By Faramarz Kouhpayeh 

The Iron Lady and the Shah: How Thatcher’s 1978 Iran trip fueled British interference

TEHRAN – Forty-seven years ago, in April 1978, the leader of the UK opposition Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher, visited Iran almost a year before the Islamic Revolution. She held talks with Mohammad Reza Shah and cajoled him into buying more British-made weapons and military equipment in a bid to create jobs in her country amid the economic recession.