The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday condemned Iran's systematic human rights abuses and extended the mandates of its special rapporteur and the independent international fact-finding mission for another year.
Their conclusion, after facing militants' bullets and a ghostly encounter with the shell-shocked monarch, was that the US could no longer support its longtime ally's rule.
The consequences of Islamic Revolution to follow reverberate to the present day.
Ambassador John Craig, 80, was a young American diplomat when he was tasked with joining an exclusive group to meet the Shah alongside Senate majority leader Senator Robert Byrd.
It was a mission that went undisclosed even to American Ambassador to Iran William Sullivan, Craig told Iran International in an interview in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, where he teaches at the local university.
In a storied career, Craig went on to serve as US ambassador to Egypt and Oman.
“President Carter asked Senator Byrd to make a special trip to Tehran to give him a personal assessment of the longevity of the Shah. There was great concern in Washington”, said Craig, “Could the Shah hold on? Could the Shah defeat the revolution?”
Their task was to help Carter transcend the disagreements within the US foreign policy over whether one of Washington's key allies in the turbulent region could be salvaged and provide an unvarnished take on the Shah's mettle.
“Some were saying, yes, the Shah could hold on, others no. One of the issues in that debate was how much force should be used to put down the revolution,” said Craig.
"There were those who felt that the Shah should really be aggressive and shoot people. And there were those who felt that reforms were the way to defeat the revolution.”
Mission: Tehran
To camouflage the trip's true purpose, Craig and the rest of the group made a diplomatic tour across the Middle East and the North Africa before arriving in Tehran.
Craig touched down in December 1978, just a few months before the Shah was ultimately toppled and as rebellion roiled cities nationwide.
Violence was escalating and martial law was in place as armed anti-Shah demonstrators roamed the streets chanting ‘death to the Shah!’
Because of the security risk, Craig and the team were not able to drive to the Shah’s Niavaran palace and instead flew by helicopter.
“We were flying. You could see out the windows that people were shooting at us,” Craig said.
When they arrived, Craig said he was astonished to see bare walls - no paintings, no antiques - in what was once among the world's most opulent palaces.
It became clear that the Shah was preparing to flee.
“I'm saying to myself, this is really weird. I said to myself immediately, these guys have packed up. They are ready to go. No question about that,” Craig said.
Entering the palace’s Hall of Mirrors, Craig caught sight of the Shah and his wife, Empress Farah Diba, standing to greet them.
'Inert' emperor
“He was comatose. Standing, but inert,” said Craig.
“I noticed that the Shah was looking straight ahead. He was not interacting. His eyes weren't moving. He did not raise his hand. But when the person put their hand in his hand, he didn't grasp it and he didn't shake it,” Craig said.
They went on to have lunch in the palace. Craig said the Shah did not speak once over the course of the meal, leaving the Empress to do all the talking. She appeared to be in control and running the country in the last days of their rule, Craig concluded.
“He didn't eat. He didn't move. He didn't say a word,” said Craig about the Shah.
Pleasantries and small talk dominated the discussion and the violence in the streets went unmentioned. Senator Byrd and Ambassador Craig left convinced that the Shah was unfit to rule.
Little did anyone at the time realize it, but the lunch was to help determine US policy and Iran's future course for the coming decades.
Screaming match
What followed next was a visit by Senator Byrd and Ambassador Craig to Ambassador Sullivan’s house in Tehran to break the news on the special visit.
While Ambassador Craig did not partake in the conversation, he could hear what Sullivan and Byrd were saying.
“There was a lot of screaming and yelling. They were arguing about what our policy should be going forward,” said Craig on the encounter between the two men.
The conversation lasted about three hours, with Sullivan coming to the defense of the Shah and pushing to have the Americans keep him in power. Byrd argued the Shah was already done for and unable to rule over a people in revolt.
On the flight back to the United States, Senator Byrd prepared his report to Carter.
“We were such a small group, of course, that we could hear what the senator was dictating in the memo to the president. So we we all knew what the senator was saying in his memo,” said Craig.
Once they arrived back to D.C, the Senator had a car waiting to take him straight to the White House, where he informed the president of his dire conclusion: the scion of Iran's 2,500-year monarchy was doomed.
“He went back and told the president: This is not going to work," Craig said.
"The Shah cannot continue.”
You can watch the full interview with Ambassador John Craig on YouTube.
The resolution, submitted by Iceland, Germany, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, and the United Kingdom, passed with 24 votes in favor, 8 against, and 15 abstentions at the end of the council's 58th annual session in Geneva.
The council said in the resolution that it is alarmed by the widespread violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in Iran, particularly the severe repression of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and the continuing increase in executions.
The resolution condemned Iran’s use of the death penalty to spread fear and silence political dissent. It warned that handing down death sentences for offenses that don’t meet the international standard of “most serious crimes” is a clear violation of global legal norms. Under international law, the death penalty should be reserved only for crimes involving intentional killing.
The council also highlighted the systematic suppression of freedom of expression and assembly, the harassment of journalists, the restrictions on human rights defenders and civil activists, and what it called "the multifaceted violence and discrimination against minorities" as key examples of ongoing human rights violations in Iran.
The resolution extends the mandate of the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran for another year, tasking the role with continuously monitoring the human rights situation, gathering credible documentation of violations, and assessing Iran's progress in implementing previous recommendations.
The special rapporteur is required to present two periodic reports, one to the Human Rights Council and another to the UN General Assembly. The resolution urged Iranian authorities to provide the necessary cooperation and full access for on-site investigations within Iran.
Additionally, the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, initially established following the nationwide protests in 2022-2023, was also extended for a year.
The mission is mandated to collect and systematically preserve documentation, evidence, and reports related to the suppression of protests, including gender and ethnicity-based discrimination, excessive use of force, and widespread violations of protesters' rights. The goal is to prepare evidence for any future independent legal proceedings to ensure accountability for responsible individuals and entities.
The resolution urged Iran to end systemic impunity by reforming its constitution, criminal laws, and its Judiciary to break the cycle of violence and repression. It called for the repeal or overhaul of compulsory hijab laws and the elimination of discrimination against women and minorities.
The council also demanded fair trials, ensuring that courts operate independently under qualified judges.
It further called for lifting restrictions on civil society, journalists, human rights defenders, and labor activists, safeguarding internet access and peaceful assembly, and releasing all individuals jailed for peaceful activities.
Lastly, the resolution pressed Iran to grant entry and access to the UN special rapporteur and the international fact-finding mission, in line with Iran’s formal invitation to UN human rights bodies.
The Iranian government, which dismisses all accusations regarding human rights violations, has not permitted UN special rapporteurs on human rights to visit the country and conduct investigations.
Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, strongly criticized the adoption of the resolution, labeling it a discriminatory act that undermines the council's credibility.
He argued that the resolution wastes the council's resources and diminishes trust in its work, urging a focus on the situation in Gaza instead.
Amnesty International welcomed the extension and broadening of the Fact-Finding Mission's mandate as a "critical, long-awaited response to the persistent demands for justice from survivors, victims' families and human rights defenders in Iran and in exile."
The organization said that by no longer being limited to the 2022 "Woman Life Freedom" protests, the mission can now investigate other recent or ongoing serious human rights violations and crimes under international law.
The UN's decision follows reports by the fact-finding mission documenting widespread human rights violations, including torture and sexual violence in prisons, which they said constitute crimes against humanity.
