Of course, I did not report to the French official what Reza Shah had spilled to my father about the French. But since many decades have passed and I am no longer a diplomat, I feel safe to reveal perhaps this small slice of our turbulent but at times also quite amusing history. Upon our return to Teheran, Reza Shah was still fuming over the cat affair and my father was more or less in disgrace. Nobody came to visit us, people were fearful to talk to someone who had precipitated the ire of Reza Shah. But somehow, this outstanding king appreciated my father and highly valued the fact that my dad had personally planned and conceived the acquisition of our new-born Persian Gulf Navy. Reza Shah remained grateful for this feat. Anyway, one fine Teheran morning the telephone rang following six months of forlorn existence, the crossing of the desert as say the French, My father had been summoned at once to the royal palace. It is with much apprehension and with many prayers that he went on to see Reza Shah. Here is what my father told me about the encounter:
"I saw Reza Shah, tall, towering and and wearing his usual simple military uniform with just one medal, the one of IRAN. For what seemed to be an eternity, he paced the floor of his office, utterly ignoring my presence. We were alone, not a fly buzzing around, and except for his heavy stomping there was absolute silence. I was ashen and wondered what dreadful fate would be awaiting me. Suddenly the Shah stopped pacing and turned towards me, his piercing eyes glaring, he thundered:
"Hey, Sepahbody, raised at the cursed Qajar court, you have served this country aptly and many times. I recognize it and decided to send you back to Paris. You must leave at once and tell the leader of that country of Ladies of the Night, (expletive deleted) that if they repeat something like this again, I'll invite their lousy navy to the Persian Gulf for a challenge with our fleet - let's see who will win." Go now and pack up.
"Yes Sire," my father quickly replied with understandable relief. But as he was taking leave the Shah dashed to the door and clutched him by the neck, sending renewed shivers down his spine. "I have changed my mind," he said, "don't say anything to that blockhead French president!"
"Certainly Your Majesty." replied my father. Reza Shah knew that his strict orders were observed to the letter and thought perhaps that my father could well convey the challenge. A judicious judgment from the king which Saddam Hussein failed to emulate when he engaged in his ill-fated Mother of all Wars, -- As a result, Saddam ruined his country. It is the destiny of those who fail to ponder over or grasp the lessons of history. But what happened to our shiny new Persian Gulf Navy, the pride of Reza Shah and the nation?
Attacked without provocation by the British and the Russians on August 25,
1941, neutral Iran suffered her own "Pearl Harbor" three months before the
United States' more celebrated Day of Infamy. When the onslaught ended, most of our little
fleet had been sunk, Iran's army was crushed, and Reza Shah
overthrown. As wrote an American military expert, "few incidents of World War II
relate more directly to the current quandary in the Persian Gulf than the above one, for
the 1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion drew America ever deeper and inextricably into the affairs
of Iran and the Persian Gulf."(3)
The End - © Farhad Sepahbody - Sedona, Arizona - January 1998 - Photos added
May 2003
--------------------------
Notes:
3 - "See "Sunrise at Abadan, the
British and Soviet Invasion of Iran, 1941," by Richard A. Stewart. Praeger, New York
1988.
Below: A
luncheon invitation I received from Valery Giscard
d'Estaing President of France.
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