Word: mehdi
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Once again, Iran last week appeared to be drifting toward anarchy. The Cabinet of Premier Mehdi Bazargan was on the verge of collapse. Appalled by the overcrowded condition of prisons in Tehran, Attorney General Abolfazl Shahshahani instructed the police not to "arrest or pursue criminals" until further notice-thereby giving the capital's organized criminals free rein. As if to prove the government's impotence, a group of disaffected young Iranians, seeking to leave the country on expired passports, seized 150 hostages at gunpoint and closed down Tehran's international airport for more than 20 hours...
Says Professor Mehdi Haeri, one of his students from this period: "Every weekend, when there were no classes, he used to have a large open class for anyone who wanted to come. He discussed ethics and morals, describing very complicated subjects simply. His secret was that he convinced you he was teaching from the bottom of his heart. You felt the immanence of God; God was ever present with Khomeini...
...Khomeini-backed government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan has made little progress in solving Iran's major economic problems. The partial resumption of oil production (currently about 3.8 million bbl. per day) and new limitations on imports will boost Iran's foreign exchange reserves from $10.3 billion in January to more than $19 billion by year's end. But roughly 35% of the work force is still unemployed, construction is at a standstill, prices of staple foods are spiraling, and most government agencies are paralyzed by inactivity...
After Yazdi's "softening and courageous statement," as one specialist termed it, officials in Washington were confident that good relations were still possible with the government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan. They also took heart from the fact that many of the anti-American demonstrators in Tehran last week carried placards that denounced the Soviet Union with a vitriol almost equal to that aimed...
...aftermath of the terrorist assassinations by a group calling itself Forghan, few moderates were willing to speak out, for fear of being accused of aiding counterrevolutionaries. Premier Mehdi Bazargan cautioned against becoming "tyrants ourselves," but the public generally was still overwhelmingly in favor of the trials. "Let the Western press and the so-called human rights organizations howl on," voiced Radio Iran. "Their double standards fool nobody. The revolutionary tribunals have a bereaved nation to account to. They may not desecrate the sacred memory of tens of thousands of our martyrs by being lenient to these criminals...