Funny... 1946, when North Iran was occupied by Communist forces (Soviet troops, Azeri Soviet militias and a Soviet-equipped separatist Army armed to the teeth), the Iranian Prime Minister Qavam was trying to find a "political solution" by making risky compromises with the Soviets and their communist proxies in Iran. Iran was about to lose all of it's North to Stalin, and the British, fearful of losing also the South of Iran to the Soviets, tried to instigate separatism among the Southern nomadic tribes in Iran.
The "oh so cowardly" Shah was the one pressing for a military solution and ordered his Army (armed with pre-war Czech and some US lend-lease stuff) to liberate occupied Azerbaijan and Kurdistan.
Within a week he crushed the Communists. It was the only time after 1945 that Stalin lost territory.
As further evidence for his "shameful cowardice" the Shah was personally flying alone on reconnaissance missions over enemy territory, at the risk of being shot down, and was observing the Battle of Mianeh (10 December 1946) from air.
Please name me another contemporary Head of State risking his own rear on the front line.
BTW the CIA report draft was written by Donald Wilber, not Schwarzkopf.
If you did indeed read it then you know how difficult it was for them to get reza to act, that they did resort to using his sister to shame him into action, that he fled Iran for Italy after day one went badly, that he was dragged back to Iran and that they did in fact describe him as "pathologically afraid".