A regime that can't keep the taps running can't expect to survive forever

You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

In King of Kings, his recounting of events leading to the 1979 fall of Iran’s Pahlavi dynasty, author Scott Anderson depicts the crisis as a catastrophic mix of  failures: on the U.S. side hubris, ignorance, incompetence, and a fierce determination to ignore the obvious; on the Iranian side corruption, inequality, megalomania and a leader catastrophically blind to the impending storm.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Then-president Jimmy Carter was too distracted to grasp what was happening; Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Shahs, Light of the Aryans, never did come to understand.

This newsletter tackles hot topics with boldness, verve and wit. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Platformed will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.

Today’s U.S. administration is undoubtedly much better and more accurately informed about developments in Tehran, which threaten the current regime much as its predecessors did the Pahlavi throne. But Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is both as powerful and autocratic, and if anything more ruthless, than the Shah. At 36 years of absolute power, he’s ruled just two fewer than Pahlavi.

He faces an outbreak of rage much like the one that ultimately forced the departure of the aging and ailing Shah. Many of the conditions are similar: a collapsing economy, crushing social divisions, rampant corruption and a convergence of anger among groups........

© National Post