New Troubles and a Plea for Unity

Bazargan tries to consolidate his government's power

In a nationwide television address last week, Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan appealed to Iranians to put aside "revenge, enmity and malevolence, forget the past and behave like brothers." There was good reason for the Prime Minister's plea: in an especially tense week in Iran, a former military chief of staff was assassinated, righting once again broke out among ethnic separatists, and police disarmed two men in what may well have been an attempt against Bazargan's life. Meanwhile, in an effort to consolidate the powers of his provisional government, the Prime Minister reshuffled his Cabinet and called for a reduction in the power of the komitehs, amorphous revolutionary groups that have acted at times as a kind of parallel government to his own.

Bazargan has made no secret of his distress over the summary trials and executions of military men and former officials that have been conducted by revolutionary courts independent of the new government. Said Bazargan: "I have nothing to do with these tribunals." So far 160 men have been executed by firing squads. The Prime Minister repeated his support for a general amnesty for the Shah's civil servants and military personnel in order to create "a brotherly atmosphere throughout society." As for the komitehs, said Bazargan: "I know that the majority have performed a great service to the revolution, but they have also taken the law into their hands and caused a sense of insecurity across the nation."

Some of the country's most prestigious leaders have joined the Prime Minister in calling for an end to the revolutionary trials. One of them is Ayatullah Mohammed Khaqani, powerful leader of 3 million Arabic-speaking Iranians in the vital oil province of Khuzistan. Last week Khaqani threatened to leave the country unless his objections to the komitehs were heeded. Iran, he said, had become "an unbearable place to Live" and discrimination against Arabs persisted. Khaqani warned that his exile would trigger labor disorders and further disruptions of oil production. Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of Iran's revolution, sent an emissary to talk to Khaqani. Another Ayatullah, Sayed Kazem Sharietmadari, pleaded with Khaqani to stay "so that we can fight these abuses together." Khaqani eventually relented and agreed to stay for the time being.

Bazargan's impassioned plea for unity came at the end of the state funeral for Major General Vali Ullah Gharani, 65, who had been gunned down in the courtyard of his house by three unknown assailants. The first chief of staff of the army after the revolution, Gharani had been fired from his post in March after his harsh campaign against Kurdish rebels in Sanandaj; nonetheless, he was given full military honors. During the funeral procession, which drew a throng of 50,000 mourners, security guards seized a young man in an air force uniform who was running toward Bazargan with a hand grenade and an Uzi automatic. The government denied that there had been an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister. Eyewitnesses thought otherwise.

The Prime Minister's efforts to curb the komitehs coincided with a shift in Cabinet posts that included the appointment of Ibrahim Yazdi as Foreign Minister (see box). A confidant of Khomeini's, Yazdi had been Deputy Prime Minister for Revolutionary Affairs, a post that gave him considerable influence with the komitehs and the revolutionary tribunals. Bazargan also announced that he had named a new Deputy Prime Minister to act as a kind of ombudsman between Bazargan and the people and deal with the many petitioners who besiege government officials with their problems. His choice for the new post was his son-in-law, Hussein Bani-Assadi, an oil engineer.

Bazargan's problems were complicated by new bloodshed in the province of Azerbaijan in northwest Iran. In some of the worst fighting to date, the Kurdish population in the area squared off against Turkish tribesmen, who massacred an entire Kurdish village before Iranian government troops moved into position. The two groups have traditionally been at odds with each other. An estimated 500 people died in the fighting, which apparently started over an attempt by some Kurds to organize a new leftist political group that the more conservative Turks regarded as "Communist."

While the homeless Shah and his family luxuriated at a beachside resort in the Bahamas, Washington was still buzzing with stories that the White House, over protests from Henry Kissinger and others, had discreetly asked the monarch not to visit the U.S. TIME has learned that in the weeks before the Shah was forced into exile, the American embassy in Tehran issued visas to him, his family and several close associates. Those visas are still valid, and the Shah could legally enter the U.S. any time he chooses.

Acutely troubled by the security and diplomatic problems the Shah's presence would create, the White House asked a number of leading Americans whether they would pass along the Administration's concern. Kissinger, Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman David Rockefeller and former Ambassador to Iran Richard Helms all angrily declined.

The first approach to the Shah, TIME has learned, was made while he was in Rabat as a guest of King Hassan. Officials from the American mission in Morocco told the Shah that the U.S. would respect the visas and he would be welcome here. But he was also warned that the Secret Service could not be responsible for his safety and the White House was concerned about the safety of American residents and U.S. vital interests in Iran. The Shah got the message--subsequently reinforced by other emissaries--and began to look elsewhere for a refuge. The most probable choices: Mexico, New Zealand or a country in South America.

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