Conclusion

Abstract

On 26 October 1972, still delighted by Richard Nixon’s decision just three months earlier to take the lid off arms sales to Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi celebrated his 53^rd birthday. The following morning he allowed himself a later than usual start before going for his customary morning horse ride. As the Shah was setting out, his close friend and former prime minister, Asadollah Alam, was just returning from his own ride. Contemplating whether to join the Shah but weary from the exercise, Alam decided to go straight home, reasoning that “it’s unfair that he should see nothing but the same tired old faces.”¹ However, as the Shah’s court minister, there was no time for Alam to rest when he got home, with the phone ringing almost as soon as he walked through the door. It was the American ambassador, Joseph Farland, calling with an urgent request. The president had asked Farland to relay a message to the Shah asking that Iran put its stock of 90 F-5 aircraft at Washington’s disposal for use in Vietnam.