Iran: Shah’s Treasure

“France knows well that you are a sovereign who is essentially charitable toward his people,” said Charles de Gaulle to visiting Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi of Iran. Anyone who can count palaces also knows that the charitable Shah is immensely wealthy. Until he began parceling out the royal estates to needy peasants ten years ago, his lands alone measured almost 2,000,000 acres and included 2,000 villages. In 1958 the Shah set up the Pahlevi Foundation (orphanages, hospitals), and last week he transformed part of the foundation into an irrevocable religious trust. In the process, a list of the Shah’s transferred assets (total value: $133 million) was made public for the first time.

Among the more interesting items: The Persian Gulf Shipping Co., the Bank of Development and Rural Cooperatives, the Royal Publishing Co., the Melli Insurance Co., the Gohestan Sugar Mill, the Fars and Khuzistan Cement plant, scores of hotels, restaurants and nightclubs, including the Kolbeh in Teheran, which remains one of the few spots in Iran still offering French strippers, Russian vodka and Caspian caviar, despite the austerity laws imposed earlier this year.