Where did the Pahlavis get their property?
According to the Arya Heritage report and quoted by Tasnim, after 53 years of ruling Iran, the Pahlavis had a lot of property that they were able to take only a part of it out of Iran. Among them are several billion dollars that were in the United States and in foreign banks, 50 million dollars in cash that they had abroad and jewelry that they took with them. The Pahlavis also had villas and lands in Europe.
This was while Reza Khan Mirpanj, who ascended the throne in 1304 with the help of the British, had no property before that and had not inherited any property from his ancestors.
Some time after he came to power, Reza Khan made many achievements in his name. Siros Ghani in his book “The Rise of Reza Khan in Iran” has expressed one of the characteristics of Reza Shah, his insatiable greed in acquiring real estate.
He wrote on page 424 of his book: “The most disgusting moral defect of Reza Shah was his insatiable desire to own land.” When he became prime minister, he had two houses in Tehran. In 1310, he bought some land in the north of the city, which was later closed by the Summer Palace. A year later, he bought lands in the northeast of Tehran (the current Pasdaran area), which became part of Tehran with the expansion of the capital (and of course, their prices increased greatly).
In 1305, he started buying gardens around Tehran. At the same time, he acquired lands in Kermanshah, Hamadan and Mazandaran. (as a donation or purchase or a price lower than their real value). There is no doubt that the officials and supervisors of the royal properties abused their influence and position and in some cases they used corruption and intimidation so that the owners were forced to sell their properties at a lower price than the market…
Hossein Fardoost, one of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s closest friends, also stated: “If you wanted Reza Khan to be happy, to give a rank, to give a position, or to approve a proposal, before starting, you would have mentioned the names of several properties with their specifications and prices, and you were sure that Your work will be done.”
In those years, when the monthly salaries of government employees were between 40 and 100 tomans, Reza Shah sold a house for 3 rials and a shop for one rial. In fact, he did not buy lands and properties, but took them by force.
During the reign of Reza Shah, the American Embassy wrote in a report about him: “There is nothing valuable in this country that Reza Shah does not like.” His greed knows no bounds. In addition to owning the major part of Mazandaran, he also bought many properties in the cities and built a hotel and established a factory in them. Usually, he pays what he wants for each of these properties, which is often a tenth or even a twentieth of its real price. (Looking at Shah, Abbas Milani, Persian Circle Publishing, Toronto, Canada, p. 107)
In 1314, the amount of real estate that Reza Khan had usurped was so large that a dedicated real estate department was established to manage it. Since Gorgan was one of the areas that caught Reza Khan’s attention, the aforementioned office became versatile in this area.
His most important plan in Mazandaran was to invade the properties of Mohammadwali Khan Tankabani. Tankabani and his son lost their lives over these attacks. Finally, Reza Khan became the owner of Noor, Kejur and Tankabon and even changed the name of Tankabon to Shaheswar. He also got into a fight with the respected Sardar Mozehem Bojnordi, killed him and took his property in the north of Khorasan.
After the overthrow of Reza Shah, the representative of Kerman, Ahmad Muwaidi, in the 13th Assembly of the National Council, announced the number of ownership documents of Reza Shah as 44 thousand documents. Some of these deeds were multiple properties with a single deed, including the deeds of the villages of Rustaq and Zakandagas, each of which included more than 30 villages. (Tarikh 20 years, Hossein Makki, Nasher Publishing House, Volume 6, p. 137)
“Dad” newspaper also wrote in a report after the fall of Reza Shah: “The government had 125 cloths of important villages and towns in Gorgan city, most of which were Hesdangi cloths.” The Minister of Finance at that time, as if he was giving money from his own pocket, transferred all of these 125 cloths belonging to the government to the former Shah (Reza Khan) only for 75 thousand tomans. 125 cloths were transferred, the value of which was more than 225 thousand tomans, which is 3 times the amount given for 125 cloths.
Mohammad Ali Foroughi, the prime minister of the country at the time, also announced in the National Assembly that Reza Shah’s movable property in domestic accounts is 68 million rials (equal to 4 million and 250 thousand dollars). The above figure was equal to 46% of the total liquidity of Iran at that time. (Looking at the king, page 107)
Reza Khan’s reputation for land acquisition was so great that a French newspaper called him a land-eating beast. This French newspaper wrote: “A strange animal has been found in Iran that acts like an aphid, with the difference that an aphid eats the leaves of trees; But this crowned beast is a land eater, and no matter how much it eats people’s property, it is still not satisfied…”
After the fall of Reza Shah, the issue of returning properties and lands to their owners was raised. In 1320, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi handed over all the properties that were given to him by his father to the government, but after 7 years, the government sent a bill to the parliament, with the approval of which many properties returned to the Pahlavis.
The responsibility of the court ministry during the second Pahlavi period was to manage the properties inherited from Reza Shah by Mohammad Reza, as well as the properties that Mohammad Reza himself took over.
During that period, 38,000 documents were prepared for complaints, but only some influential or wealthy people were able to get their rights.
In addition to not returning the properties and lands to the people, Mohammad Reza received a large share of the purchase of military weapons.
Hassan Tofanian was responsible for Iran’s military purchases in the final years of the Pahlavi regime, which became world famous, and the Western press included numerous reports about Iran’s arms deals and Tofanian’s commissions. The West German press reported that Tofanian received a commission of 3 million marks in an arms deal with the companies of this country.
Huge sums of money from brokering military purchases were directly deposited into the king’s account, and no one was allowed to stray into this profitable business. Tofanian did not take orders from any authority except the Shah and was in charge of Iran’s military purchases from abroad, which were worth billions of dollars.
Ahmad Ali Masoud Ansari, one of the former members of the Darbar, also says: “An important part of Mohammad Reza’s property was related to the right of commissions that he received for the purchase of weapons and other transactions. These amounts were not imported to Iran and were not taken out of Iran. For example, regarding the commissions related to the purchase of arms, General Hassan Tofanian (the head of the Department of Purchase and Foreign Orders) received them and distributed them on the order of the Shah, and the Shah also had a share.
He continues: “Mr. Ardeshir Zahedi and I told the king that he should not have done this as the king of the country, but he defended his actions. In Cairo, the Shah asked me to tell him what people in Iran say about him! One of the things I told him was that they say you were a thief! He explained that according to his belief, according to Swiss laws, there is no obstacle for him to receive a commission!”
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