- 1941-09-16 —
In Iran, Ridá Sháh abdicated and Muhammad-Ridá Sháh ascended to the throne. His rule was to last until 1979. [BBR482]
- Ridá Sháh was overthrown by the British and Russians. [BBRSM173]
- His reign can be described in three phases:
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The first phase, from 1941 through 1955, was a period characterized by physical danger, during which Bahá'ís were scapegoated in the interactions among the government, the clerics and the people, and experienced several bloody incidents, the culmination of which was the 1955 anti-Bahá'í campaign and its aftermaths.
The second phase, from the late 1950s to around 1977, marked almost two decades of relative respite from physical attacks, during which Bahá'ís enjoyed more security than before, without ever being officially recognized as a religious community and while their existence as Bahá'ís was essentially ignored or denied.
The last two years of the reign of the Shah comprised the third phase, the revival of a bloody period. [Towards a History of Iran's Bahá'í Community During the Reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, 1941-1979 by Mina Yazdani]
- 1963-00-01 — 15 years after the establishment of Israel and during the course of the unrest that swept through Iran in response to a set of far-reaching reforms launched by Muhammad-Ridá Sháh, Ayatollah Khomeini and the Association of Iranian Clerics, in two separate declarations, denounced Bahá'ís as agents and representatives of Israel, and demanded their severe repression.
During the 1960s and 70s almost everything that troubled Iranian clerics was seen as evidence of a Bahá'í-Israeli plot against Islam. The Shah, who was harshly rebuked by the 'ulama for his regime's strong ties with Israel, was accused of being a Bahá'í because of some of the reforms he had introduced, notably his giving voting rights to women, and providing blue-collar industrial workers with a share of the profits earned by their companies. Various cultural events launched by the administration, some of which had clear Western tones, were seen as Bahá'í plots to undermine the Islamic identity of Iranians. Iranian ministers and courtiers were almost collectively accused of being Bahá'ís. Even Iran's notorious intelligence agency, SAVAK, whose strong anti-leftist agenda had naturally led to its inclination to recruit people with Islamic ties, and which had obvious connections with the Hujjatieh society – the self-professed arch-enemies of the Bahá'ís – was seen as nothing more than a Bahá'í puppet. Consequently, the 1979 Islamic Revolution came about not just as an uprising against the Shah, but supposedly as a reaction to an Israeli-Bahá'í threat.
[Iran Press Watch 1407] - 1979-01-17 — Mohammad Rezā Pahlavi, known as Mohammad Reza Shah, entitled Shāhanshāh ("Emperor" or "King of Kings"), fled Iran. The dissolution of the monarchy was complete on the 11th of February.
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