Why some influential Iranian believers turned against Shoghi Effendi?

Resistance against Shoghi Effendi came not only from the grouping around Muhammad-'Ali, however. In the early years of his Guardianship, Shoghi Effendi did indeed encounter tangible resistance from within the community, emanating from a small but certainly influential minority and including some members of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s own family. This resistance was directed against Shoghi Effendi personally, against his youth, against his style of leadership, which was so different from that of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, against the universalism that he promulgated, and against what his critics perceived as the resultant "westernization" of the Baha’i Faith, which was increasingly drawing away from the Islamic forms and structures that had dominated the early community. It had generally been expected that the Universal House of Justice would be established immediately after the death of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. The believers rightly supposed that his Will and Testament would include precise instructions as to how this institution was to be elected. In the event, however, these instructions were set out only as principles and there was no prescribed time-scale. It was therefore the responsibility of the Guardian to determine the appropriate time for the establishment of the Universal House of Justice.

In Shoghi Effendi’s opinion, two essential conditions should, if possible, be fulfilled prior to the election of the first Universal House of Justice. The first of these was that the Baha’i community—and hence the National Spiritual Assemblies from whom the members of the Universal House were to be elected—should become multinational in character, at least to a certain extent. The second was that the local and national institutions should be consolidated, and that they should have effectively taken over the functions assigned to them. The development and strengthening of these foundations was to be a major focus of Shoghi Effendi’s work.

Nevertheless, some influential Iranian believers insisted on the immediate election of the Universal House of Justice? and turned against Shoghi Effendi when he did not comply with their demands.

(Making the Crooked Straight: A Contribution to Bahá'í Apologetics, by Udo Schaefer, p. 721-722)