If you read the late general Arianas memoires, you would see a few field marshals of the army drew up plans for invasions of the southern parts of Iraq followed by a massive drive up north towards Baghdad and the kurds backed by Iran would control the north in an event of an major Iraqi aggression and soley as self-defense . After they presented these plans to the Shah, He responded angrily, after we take over Iraq, what then?. Who is going to run that country?. Are we going to be an occupying force for how long and who will pay for the resources.Infact the Americans were putting pressure on the Shah to attack Iraq continuesly but he refused.
As for General Ariana, before his exile to Paris, he was responsible for bring the rule of law back to the south of the country after rich landlords revolted against the Shah's land reforms. He called that his greatest achivment.The man was a true patriot.
Shah was no dummy. Look at Iraq now. It is a battle field of of different sects. Imagine a Persian occupying force in an arab land. The amount of loonies that would have created against Iran at the time would have been a nightmare. Wining the war was the easy part. Shah was a highly educated man who could speak four different languages fluently and had finished army school and was a fully QUALIFIED F-4, F-5 along with Boeing 707 and 727 PILOT. Look at the mess the Americans created in Iraq.He could see something idiot Bush junior couldn't see almost 40 years ago.