(The Pahlavi Crown was the crown of the Shahs of Iran.  It was originally crafted for the coronation of Reza Shah on 25 April 1926. To quote Wikipedia, “A staggering 3,380 diamonds, totaling 1,144 carats (229 g), are set into the object. The largest of these is a 60-carat (12 g) yellow brilliant that is centrally placed in a sunburst of white diamonds. Found in three rows are 369 nearly identical natural white pearls. The crown also contains five sizable emeralds, the largest of which is approximately 100 carats. Photo Wayne Ferrebee.)

The Google People claim it is only a 35 minute drive to get to the house- the palace- in Potomac Maryland where the Pahlavis of Potomac live, in that way-cool compound on Glen Road.

Reza, the Shah in Waiting to the Islamic Republic of Iran, has his foundation and archives over here in Virginia, in McLean, not far from the headquarters compound of the agency that put his Dad on the Peacock throne in 1953. Well, it is actually a little more complex than that, and involves a critical junction in the War against Hitler in 1941, When Britain and the United States decided the old Shah was not hard-line enough to ensure that the supply lines to Russia stayed open, they installed young Mohammed Reva Pahlavi as a substitute for his intractable father.

The formal coronation as Shah of Shahs didn’t happen until 1967, though they were able to recycle the crown, and it was impressive. But he was the Man of Men for 37 years.

Somewhere I have an astonishing picture that turned up in one of the undisclosed locations we used to frequent after the 9/11 attacks. An amateur historian at the facility had it as a curiosity. The black and white 8 x 10 photo was taken to commemorate the visit of the Shah to the facility.

I have no idea why our government wanted to share it with him, except perhaps to strengthen the idea that the United States was ready for any contingency against the Soviets, and I must say, the place is a real conversation-starter.

Or ender, as the case may be.

The picture is undated, but the Shah looks dashing with his hawk-like good looks. He was something else, in his prime.

I have to jump back and forth with the Iranians. One moment, their nation and its SAVAK agents were a bulwark against the Commies, and their young men were training with ours on the most advanced fighter jets in the world, and ordering the most capable cruisers.

(USS Kidd (CG-983), one of the Ayatollah-class cruisers the Iranians almost got. Photo USN.)

I used to see the cruisers later. The Shah ordered four of them, based on the hulls of Spruance-class destroyers. The class had been intended as Anti-submarine warfare platforms in the USN, but they were beefed-up with advanced air-intake and filtration systems in order to handle dust and sand prevailing in Persian Gulf operating area as well as greater air-conditioning capacity. The air defense capability of the Virginia-class cruisers was added to the existing Spruance ASW suite.

If necessary, a ship with the Aegis phased-array radar system could control the weapons on the ships, a neat capability to have if the USN and the regional navy were engaged in shooting down swarms of Soviet Badgers and Bears flying down from the north.

Anyway, the return of the Ayatollah derailed the delivery, and the four Kidd-class ships were delivered to the USN instead. We called them the “Ayatollah Class” cruisers.

In the meantime, between the ordering of the cruisers, and their almost delivery, Iran had turned into the worst policy nightmare the Foggy Bottom had, and a spigot of venom and violence that would go on around the world, conducted by agents and proxies, until this very minute.

With the Revolution, the Shah’s considerable fortune migrated overseas. He assumed residences in exile, first in Egypt, and later in the Bahamas, where he offered to purchase the island on which he was staying for a half-billion dollars.

The Bahamas turned him down, which was something the Pahlavis were unused to.

The Shah-of-Shahs also was unable to command death. The gravity of his illness in exile was apparent. In October of 1979, the month before hot-heads seized the US Embassy in Tehran, the family fortune was divided up: Wife and Shahbanoo Farah got a fifth of it, as did eldest son Reza and second son Ali. 15% went to first daughter Farahnaz and youngest Leila, with 8% to Shahnaz and the rounding error to granddaughter Mahnaz Zahedi.

Money or not, life in exile can be a challenge. Ali and Leila both suffered from depression, and both committed suicide. The Shahbanoo preferred Paris, as the Ayatollah had, but Reza is keeping it real in Potomac, MD, with his foundation headquartered in Mclean, VA.

There are a lot of details in fleeing a country that you have run for several decades. You could ask Mr. Assad that about things in Damascus these days, what his thoughts are and what he is tucking aside or shipping out at night.

When he fled, the Shah had to leave his cars behind. He was very much a car guy, and had a personal collection of 140 classics and sports models, including one of only six Mercedes-Benz 500K coupes, and another owned by Adolf, the Fuhrer-of-Fuhrers.

Some of them are still in Iran. The National Car Museum of Iran is northwest of Tehran, in the city of Karaj and that is where 40 of them remain. There were close to 3000 valuable cars confiscated after the revolution, the Shah’s composing the bulk with other former notables contributing the rest unwillingly. Almost all were auctioned off during the war with Saddam to pay bills.

The Shah spent some time in the US awaiting medical treatment for a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but was asked to leave by the Carter Administration. After some nervous times in Panama, the fugitive Royal accepted the invitation of Anwar Sadat for permanent asylum in Egypt.

He died from complications of the disease and surgery on the 27th of July, 1980, almost three months to the day from the failed Operation EAGLE CLAW hostage rescue attempt.

We planned the early stages of the operation, and Ma Midway had the big RH-53Ds Sea Stallion helos of HM-16  down in the hangar bay before we gave them to USS Nimitz. I was doing something in America when the operation went down, passing through San Francisco, looking for an old friend. When I heard the news I blanched.

Then I was on my way to the Republic of Korea at the time, relieved to be thinking of North Koreans rather than the Iranians. Both are still around, like Uncle Fidel, which has given the three pariah states a nice track record against the American Colossus, but the Pahlavis have done OK for themselves if the overhead imagery of their compound in Potomac is any indication.

Farah brought her family to suburban Washington. Oldest son Reza was already here when the revolution succeeded in 1979, completing jet training. He also attended Williams and the University of Southern California. In fact, all the surviving Pahlavis became all-Americans, if you look at their education and taste.

But to the émigrés, expats and the rest of the Iranian diaspora, he is the Shah in waiting.

I told you I would get to that today, but c’est la vie. I lied.

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com