The Pahlavi regime—which was the worst in terms of imprudence, corruption and dependency on foreign powers among the corrupt regimes of this region—brought about the severest harms to the people and the country during decades in power. The nation was kept out of the political scene of the country through violent dictatorship and ruthless repression. The interests of the country were sacrificed for compromise with intervening powers and pillaging corporations. The youth were dejected from reflecting on the fate of the country by widespread corruption and lewdness, and every rising voice complaining and seeking liberty was muffled. By ruining national agriculture and making the already defective and flawed industry dependent; by giving room to the greedy foreigners and the monarchy’s servants to plunder; by looting oil reserves and giving away national resources to American and European masters; by destroying rural areas and transforming Iran to a market for useless imported goods and leftover of U.S. agricultural products; and other such treasonous programs, the country's economy was in a constant tumble, and dependent on the will of foreign powers, and the nation's livelihood was in the hands of the enemies. The Iranian nation's faith, culture and beliefs were scorned, and the regime had embarked on a mission against this great nation's self-confidence, and self-esteem through defying these beliefs and encouraging imposed Western culture. Religion and the clergy—who had been the source of call for justice, liberty and equality for centuries and the main resistance front against invasion by the foreigners, the cruel, and the despots—were target of the harshest of revenges, and treated with all means of coercion, intimidation, accusation, and negative propaganda. While most people were suffering from poverty, famine, and low living standards, they were even more pressured on the one hand by the extravagant, luxurious, and wasteful fairytale-like lifestyle of the Shah, his family, friends and strongmen, and on the other hand by the pillaging of national resources by foreign companies and their domestic brokers.
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