IRDC.IR: The Pahlavi regime committed the greatest treason to Iran's economy, not just the economy of their time, but also to our economic foundations as its implications lasted for years to come.
They transformed Iran to a storage for worthless, useless imported western goods. They bought cheap instruments and unnecessary and disproportionate things at exorbitant prices. They completely destroyed the once self-sufficient agriculture of this country; to an extent that years later, even now, our agriculture has not found its previous status.
Because the waves of immigration [from villages to the city] that they incited, was not something that could be easily stopped. They made the nation dependent on foreign countries in agriculture. They bought wheat from the US.
The wheat storage facilities were built by the Soviets, too. That is, we were dependent for our wheat and for its storage. They ruined the rural areas. They stopped the industry which was to progress. The progress that was needed in the industry to stop imports was not made.
Active industry was halted in this country and a dependent industry was encouraged that relied on imports as much as or more than it produced. They stopped science. They talked a lot about universities and students, but practically, the country's universities had minimum scientific activity. Any brilliant and active talent, if they wanted to flourish, if they were not suppressed in the country, had to leave to work abroad. It was impossible here. They gave foreign companies dominance over much of the country's economic resources and gave away much of oil reserves for free.
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