US rejects Shah's plea for surgery in US
March 13, 1980
Deposed Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, fearing extradition to his hostile homeland, has asked Washington to let him undergo hazardous surgery in the United States. But the State Department said the exiled monarch would enter a Panamanian hospital instead.
Since leaving Iran Jan. 16, 1979, the Shah and Empress Farah have lived in exile in Egypt, Morocco, the Bahamas, Mexico, and now Panama, where the monarch has lived in seclusion on Contadora Island.