August 18, 1953


Statues of Shahs Torn Down in Iran

By KENNETT LOVE
TEHERAN, Iran, Aug. 17--Mobs threw down from their pedestals today the statues of Iran's two Kings of the Pahlevi line, the late Riza Shah and Shah Mohammed Riza, who fled to Baghdad yesterday after a midnight attempt to replace Premier Mohammed Mossadegh had been thwarted by the Army.

Maj. Gen. Fazollah Zahedi, retired, who lays claim to be the legal Premier by appointment of the Shah, was the object of an intense search as the Government continued mopping-up operations after what it called an abortive coup. Arrests reportedly now total sixteen civilians and fifteen officers, including two major generals and six colonels.

Foreign Minister Hossein Fatemi indicated that the Government was considering the formation of a Regency Council to carry out the royal functions. He disclosed that the Iranian Government had cautioned Baghdad to avert "any possible, unpleasant political event" that might arise from the flight to Iraq of the Shah and Queen Soraya.

At a press conference, Fatemi said there was no thought of establishing a republic in Iran and that, regarding a Regency Council, "the Government is studying developments." He said no decision had been reached.

The Foreign Minister's newspaper, Bakhtar-e-Emruz, regarded as a Government organ, however, kept up its vicious attack on the Shah, describing his Court as "a brothel, a filthy, corrupt place." An editorial addressed to the Shah declared that the Iranian nation "is thirsty for revenge and wants to see you on the gallows."

The paper's editorial would seem to indicate a complete shift in Government policy. Despite the struggle for power, Premier Mossadegh heretofore had never gone beyond the statement that the Shah should "reign, and not rule."

United States Ambassador Loy W. Henderson arrived in a military plane from Beirut after an eleven-week absence amid growing press accusations that the United States and Henderson himself were involved in the week-end's bloodless stroke and counter-stroke exchanged between the Court and the Government.

Those were the major developments on the day after the showdown between Dr. Mossadegh and the Shah in which the Army, traditionally loyal to the Shah, played a decisive role by siding with the Premier. The Army's backing saved the Government of Dr. Mossadegh and put the monarch to flight. Control of the Army, long a subject of bitter dispute between Dr. Mossadegh and the Shah's partisans, apparently was won for the Premier by wholesale retirement in the past year of senior officers, including the Chief of Staff and virtually all the top echelon, and their replacement by younger men of the Premier's choosing.

Shah's Authority Denied

The consensus of official, and other versions, of the crisis indicates it began Thursday when the Shah, "vacationing" in the north, wrote out two decrees, one dismissing Dr. Mossadegh as Premier and the other appointing General Zahedi as his successor. The Shah sent the decrees to General Zahedi, together with a prepared radio address, by Col. Nematollah Nasiri, commander of the Imperial Guards, who had accompanied him as his personal bodyguard.

Colonel Nasiri was arrested when he attempted to enter Dr. Mossadegh's home with the decree and the Government promptly labeled the move a coup and, denying knowledge of the decrees, disarmed the Imperial guardsmen, released Fatemi and two other Government officials who had been arrested and began its own arrests.

The Shah fled in his private plane when he learned of the failure to dislodge Dr. Mossadegh who, the Shah feared, was leading the country toward communism by the tolerance shown the Tudeh (Communist) party both in streets and in Government posts.

The Government's view is believed to be that the decrees were worthless because Governments are made and unmade by the Majlis (Parliament) and not by the Shah. Dr. Mossadegh decreed the dissolution of the Majlis yesterday on the basis of a plebiscite. The Shah had contended that only he could dissolve the Majlis.

Royal Monuments Toppled

Attacks on the royal monuments began in the morning with a march of Riza Shah's Mausoleum outside the city. The crowd was balked by the police, but then the Tudeh group began battering the statue of Riza Shah in Parliament Square. The Communists were driven off, but Nationalist, Paniranist and Socialist bands were allowed to continue the destruction unmolested.

For two hours, men sawed at the ankles of the bronze statue, while others, chanting songs written overnight on the flight of the Shah, heaved on ropes looped around the figure. Finally a motorized crane was brought into action and the statue was toppled with a great clank amid loud cheers.

Similar operations were carried out on six other statues in Teheran and one in Hamadan, 200 miles to the southwest.

Similar anti-Shah sentiment was shown by the removal of virtually all his pictures from homes, restaurants, offices and even Government Ministries.

General Zahedi, who kept in touch with foreign correspondents from hiding places, issued a declaration addressed to officers of the armed forces telling them the time was approaching for them to make sacrifices, "even of your lives, to maintain the independence and the monarchy of Iran and preserve the principles of the holy religion of Islam."