Dying from cancer a quarter-century ago, the deposed shah of Iran pressed on me a fundamental point about his nation that has become even more vivid over the past two weeks. What the shah said, and almost said, then sheds light on the current confrontation between Iran and the world's great powers.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi died weeks after our 1980 conversation in Cairo. It has taken the ayatollahs and other Islamic radicals who followed him to reveal how far backward, and forward, stretched the deeper meanings of the words he spoke, which had to be condensed into a conventional news story on that May day.
![]("http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/images/OpinionsSidebarHead_228x21.gif"){kind=small}
![""]("http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/04/13/PH2007041301887.jpg")
![]("http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/images/OpinionsSidebarBot_228x18.gif")
![]("http://media.washingtonpost.co</font)