The Shah's New Troubles

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the deposed Shah of Iran, faced yet another setback in his ill-starred 14-month exile.

On the advice of his international team of physicians, the cancer-ridden Shah, 60, was scheduled to undergo major surgery this week: the removal of an inflamed and enlarged spleen that doctors believe may contain a tumor. The former monarch, whose gall bladder was removed at a New York City hospital last October, suffers from a number of other grave ailments, including anemia, that may be related to B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.

The surgeon chosen to operate on the Shah's spleen was one of the world's most celebrated heart specialists, Michael DeBakey, president of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine. DeBakey was selected because the surgery, which is normally not a difficult or life-threatening operation, might lead to cardiovascular complications. At week's end DeBakey flew to Panama with a team of five assistants; Panamanian medical authorities said that the visiting specialist could examine his royal patient, but were holding up permission for DeBakey to perform the surgery.

The operation will take place at Panama's most exclusive private clinic, the Paitilla Medical Center--roughly 35 miles from the Shah's rented home in exile on Contadora Island. At week's end the monarch moved into a suite of six rooms and a solarium in the modernistic, whitewashed hospital, which offers a breathtaking view of the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Gorgas Hospital, still operated by the U.S. military in the former Canal Zone, is one of the best-equipped medical facilities in Central America. But the Shah had not requested to be admitted there for surgery, nor had he asked to return to the U.S. for treatment. He understood well that Washington would refuse to provide a visa, since his admission to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center triggered the militants' seizure of American hostages at the Tehran embassy.

Meanwhile, Juan Materno Vasquez, a Panamanian lawyer hired by the revolutionary government in Tehran, announced that Iran will file a formal demand for the Shah's extradition this week. Panama has no extradition treaty with Iran and its constitution forbids sending any foreign national to a country that has the death penalty. Panamanian Ministry of Justice officials said they are prepared to listen to Vasquez's arguments, but it seemed unlikely that President Aristides Royo would reverse his decision to grant asylum to the Shah for as long as he wants it.

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