Though America invites the Shah immediately after he flees Iran, to which Ayotollah Khomeini initially has no objections, he frustratingly decides to visit other countries . When he subsequently begs President Jimmy Carter for asylum, Carter feels torn between US allegiance to a former ally and not stoking the growing religious, anti-America sentiment in Iran. The Shah’s entry into the US will now be seen as inflammatory. But Carter caves in to pressure and allows the Shah entry for cancer treatments despite risking the lives of Americans still working in Tehran.

The fact that the exiled Shah first went to countries like Egypt and Morocco, staying close to home, signaled his interest in returning to Iran and quashing the revolution. And now that America is welcoming its puppet with open arms, Iranian Islamic revolutionaries have evidence that the Carter administration is plotting to place him back in power. Had the Shah immediately fled to America, his intentions of abdication would have been clear. But for him to travel there after checking his options is evidence that he and America are rallying forces for his comeback, which won’t be allowed to happen.