By the mid-1930s, Rezā Shāh’s strong secular rule caused dissatisfaction among some groups, particularly the clergy, who opposed his reforms, but the middle and upper-middle class of homeland liked what Rezā Shāh did. In 1935, Rezā Shāh issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term homeland in formal correspondence, in accordance with the fact that “Persia” was a term used by Western peoples for the country called “homeland” in Persian.