Persian Realm

Iranian-American historian, Iranologist, and author, DR. Abbas Milani interviewed on IRTV for series dedicated to historical events that shaped Iran in the past 100 years.

Milani makes a key observation that as early as 1973 the Shah had reached the conclusion that in a few years Iran would reach a political crisis and he was keen to prepare the country for a transition from autocracy to democracy. That year he invited Mehdi Samii (a respectable technocrat) to visit His Majesty 2-3 times a week for the next six months to study all aspects of the problem and find solutions. Samii kept notes of these meetings which Milani has access to. At the end, the Shah tells Samii that he should form a political party to prepare the country for that change. This was at a time when the Shah was not too happy with the 2-party system in place and it led to the creation of Rastakhiz as a platform for change which only disappointed many intellectuals opposed to the regime. Also Milani says that under the Shah many social reforms were won despite political restrictions imposed by the nature of self-rule.