The Shah's Iran: Modernization, SAVAK & the Road to Revolution

The coup put a king back on his throne for 26 years. What did U.S.-backed rule build in Iran — and what did it break? Episode 3 examines the Shah's reign in a sober register: the genuine modernization of the 1963 "White Revolution," set against SAVAK, the feared secret police established in 1957 with U.S. and Israeli help. We trace how aggressive Westernization and the extravagant 1971 Persepolis celebration offended a deeply religious society, how American backing tied Washington to the throne, and how, by crushing secular opposition, the Shah left the mosque as the one space he couldn't control — handing the exiled Khomeini the network for a revolution.