The Us-Iranian Relations - Essay Example

? “AMERICAN PARADOX,” THE US IRANIAN RELATIONS DURING THE SHAH OF IRAN. THE PARADOX BETWEEN THE US POLICY AGAINST THE DICTATORSHIPS AND THE SUPPORT OF THE IRANIAN REGIME AT THAT TIME By Author`s Name Name of the Class Name of the Professor Name of the School City, State December 1, 2012 The type of government in Iran under the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a form of dictatorship. Dictatorship is a form of government where a single person or a group of people have complete power over a nation and are not limited in any way by the constitution. Shah became president in 1953 after the American Central Intelligence Agency assisted in organizing a coup to institute him as president of Iran. However, there was a lot of discontent among the people of Iran due to his dictatorial attitude. Shah’s regime collapsed in 1979 during a period known as the Iranian or Islamic revolution. The Islamic revolution brought monarchical rule in Iran to an end. The Iranian Revolution took place in 1979, 1many analyst explain that during this time about eight million people, approximately one-fifth of the whole of Iranian population, took to the streets to demonstrate about the still-formidable regime of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. After the victorious triumph of the revolution, it became evident that the powers affiliated with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni had gained control in the post-revolutionary struggle for power, the grand party that had managed to overthrow the Shah`s regime had begun to collapse. Consequently, progressive support for the new regime decreased to a very dedicated core base that comprised a division of clerical establishments, the middle class, and the urban poor enabling the new regime to combine its powers. 2 The recent history of the Iran an Islamic Republic is outstanding in its steady disintegration in the extent and capacity of public support for the regime. At the end of the twentieth century, Iran was a nation of frustrated hopes. The revolutionaries had pledged to reverse the course of dependent economic development, which favored economic growth and compensating a few well connected families that had been pursued by the Pahlavi regime. The revolutionary regime, promised to establish an economically developed and independent Iran in which the fruits ofthe economic growth and prosperity were to be added with equity and social justice. Civil liberties as well as the rights of citizens to petition their Government through the formation of voluntary association and political parties were to assured. The Government and the society were to become morally upright through piety and strict compliance with the dictators of Islam. 3“Shortly after the revolution, in search of self-sufficiency, the Iranian government nationalized a vast proportion of Iran’s large scale industries, as well as banking and insurance.” 4Iran`s economy had been deteriorating due to the country`s population. The country’s population has doubled, reaching approximately 64 million people, which is approximately 30 million above the population during the Shah`s regime. The population exploded as a result of the clerical elites who reintroduced the child marriage, and discouraged contraceptives after the revolution. Iran`s population is already expanding to the present regime which has caused even a more devastating consequences for the future. Relations between the United States and Iran during the reign of Shah were pleasant. During the reign of President Eisenhower in the United States, Moscow asserted that the United States supported a coup by Shah. 5“The United States had been pictured as actively intervening in Iranian affairs and as the inspirer of the attempted coup by the Shah.” This was contrary to the move of supporting freedom worldwide that the United States had taken after the Second World War. 6“The United States policy during that period was based on a policy of containment-an effort to contain the influence of communism.” Despite embarking on the policy of ‘a safe world’ where everyone was free, the United States also had interests in the oil-rich Middle East. In the 1950s, Cold War tensions rose in the Middle East over fears of soviet invasion by western nations. Consequently, 7“the government of Iran, supposedly influenced by the Kremlin, began to resist the power of the gigantic western companies that controlled Iranian petroleum.” To respond to this threat, the American Central Intelligence Agency assisted in the organization of a coup in 1953 installing Shah, who was a dictator as president of Iran. Apart from supporting a coup to install a dictator as president of Iran, the United States supported Iran in starting a nuclear program. This was clearly a wrong move given that the United States had assumed the role of promoting world peace. The nuclear program was an idea by Shah. Together with European nations such as France and Germany, research resources, and nuclear production facilities were provided for Iran. The United States and Iranian relations during the Kennedy administration witnessed the lowest limit, which cut back military aid to Iran and made continuation conditional on the adoption of reforms by the regime. When Jackson administration took power the relationship between the two states picked up again. In 1964, Shah made visits to the United States for a meeting to persuade the president of the United States to resume and expand its military credit to Iran. 8The United States agreed to grant $200 million in military credit to Iran, but during the Nixon administration the relation between United States and Iran deepened, and because of its developing state the United States ended its aid program. Nixon the United States president made a good reputation with Shah, as he agreed to sell Iran any conventional weapons system it wanted. 9“In the early 1970s, the Iranian regime with its increasing oil revenues and importance emerged as a mainstay of Western economic stability and political influence.” Shah had always counted on the United States support during his regime. The United States was deeply involved in the industrial and military build-up of Iran, which was required to the stability of the regime. America for so many years supported the Shah`s dictatorship and this way added to the anti-American character, they also helped for support in the overthrow of popular Government movement in support for unpopular Government movement. The United States support for Shah`s dictatorship was a key determinant of America’s future relation with Iran, 10 The United States implication in its relations with Iran was clearly seen in the American terrorist attacks, establishments that were made in ran in the 1970s, and the anti-American character during the revolution that took place between 1978 and 1979. Over the years Iran`s regime increasingly pursued a more repressive policy at home. As a result of this, the United States government decided to strike the right balance in a number of ways. President Bush openly expressed his respect for the history of Iran and expressed American support in the struggles of Iran. 11 “In 2002, the United States began to increase the flow of news and information into Iran.” In 2008, the United States Congress delegated sixty million dollars for plans to encourage democracy, governance and the rule of law in Iran. When the Second World War came to an end, the United States came up with a number of policies. Some of these policies were like the unsuccessful United States effort during the Second World War II to create a national policy on foreign oil and freedom all over the world. This is because despite taking the role of promoting freedom among nations after the Second World War, the United States helped install a dictatorship form of Government in Iran under the rule of Shah. This was due to the fact that the United States had interest in maintaining its control over the Iranian oil industry. However, Shah was overthrown in 1979 and this was the beginning of the end of America’s control over Iranian oil. The Americans had created a dispute between them and Middle East over the oil industry. Other than the oil policy United States had another policy, which was to compete with the British for influence and access for market of the Suez Canal. From this, it is clear that relations between the United States and Iran after the reign of Shah changed. From that time, the nation has been a theocracy and Iran 12“has been at odds with the United States and the West for much of that time.” Bibliography Bashiriyeh, Hossein. The State and Revolution in Iran: 1962-1982. Kent: Croom Helm Ltd, 1984. Dariush, Zahedi. The Iranian Revolution Then and Now: Indicators of Regime Stability. New York: Westview Press, 2000. Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics. Edited by Jeffrey Schultz, John West, and Iain Maclean. Arizona: Oryx Press, 1999. Kennedy, David M., Cohen, Elizabeth and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant, Volume 2: Since 1865. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Kinzer, Stephen. All the Shah`s men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. New Jersey: John Wiley & sons Inc., 2011. The New York Times. “Iran.” nytimes.com. Nov, 28, 2012. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html. The New York Times. “Moscow Says U. S. Aided Shah's Coup.” nytimes.com. August 20, 1953. http://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/082053iran-moscow.html. Wright, Robin B. The Iran Primer: Power, politics and the U.S policy. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2010, 145. Read More