Word: bazargan
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When the shaky government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan collapsed earlier this month, civilian administration in Iran virtually ceased to exist. In its place stood a powerful, 15-member committee composed of six Islamic mullahs and seven secular figures (there are two vacancies at present) and officially called the Islamic Revolutionary Council. Ayatullah Khomeini, the de facto ruler who declined to manage the government himself, gave the Council a mandate to rule Iran during a two-month transition period until the voters could approve a new theocratic constitution and elect a National Assembly and a President. Whether the internally divided...
From the first days of Bazargan's "civilian" rule last February, however, the Council acted more as a rival government, frequently countermanding government directives and intervening in day-to-day administration. The Council directs the revolutionary tribunals that have already put to death by firing squad more than 630 of the Shah's supporters and others. It also controls the Islamic militias and the Islamic Guard, a sort of praetorian security unit for the mullahs...
...State Department, Iran specialists were similarly uncertain about the degree of leftist and even Communist influence in the highly disorganized Khomeini regime. Was Khomeini really in charge or just presiding over an internal power struggle? Did the fall of the government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan two weeks ago portend a new campaign by Iranian leftists to seize power for themselves? One puzzling element in the recent unrest was the sudden fall from favor of Ibrahim Yazdi, who had been one of Khomeini's closest courtiers during the Ayatullah's last days in exile in France. Partly because...
...sudden fall of Bazargan and Yazdi evoked fears that both the more radical ayatullahs and the leftist secular forces were using the embassy assault as a pretext for pushing the country sharply to the left. The small but well-organized Tudeh (Communist) Party has been held in check by Khomeini, who denounces the Communists fervently, if redundantly, as "godless atheists." The prevailing view in Washington is that the extreme leftists will continue to ride the Khomeini whirlwind as they gain key positions in the ruling 15-man Revolutionary Council, and will eventually try to brush Khomeini aside in a final...
Should the Administration have anticipated Iran's violent reaction to admitting the Shah? With the clarity of hindsight, there is agreement among many experts on this point: a resounding yes. A good deal can be said in Carter's defense, however. Three times the Bazargan government assured the Administration that it could protect the embassy against attack. One of the assurances came after the Shah was admitted to the U.S. and the demonstrators started shouting in Tehran's streets. There was an encouraging precedent. Last February when anti-American protesters seized the embassy, Iran's government...