Throughout the Cold War

Throughout the cold war, relations between Washington and Tehran were close, primarily because the Shah was, as Henry Kissinger said, "the rarest of leaders, and unconditional ally." Iranians saw the United States as the force that propped up a hated dictatorship. Iranians traditionally believed the United States was not a colonial power in fact older Iranians remembered President Woodrow Wilson's anti-colonial views. Even Mossadegh initially had goodwill towards the United States. But during the 1950s and 1960s, primarily as a result of the 1953 coup and concessions the Shah made to the Americans, a new generation emerged that saw the United States as imperialist and neo-colonialist.

 

With money from oil revenues the Shah attempted to transform Iran into a regional military power. The United States sold tens of billions of dollars worth of advanced weapons which brought huge profits to US arms manufacturers while securing Iran as a powerful cold war ally on the Soviet Union's southern border.

 

Some of the things the Shah purchased from us were far beyond his needs. Prestige and his fascination with military hardware played a major part. There was no rational decision making process. It was the same on the civilian side. There was waste and corruption. Shiploads of grain would arrive and there were no trucks to offload them, so they would just heap the grain into mountains and burn them.

 

Anger at the United States' presence and the Shah's dictatorial rule culminated in a national uprising in 1979. It was Iran's last modern revolution, like previous ones, a rebellion against a regime that was seen to have sold out to a foreign power. Nearly every important group in Iran joined the anti-Shah uprising. Muslim clerics were prominent among its leaders but so were pro-Soviet communists and democrats who had supported Mossadegh in the 1950s. Though seen as invulnerable by Washington the Shah was forced to leave Iran on January 16, 1979. There was discussions about who would permit him in to their country so he went to Egypt, then to Morocco, then to the Bahamas, then to Mexico and then ion October 22 1979 to the United States. Many in Iran saw this as the Jimmy Carter administration plotting to place the Shah back into power. Thirteen days later, militants seized the U. S. Embassy in Tehran. Fundamentalist Shiite clerics used the crisis to crush moderate factions, consolidate control over the new government and transform Iran into a theocratic state under Ayatollah Khomeini who had returned from exile on February 1, 1979.

 

The conflict between Washington and Iran led to Saddam Hussein, dictator of neighboring Iraq --- which had been a rival of Iran since the two countries were the kingdoms of Persia and Mesopotamia --- to see Iran as suddenly lacking a powerful ally and with its military in disarray, to launch an invasion of Iran in September 1980. The ensuing was lasted eight years, devastated the Iranian economy and cost Iran as many as a million casualties, including thousands who were killed or seriously injured by chemical weapons. Iraq saw between 160,000 and 240,000 killed.

 

Summary:

• 1951 Iran Parliament democratically elects Prime Minister
• 1951 to 1953 Most Iranians see the United States as a friend
• 1953 United States overthrows democratically elected Prime Minister and installs the Shah
• 1953 to 1979 Shah rules ruthlessly
• 1979 (January) Shah leaves Iran
• 1979 (February) Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran
• 1979 (October) Shah enters the United States for medical treatment
• 1979 (November) U. S. Embassy seized
• 1980 (September) Iraq invades Iran
• 2003 (March) United States invades Iraq

 

Continuing its superb record of choosing the wrong side, the United States sided with Iraq.

 

Keeping this in mind what do you expect Iran to do next?

 

Regards,
John Jenkins

865-803-8179 cell

Gatlinburg, TN
Email: jrjenki@yahoo.com 

Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com 
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

Hyperbole is the Best Thing Ever.