Iran enters the diary as a country seen at a distance but marked by abrupt political change. Across early 1979, television brings the Shah’s departure into view, then news of Iran’s fall and the hanging of a former prime minister’s brother. The entries make the country’s upheaval legible through both public broadcasts and a private account of its human cost.

The Shah’s Departure

On January 16, 1979, the diary records that the Shah had left Iran. Television tracked his onward route: first Egypt, then Texas, where his son was training for the air force, and, according to the broadcast, a prospective stay with the Walter Annenbergs in California. The narrator was struck by how much the coverage disclosed, including a road map and aerial views of the place. Iran’s departure from the Shah’s immediate presence was thus accompanied by an unusually visible account of where he might go next.

A Country Seen on Television

Later, the narrator described Iran as having fallen and reflected that watching the events on television made it seem as though the same thing could happen at home. The entry gives no detailed account of the political events themselves; its emphasis is on the disquiet produced by seeing them broadcast. Iran becomes both a specific site of upheaval and a point of comparison through which the narrator registers the possibility of instability closer to home.

The Human Cost

On April 9, the diary noted that the brother of Fereydoun Hoveyda, who had served as prime minister under the Shah, had been hanged in Iran over the weekend. The brief report shifts the record from the Shah’s movements and television’s broad view to a named political family and a death. Together, the entries place Iran’s upheaval in a progression from the ruler’s departure to the consequences reaching those associated with his government.