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Iran                                                                  
     I pulled into Bandar Abbas twice aboard the USS Worden in the fall of 1976 during joint exercises with the British, Pakistani and Iranian Navies. Shah Pahlavi was still in power at the time so there was alcohol available. The first night the Americans and British got into a fight in the bar of the nicest hotel in town. The second night they weren't allowed in the bar but there was a pool party at the same hotel with similar results. I was drinking in a bar and an irate Iranian began hitting his beer bottle against a wooden stool. I finally realized he had watched to many American movies, when the  bottle shattered cutting his hand. I pulled a shore patrol where I sat in a bar in the middle of nowhere with an Iranian sailor. I didn't see an American nor Brit all night and I decided to make the place my hangout. One night I was talking to an Indian Sea Captain who was waiting for the proper paperwork to unload his cargo. He was bad mouthing Richard Nixon and I was doing the same with Indira Ghandi. Neither one of us said anything bad about the Shah, he had secret police everywhere. If you walked by a shop,  there was a picture of the shah in a military uniform, the next shop had a picture of the him in a three piece suit. The next shop he was in religious garb.
    Much of the hate Iranians have felt towards the United States since their 1970 revolution is probably due to the fact that the CIA helped keep the Shah in power. I though the women would all be in veils, instead the often wore masks that resembled the Lone Ranger or Darth Vader. The was an area that was off limits to us foreigners called the Rock Pile or Tent City. Bandar Abbas  had one guarded pass through the mountains encircling the Strairts of Homuz Port/Navy Base area. Besides a base the area was also used as a penal colony. Women who had sinned against the state could work on lessening their sentences by prostitution at the Rock Pile. I woke up on the ship after a drunk with a rock in my pocket. I kept it for years. At that time there was a pet rock fad. I had a Persian Rock. The rock was free. I had looked at Persian rugs and their price tag was well above what I could afford at the time.
Iranian Rials with the Shah's picture on them (All the bills here are shown the same size, they weren't)
    
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