Word: zahedi
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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After arrival in Tehran Roosevelt set up headquarters in the basement of the U.S. military mission. He was visited there by General Fazhollah Zahedi, Mossadeq's disaffected Minister of the Interior once described by Soroya, the Shah's second wife, as "half swashbuckler and half Don Juan." Zahedi swashbuckled but was finally compelled to agree with Roosevelt that the prospects for a successful coup were poor. The Shah was depressed and dispirited, incapable of taking any decision, while the armed forces seemed increasingly behind Mossadeq...
...when they heard of the projected coup. General Gilchenshah, head of the air force, did so on August 10. Roosevelt was cheered. Meanwhile CIA experts had examined the Iranian constitution and decided on the shape of the coup--Mossadeq was to be dismissed by Imperial decree and replaced by Zahedi while a force recruited for the CIA by General Schwarzkopf demonstrated in favor of the Shah's return...
...morning of the coup itself, August 19, the outcome was unclear. Roosevelt had made careful plans with Zahedi, General Arfa and other officers loyal to the Shah but the reaction of the rest of the army and of the inhabitants of Tehran was as yet a mystery...
Even Iranians in official positions of power seemed to be relieved and, in fact, often delighted. Employees at the Iranian embassy in Washington issued a statement accusing Iran's ambassador to the U.S., Ardeshir Zahedi, the Shah's closest adviser, of "conspiring against the interests and will of the Iranian nation," and vowed not to work until he was removed. A similar revolt took place at Iran's United Nations mission in New York City, where diplomats closed down their offices as a "token of solidarity with the Iranian people...
Next day the Bakhtiar government announced that it had fired nine prominent ambassadors from their posts, including U.N. Ambassador Fereydoun Hoveida, and Zahedi, though the latter said he would continue as the Shah's emissary. Not all the demonstrations, unfortunately, were peaceful-or approving. When the Shah's departure was revealed to a group of soldiers in Ahwaz, they poured into the streets, setting fire to cars and shooting wildly at crowds. At least 20 people were killed, 60 wounded...