Vahdatipour said the plot had originally been based on the military's desire to save Iran from Communism. The conspirators, he added, got in touch with Bakhtiar only after forming their own clandestine organization...