<P> In 1963, Mohammad Reza launched the White Revolution, a series of far - reaching reforms, which caused much opposition from the religious scholars . They were enraged that the referendum approving of the White Revolution in 1963 allowed women to vote with the Ayatollah Khomeini railing in his sermons against the fact that women had been allowed to vote, saying the fate of Iran should never be allowed to be decided by women . In 1963 and 1964, nationwide demonstrations against Mohammad Reza's rule took place all over Iran with the centre of the unrest being the holy city of Qom . It was students studying to be imams at Qom who were most active in the protests and Ayatollah Khomeini emerged as one of the leaders of the protests, giving sermons calling for the Shah's overthrow . At least 200 people were killed with the police throwing some students to their deaths from high buildings and Khomeini was exiled to Iraq in August 1964 . </P> <P> The second attempt on the Shah's life occurred on 10 April 1965 . A soldier shot his way through the Marble Palace . The assassin was killed before he reached the royal quarters . Two civilian guards died protecting the Shah . </P> <P> According to Vladimir Kuzichkin--a former KGB officer who defected to the SIS--the Shah was also allegedly targeted by the Soviet Union, who tried to use a TV remote control to detonate a bomb - laden Volkswagen Beetle . The TV remote failed to function . A high - ranking Romanian defector Ion Mihai Pacepa also supported this claim, asserting that he had been the target of various assassination attempts by Soviet agents for many years . </P> <P> Mohammad Reza' s third and final wife was Farah Diba (born 14 October 1938), the only child of Sohrab Diba, a captain in the Imperial Iranian Army (son of an Iranian ambassador to the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg, Russia), and his wife, the former Farideh Ghotbi . They were married in 1959, and Queen Farah was crowned Shahbanu, or Empress, a title created specially for her in 1967 . Previous royal consorts had been known as "Malakeh" (Arabic: Malika), or Queen . The couple remained together for twenty one years, until the Shah's death . Farah Diba bore him four children: </P>

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