Pahlavi, Muhammad Reza (1919-1980)

Shah of Iran 1941-79. He succeeded on the abdication of his father, Shah Reza Pahlavi, and soon embarked on a major programme of social reform. He invested lavishly in the armed forces and ruled in an authoritarian manner, greatly aided by security services.

However, his plans were frustrated by the poor state of the economy. He was opposed by religious fundamentalists and in 1953 briefly left the country but was returned to the throne with the backing of the USA.

He survived a number of attempts to oust him from the throne, by assassination and in a political conflict with the prime minister Muhammad Mossadeq 1951-53, when he briefly fled the country. Although a close ally of the West, Pahlavi was openly scornful of what he saw as Western liberalism.

With oil revenues improving, Iran became a major force in the Middle East, but religious fundamentalists, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, continued to oppose him and in 1979 he fled the country and was given refuge in Egypt where he spent the rest of his life.