Shameful hypocrisy on full display.
Many of the media outlets, commentators, and political figures who spent years criticizing and isolating the Shah in the 1970s—often amplifying opposition narratives while paying far less attention to Iran’s rapid modernization, advances in women’s rights, and strategic partnership with the West—later watched in silence as he struggled to find refuge while battling cancer in exile.
Today, after decades of witnessing the consequences of the 1979 revolution, some of those same voices selectively revisit his interviews, quote his warnings, and offer praise that was largely absent when it mattered most.
The Shah has become easier to appreciate in hindsight than he was to defend in real time. The tragedy is that Iran and its people bore the cost of that misjudgment. History records not only what people said, but when they chose to say it.