the baháʼí international community has, however, stated that the baháʼí community in iran was the victim of the shah's regime, and that savak was one of the main ways of persecuting the baháʼís. for example, reza shah's government ordered the closure of baháʼí schools, such as tehran's tarbiyat school for boys and girls, in 1934. also during the month of ramadan in 1955, when the shah's government needed to distract the general population from its decision to join the baghdad pact under pressure from the british and american governments, it sought the support of the clerics. ayatollah seyyed hossein borujerdi, acting as the marja taqlid, a grand ayatollah with the authority to make legal decisions within the confines of islamic law, pushed the shah's government to support the persecution of the baháʼí community.