News stories from Tuesday January 16, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Shah left Iran, which he has ruled for 37 years. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi termed his departure an extended vacation, but it is more likely to be a long and perhaps permanent exile. He left aboard a royal jet aircraft after a year of demonstrations and crippling strikes aimed at ousting him. The demonstrators denounced the arbitrary way in which he pressed his ambitious industrialization programs, corruption in ruling circles and harsh measures used to suppress opposition from religious and liberal political groups.
Iranians began cheering "The Shah is gone!" moments after the news broke on the Teheran radio. Hundreds of thousands surged through the capital in a day of reveling and roses that marchers tossed in the air as they chanted, "His return is impossible!" The Shah arrived in Egypt on the way to the United States and was escorted by President Sadat to a secluded hotel on an island in the Nile. The Shah appeared gaunt as he acknowledged the full protocol accorded him.
The leading religious opponent of the Shah, Ayatollah Khomeini, called the monarch's departure "the first step" toward ending the 57-year reign of Pahlavi dynasty. The Shiite Moslem leader made clear that his next goal was to overthrow the civilian government and Regency Council.
Washington reacted cautiously to the Shah's departure from Iran. There was no formal comment, but administration officials predicted privately that the new civilian regime probably had no better than a 50-50 chance of surviving, particularly because of opposition by Moslem leaders. Iran's Ambassador in Washington, Ardeshir Zahedi, stood his ground as an attempt by six Embassy employees to bar his entry failed.
Iranian oil exports are not expected to resume quickly, according to specialists. They said that the other oil-exporting nations might raise prices again and added that oil shortages were possible later in the year.
Where the Shah will stay in the United States was being asked on Beekman Place in Manhattan, where his twin sister lives and owns two town houses. Another sister owns a home in Beverly Hills, Calif. The New York City police department said the monarch's "immediate plans" did not include a New York visit and that he would in prefer life in California.
[New York Times] - The Iranian Parliament approved Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar as the new leader of the government, but there is the possibility of trouble for Bakhtiar from exiled Muslim religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini in France.
Khomeini has been in France since October, after living for years in exile in Iraq. It is uncertain when Khomeini will return to Iran. Khomeini warnings both the U.S. and Iranians about American military equipment which is stationed in Iran. The U.S. faces a dilemma regarding fate of the equipment, which was put in Iran because of its strategic location. Pentagon spokesman Thomas Ross stated that the C.I.A. may have begun dismantling equipment in northern Iran which had been used to monitor Soviet activities. Negotiations will take place with Turkey in an attempt to ensure continued surveillance along Russia's border.
The State Department ordered William Sullivan, the U.S. Ambassador to Iran, to work with Bakhtiar. Diplomats in Paris and Teheran will try to develop of ties with Khomeini's religious group, and Gen. Robert Huyser, deputy chief of allied forces in Europe, is extending his visit to Teheran. U.S. officials' views of the Iranian situation include the possibility of a civil war.
All Iranians at United Nations mission except Ambassador Fereydoun Hoveyda announced their loyalty to the new regime. Some members of the Iranian embassy staff in Washington called for the removal of Ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi.
[CBS] - An American envoy arrived in Jerusalem to try to revive the snagged peace talks between Israel and Egypt. His arrival coincided with a report by Israeli military sources that Israeli commando units had landed by sea in southern Lebanon and blown up a building reportedly used as a Palestinian guerrilla headquarters. [New York Times]
- Israeli commandos raided an alleged guerrilla base near Tyre, Lebanon. Muslims hijacked a Lebanese jet en route from Beirut to Amman. The plane was denied permission to land in Cyprus, after which it was returned to Beirut. [CBS]
- Vietnamese forces were set back for the first time in the current Cambodian war as they were driven out of the port of Kompong Som after heavy fighting, Western analysts reported. Meanwhile, four Vietnamese ships shelled the Cambodian coast near the Thai border and reportedly sank a number of Cambodian vessels. [New York Times]
- Gov. Ray Blanton faced new attacks for granting clemency to 52 Tennessee convicts. The commutations granting freedom or parole eligibility to 49 felons, 23 of them serving long sentences for murder, were given as a federal grand jury was investigating allegations that clemency and paroles were sold by his aides. [New York Times]
- A constitutional conflict is growing between President Carter's authority to develop national policies and the power of Congress to mandate the independence of government regulators. The controversy has been intensified by the President's battle to control inflation. [New York Times]
- Bella Abzug will be succeeded temporarily by Marjorie Bell Chambers, an active feminist, as head of the President's National Advisory Committee on Women. A White House official said there were indications that a number of women who had announced their resignations from the panel in protest over the dismissal of Mrs. Abzug were reconsidering their decision. [New York Times]
- Severe weather conditions continued in the Midwest, with more storms on the way from the Rocky Mountains. Illinois and Indiana have been declared disaster areas, and the National Guard has been called out in Illinois and Missouri. [CBS]
- Many schools in St, Louis were closed by a teachers' strike in defiance of a court order. [CBS]
- There have been concerns about the purchases of American farmland by foreign oilmen and bankers. One real estate agent noted that political stability in the U.S. is the major reason for foreign purchases, and farmland is being bought as a long-term hedge against inflation. But American farmers feel that family farms are being threatened. Last October, Congress passed the Agricultural Foreign Investment and Disclosure Act, which established a nationwide system for the collection of information pertaining to foreign ownership in U.S. agricultural land. [CBS]
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Dow Jones Industrial Average: 835.59 (-13.08, -1.54%)
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| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| January 15, 1979 | 848.67 | 100.69 | 27.51 |
| January 12, 1979 | 836.28 | 99.93 | 37.12 |
| January 11, 1979 | 828.05 | 99.10 | 24.56 |
| January 10, 1979 | 824.93 | 98.77 | 24.97 |
| January 9, 1979 | 831.43 | 99.33 | 27.20 |
| January 8, 1979 | 828.14 | 98.80 | 21.44 |
| January 5, 1979 | 830.73 | 99.13 | 28.89 |
| January 4, 1979 | 826.14 | 98.58 | 33.31 |
| January 3, 1979 | 817.39 | 97.80 | 29.17 |
| January 2, 1979 | 811.42 | 96.73 | 18.35 |