Ir The Enemy Of My Enemy

The complexity of America’s relationship with Iran increased steadily beginning in 1908, when Iran struck oil. The Shah, the king or emperor of Iran, after taking the place of his young predecessor Reza Shah Pahlavi with the help of the CIA, led Iran into a period of extreme wealth and prosperity, the likes of which the Iranian people had never experienced. However, with the growth of wealth in Iran came the growth of Iranian resentment towards the West, specifically the United States. The Iranian’s resented the uneven distribution of wealth that they felt existed and the United State’s influence in “westernizing” their society. In 1963, this growing hatred led to a conflict with the Islamic clergy. The conflict was quickly settled by the Shah, but he was unaware that this dispute was the beginning

For most Americans, the story begins in 1979 with the Iranian Hostage Crisis, when a group of revolutionary university students took over the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and held 52 American diplomats, intelligence officers and Marines hostage for 444 days. But for most Iranians, and to fully understand the repercussions of this aforementioned event, the story begins almost three decades prior, in 1953. This was the year that the United States overthrew the recently established democracy in Iran, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. He had become very popular in the country for having the ambition to finally take advantage of the wealth that Iran needed to grow

Iran’s nuclear programme has in recent years worsened US-Iran relations. The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons (Bahgat , 2009). Other reasons for mistrust include USA’s support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980’s. Specifically, Iran continues to resent the US supplying Iraq with the chemical weapons it used during the war. Adding fuel to the fire, in 1988, US guided missile Cruiser the USS Vincennes on station in the Persian Gulf mistakenly shot down Iranian Airlines flight 655 killing 290. (Milinski, n.d.)

Iranian hostility of United States can be traced back to the 1950s. The United States supported any regime that was not communist, even though they would be considered very unpopular with the people of their country. Because of this, Iran became an anti-communist country and the Shah became an ally of the United States. In 1950 the Shah left Iran when Mohammed Mossadegh was elected Prime Minister. After Mossadegh election, he used his authority and nationalized the oil industry in the country. This incident generated fear in the United States. The state department felt that communists could abuse this anarchy and Iran could turn against the United States. The Shah, who had been removed from power, contacted the United States and the Central

According to Mark C. Carnes and John A. Garraty’s “The American Nation: A History of the United States”, “During World War II, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and later the United States occupied Iran and forced its pro-German shah into exile, replacing him with his twenty-two year old son, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi” (Carnes and Garraty). In the early 1950’s, executive power was relocated to the leftist Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh.

Since the early 1900s the United States has been embroiled in Iranian affairs, something that would have great effects both in 1979 and now. The United States’ interest in Iran was originally spurred by the discovery of oil, but due to the Cold War U.S. interest in Iran grew even more for strategic reasons. To continue to exert their influence in Iran, the United States, through the CIA, installed shah Pahlavi as ruler. The shah was a cruel and strict dictator and was eventually overthrown and exiled. In place of the shah, an Islamic Republic came to power under the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Pahlavi dynasty in Iran lasted from 1925-1979. In 1925 Reza Shah Pahlavi was appointed and reined until 1941 when his son Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi succeeded him after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi was considered pro – Western, who worked closely with many U.S. Presidential administrations. In 1951 the European educated Mohammed Mosadegh, Prime Minister of Iran wanted to nationalize Iran’s oil industry. This political, economic and ideological conflict resulted in Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi being forced into exile for a short period of time. Mosadegh’ s policies would have adversely affected the British and American governments who had previously been in control of Iran’s oil. Therefore the Intelligence

The focus of this investigation is on the United States’ influence on the National Revolution of Iran of 1978-1979. Topics investigated include the sociocultural and political differences between the two countries which

The Middle East was one of the main areas of the world which the US aimed to prevent a Communist reign. After Iran broke off from Great Britain in 1952, America disband aid to the Iranian economy and “left a running wound that bled for twenty-five years and contaminated relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran” (Richman, Sheldon L. 5). It wasn’t until the mid 1970’s that the US began a CIA operation to create chaos in Iran to overthrow and capture Mossadegh, a man with Communist ideals, while simultaneously reinstating the previous Shah, therefore providing oil to America and Britain. America continued to aid the Shah and his corrupt government for the following years, creating a difficult environment for the people of Iran. This corruption and negative impacts on Iranian civilians lead to an internal revolution in the late 1979 that ended with the death of the Shah. Iranians then held American hostages at the US Embassy in Iran, which is the inspiration for the movie Argo (Richman, Sheldon L.

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was the King of Iran (1941-1979) . When his father, Reza Shah’s reign was over, he replaced him and started his reign. He went against his original vow of acting as a constitutional ruler by his involvement in governmental matters. The Shah’s main focus was on Iran’s relations with foreign power as well as modernizing Iran as quickly as possible. Although he was a clever and influential leader, he was known for his monocratic rule, corrupt government, forced westernization, and betraying his own people by use of the Savak. Mohammed Reza was thrown from power because he relied more on manipulation than on leadership.

As you are all too aware, the United States and its Allies have faced troubles in the Middle East for many decades. Much of this is due to well-funded and well-protected terrorists operating in the region under the protective umbrella of participating countries, including Iran. Understandably, the thought of a nuclear capable Iran is terrifying to many of you. I wish to propose a different option than the current economic sanctions that have been taking place, one in which Iran becomes both more powerful and aligns it’s views with that of the United States.

Since the Iranian Revolution, the US has implemented a policy of “containment” toward Iran in an attempt to prevent the spread of Islamic fundamentalism; ironically, at the same time that the US is trying to contain Iran, it supports Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan. Similarly, during the Iran-Iraq war, the Reagan administration repaired relations with Iraq and openly supported them while simultaneously supporting the Iranians covertly based on the logic that either side should

The Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979 was an event that profoundly impacted Western-Iranian relations, to the extent that its residual effects still linger today. Iran’s revolution of 1979 resulted in a regime change that saw U.S.-supported Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi toppled by the formerly-exiled Ayotollah Khomeini, who promptly instated a strongly anti-Western regime that established itself as ideologically in direct opposition to many Western values. This anti-Western, and particularly anti-American sentiment was common amongst many Iranians due to their resentment of U.S. support for Shah Pahlavi and his oppressive and unsatisfactory regime. This resentment was markedly exhibited to the international community with the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran by Khomeini-supporting Islamist students, who took 66 Americans hostage. Since the Western “realm” is held together by shared values and sense of community, amongst other features, and Khomeini’s Iran had proven itself to be not only an ideological threat to Westerners, but a security one as well as exemplified by the hostage-taking, Canada swiftly worked bilaterally to defend its realm by sheltering 6 American diplomats in the home of Canadian Ambssador Ken Taylor, and covertly aiding the C.I.A. in the hostages’ extraction . Canada’s role in the hostage crisis internationally reinforced its loyalty to the Western realm, and in particular, its strong bilateral relationship with the United States. This paper will

By playing on its fear of communism, the British convinced America to remove and replace Mossadegh. The immediate result? The end of democracy in Iran. America backed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran would remain in power until the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The immediate benefit to the U.S was oil. America would get a 20% share in Iran’s oil. The share in oil would prove to be beneficial to the U.S. economy. However, during the 1970s, the Shah broke off his relationship with the U.S. through high taxation on foreign companies, and increased oil concession royalties. The Iranians also took control of the price of oil, which was a major contributing factor to the 1973 energy crisis (Ghosh). The long term effect of this regime change was the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The Shah’s rule, backed by the United States, was an cruel, oppressive, and tyrannical one, and was one that sparked the rebellion of the nation. The direct impact on America’s security came when a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took more than 50 Americans

The post-coup era was a flourishing time for American-Iranian relations. It was not that the people of Iran were particularly fond of the US, but rather the Shah’s relationship with the US. His power was essentially granted to him by both the US and Britain, and as a result he was to do as they instructed, causing him to become the “American puppet.” The US propelled him into becoming a “domineering leader over the Iranian government and masses,” which was the opposite of Mossadegh. Such a regime warrants itself to the hatred garnered by people. The greatness of these times defined the reasoning behind the enormous amounts of animosity that was generated when the relations began to fray.