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 DEPARTMENT OF STATEAIRGRAM


 * Recent contacts with a variety of individuals in southern Iran have tended to reinforce the impression that the Consulate has had for some time now, i.e., that the Shah has little popular support and that opposition to him may be so profound that nothing short of his departure will eliminate it. The Shah's unpopularity among his own people in the face of his remarkable acheivements may perplex foreigners, but at least a partial answer can be found in the nature of the Persian personality which has shaped the Shah's behavior as much as it has his subjects'. Despite a lowered level of violence following the installation of a military government on November 6, it would not appear that opposition to the Shah will go away. The movement against the regime has its inspiration in highly moralistic principles. Further, nowhere is anti-Shah sentiment greater than among the youthful majority of the Iranian population which does not appear amenable to compromise.

There are seemingly few Iranians who have a positive commitment to the regime and/or the Shah. Those that do are limited almost exclusively to individuals old enough to remember really bad political and economic times and who

CONFIDENTIAL