The US once looked to the shah of Iran to support Western economic stability, and the shah relied on the US to help implement his vision for Iran’s future. But when Jimmy Carter became president, the shah’s confidant, Asadollah Alam, wrote in his diary about the concerns of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, over Carter’s election: “Who knows what sort of calamity he [Carter] may unleash on the world?” Sadly, his statement was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Originally published at The Jerusalem Post