Iran and USA, enemies or friends?

The Shah of Iran had upset Israel in his interview  he had with Mike Wallace. The Shah was arrogant enough to condemn Israel for all the troubles in the Middle East. The Shah completely forgot that he was given opportunity to rule Iran – because the CIA had allowed him.

The plot which helped bring down Iran’s prime minister Mossadeq –and bring Shah Pehalvi, could be done again.  The method used by the CIA was to get rid of Mossadeq was start demonstrations in mosque. Islam has been the CIA’s best weapon against the Muslim countries. The Shah was unceremoniously kicked out of Iran in 1979 and no country was willing to accept him.

The Shah  as long as he was in power did the following

·        Used the oil money ‘modernise’ Iran – made it more western than the West. He little or not tolerance for mullahs and ayatollahs.  

·        He imagined as long as he kept the same mullahs who had brought down Mossadeq may do the same against him.  

·        The  Shah adopted second language was French – it was supposed to be the language of culture and good upbringing.

·        Hordes of Iranian students however studied in universities in the USA. 

·        He also used the oil wealth to arm Iran to the teeth. All kinds of weapons bought from the USA – which made the US weapons manufacturers very happy

Ayatollah Khomeini  to escape persecution of the Shah had taken refuge in Iraq. He was a prominent religious leader with a  big following Iran. After the Shah was removed. A deal was struck with Khomeini in Paris. From Paris,  Khomeini returned as the Supreme Leader of Iran. A country to be ruled in the name of religion. The first thing that was done was to attack the US embassy in Teheran and turn all the diplomats into hostages.

President Carter tried to get them released. Initially tried force, but  it failed. 1979 was election year and President Carter’s re-election depending on the release of the hostages.  The Republicans had Reagan and the former CIA director George Bush was chosen to be the Vice President. Whatever the Iranian would decide the fate of the US elections. The release of hostages was stalled. They were released after the elections in which Reagan won and Carter lost. The USA paid a ransom A Sanctions were imposed on Iran and  all diplomatic ties with Iran were cut. The Iranian students in the USA were the ones who suffered – they had seen a Westernised Iran – they  graduated in the USA and had embraced Western culture at its fullest, they were not prepared to a country to have gone in the exact opposite direction. They were stuck in the USA or any other country of the world they were in.  Some inadvertently  were the ‘student movement’ against the Shah and his secret police SAVAK. The CIA had covered everything.

An Islamic regimes both Iran and Pakistan for long term US interests. The plan was crush the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Iran and Pakistan would provide manpower and support to Afghanistan. While that war was going on. Iran, Iraq started a war against Iran.

The condition of the Iraq’s military was so bad, that when Israel destroyed its Osirak nuclear power plant, Iraq did not retaliate,,  could not or was told not to.  The biggest buyer of US weapons before  was Iran,  but  sanctions were imposed it stopped being so Iraq, during its was against Iran began buying lots of weapons from the USA. The US arms industry recovered.

During the time when Reagan was in power a strange incident took, which broke out as a scandal. The Iran-Contra Affair. The US government to buy back  surplus US weapons from Iran. Those weapons would be used to arm the Contra rebels who were fighting the Sandinista  controlled Nicaragua. The source of the money was dubious, which is another matter. But the questions is why did the USA rely on Iran?

There can be only one explanation – the USA pretended to have broken off with Iran just to please the Israelis. But the USA needs oil from every part of the world it including  Iran. Israel does not. What people read in the news is not what it seems. Iran’s nuclear programme was vociferously condemned by Israel and USA – behind the scenes the USA could very well be assisting Iran. It has no choice.