FINALLY SOMEONE SPEAKS OUT FOR THE SHAH

Finally someone speaks up for the late Shah!

Iran’s Shah had no special interest in monetary wealth

Published: February 8 2011
From Mr Robert F. Armao.

Sir, I am writing to correct inaccuracies in “Reforms focus on recovering rogue leaders’ assets” (January 26).

The graphic asserts that the late Shah of Iran stole Iranian government assets valued at $35bn and that the US froze assets of the Shah valued at $20m.

The reported gross revenues of the government of Iran during the reign of the Shah were approximately $120bn, with disbursements for defence, social welfare and infrastructure, making it impossible that $35bn was directed solely to the Shah.

In an effort to vilify the Shah, representatives and supporters of the Islamic Republic have continued to increase the value of the assets of the Shah and his family. Based on the fact that the Islamic government had all the original financial records of the Shah’s government, they were well aware that no such assets were removed from Iran during the Shah’s reign.

This despite the fact no such funds were ever located – even after the use of forensic accountants and other investigators – in any country. The Shah, his family and related entities prevailed in each legal action (including the US and Switzerland) initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Islamic Republic has consistently maintained that the multi-billion US dollar assets of the Pahlavi Foundation of Iran are, in fact, owned by the Shah of Iran and his family.

In fact, the Pahlavi Foundation was controlled by the government of Iran and then the Islamic Republic, and remains so today.

Before his departure from Iran in 1979 and through to the end of his life, I served as senior adviser to the Shah and to his family. I can attest to the fact that the Shah had no particular interest in monetary wealth. His life-long concern was for the well-being of the citizens of Iran.

Robert F. Armao,
New York, NY, US

ALAN NOTE: As someone who also had access to some confidential royal information, the late-Shah had $90 Million (with an M not a B) of personal funds (through legal personal overseas investments over decades) on hand when he left Iran and considering the DAILY expenses of some $10,000 on security, staff etc., this does not go a long way and makes his millionaire status rather a "poor man level" compared to the millionaires who abound.


He could have transfered about $3.5 BILLION of the Pahlavi Foundation funds to himself overseas but refused to touch it saying the money belonged to the Iranian people, even though the funds came about and grew through his good judgement calls in investing it for the nation.


Obama insists those who hate him (Obama) do so because they  not know him. For those of us who knew the late Shah, this applies forcefully and those who criticized the Shah knew very little of his aspirations to bring Iran into the modern world and his actions to achieve this.

I remember openly confronting Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda, a friend of mine, with not sharing the improvements His Majesty and he had brought into being over the 13-years that Hoveyda had held his post, leaving the populace totally in the dark of the immense progress the country was enjoying.

With typical Aquarian (February 18th) lofty idealism, he replied: "we are doing what we are supposed to be doing and it is not the role of the government to blow its own trumpet".

Sadly this lack of public information made opposing the Marxist-Islamic Soviet -Khomeini uprising virtually impossible for those of us who tried. There was almost no tangible previously shared information  available to counter the lies and disinformation used against the Monarchy.