“The last Shah’s father was a moron who made several bad decisions while in power, to include an alliance with Germany during WW2.”
I don’t think that’s a fair description, either of Reza Shah or the relation with Germany during WWII. Iran was neutral in WWII, and after the German invasion of the USSR Iran became the desired route to supply the Soviets. Invading the neutral country of Iran was like the much vilified invasion of Belgium in WWI.
The biggest “crime” of the Pahlavi Dynasty was trying to modernize the country. Reza Shah admired Ataturk and how he had secularized Turkey. Reza Shah banned Islamic veils, including the chador. He built roads and railways, and established the first university in Iran. He broke unfair oil agreements with the British, and negotiated a new one that provided a more fair distribution of profits between the two nations.
Before Reza Shah Iran in many was was a nation stuck in a feudal system. Wealthy landowners controlled the tenant farmers below them, taking four fifths of the profits of the farmers’ labor. All schools were religious schools, the majority of course were Islamic. Hostile tribal groups in the outlining areas operated as bandits, making travel hazardous. Reza Shah closed the religious schools and replaced them with state controlled ones offering education for all. He instituted land reforms and founded a modern army, taming those tribal groups. Reza Shah increased the mileage of major highways from 2,000 to 16,000, and began building railways. He stopped the French from looting Iran’s antiquities.
Neither Reza Shah nor his son were perfect. Both tended toward autocratic rule, and in the case of Reza heavy handed policies rubbed people the wrong way, particularly the outlining tribal groups and the clerics. Ironically, the mullahs initially backed Mossadegh but they turned against him because they thought he was trying to change the country even faster.
Perhaps the last straw was giving the vote to women in 1963, eight years before women in Switzerland could do so. The first thing that happened when the ayatollahs took over 1979 was to remove the rights of women. The marriage age for women was lowered from 18 to 9. Head coverings were once again mandatory in public. Universities were shut down for five years.
Like with Nicholas II in Russia, the people the shah ruled jumped out of the frying pan and right into the fire.