The Overall Scope
The Western media has hidden from peoplesâ minds a centuries-long history of bullying and abuse of Iran by great powers. Iranâs position over the north shores of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuzâthe chokepoint that most of the Middle East regionâs oil pass to go to the world marketâis a very important strategic location. Iran has been blessed with tremendous oil and natural gas reserves which is one of largest in the world. However, with great wealth comes the need for great security. This book is about an overview of the realities which Iran has faced for centuries and the predicament of a former empire that has been dominated by Western powers for many years. The book focuses on political economy of oil and the development of nuclear technology in Iran and is supplemented with some historical background on Iranâs foreign relations to better understand Iranâs situation against the West at the present time.
The book begins by exploring how Iran went from being in a strong political position at the turn of the eighteenth century and decades later became subjected to total domination by imperial powers. It briefly explains how Iran lost large parts of its territory to Russia after it was defeated in two Russo-Persian wars in the early nineteenth century. Later on, as a result of the Anglo-Persian war and Great Britainâs interventions, Iran was forced to cede large parts of its eastern territory, which are now parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ultimately, the British Empireâs naval and military superiority forced Iran to yield to its wishes. Iran became the victim of economic imperialism by Great Britain and imperial Russia for decades and lagged behind in industrial development. Consequently, the surplus generated in Iranâs economy was appropriated by the two imperial powers and its economy began to stagnate. After the discovery of oil in its province of Khuzestan in the early twentieth century, Iran became much more important to Britain as it became the eminent source of oil for the British navy. From that time on, Iranâs oil resources became a grand prize coveted by major powers seeking to plunder. The country became the victim of merciless oil politics and suffered disastrous damages from being invaded during both World Wars. Subsequently, Iran was subjected to a foreign-sponsored military coup, Islamic insurrection, and invasion by Iraq. Despite all the disasters suffered, Iran has remained a viable country.
After Britain pulled out its forces from the Persian Gulf in 1971, Iran contemplated restoring its regional power, which had been destroyed by the Western imperialism. Iran wished to advance its status âtoward the great civilization,â reminiscent of the countryâs past glorious history.1 More recently, Iran has built its indigenous defense industry and has increased its military capability significantly. However, Iranâs regional power has raised an issue for the West that feels its interests in the region are threatened. Iranâs progress in some technological fields and specifically in nuclear and missile technology has caused the West to worry about a resurgence of Iranâs regional power, an important issue that will be examined in the chapters to come.
This book is divided into three parts. Part I covers Iranâs recent past history that helps us understand why the country is in its current predicament versus the West. It contains some historical background which includes a brief review of Iranâs history in encountering the Western powers, coupled with the major treaties made with foreign governments and economic concessions given to European nations.
Part II serves to discuss the geopolitics of oil in the Persian Gulf region and the U.S. strategies to control it. This part examines the British, Russian, and American roles in Iran, the oil concession given to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and the consequences of Iranâs oil nationalization. It then reviews the subsequent Anglo-American military coup that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, and the role of the U.S. in replacing Britain as the dominant power in Iran after the coup until the fall of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in February 1979. Afterward, it explores the U.S. and its Western alliesâ roles in the transition of the Shahâs government to the Islamic regime in Iran. It concentrates on the Islamic regime conflicts with the United States, which began after the Shah was admitted to the U.S. in October 1979 and continued throughout the American hostage episode, the Iran-Iraq War, and the U.S. strategies to contain Iran.
The primary portion of Part III is about the confrontation between the worldâs foremost power, the United States, and Iran which was at one point the greatest empire of the ancient world.2 This part deals with the U.S. political and economic sanctions imposed on Iran in response to its nuclear program, covering the U.S. unilateral sanctions and subsequent sanctions by the United Nations and the European Union to halt Iranâs nuclear program. Despite the sanctions, Iran strove to expand its nuclear program until the U.S. and its Western alliesâ coercive diplomacy forced it to stop. At the end, major issues after the signing of the nuclear agreement are discussed, and Iranâs oil nationalization struggle is compared with the present nuclear dispute. For instance, the coercing of Iran to capitulate the major part of its nuclear program in 2015 could be seen as the reminiscence of the 1953 coup that reversed oil nationalization. In both oil nationalization and the nuclear program episodes, Western powers succeeded in imposing their wishes on Iran, the former by military coup and the latter by coercive diplomacy. The following is a brief description of these two episodes.
Iranâs Oil Nationalization and Its Nuclear Pursuit
Iran has had two major confrontations with the West involving the scrutiny of international legal organizations: its oil nationalization case in the early 1950s and its nuclear program controversy in recent years. In both cases, Iran was put under economic sanctions and threat of military attacks while it was pursuing its national interests.
For several decades prior, Iranâs economy had suffered under the domination of Great Britain, leading to an anti-colonial movement against Britain in Iran. In 1951, Prime Minister Mosaddegh nationalized Iranâs oil industry in an attempt to end the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Companyâs (AIOC) monopoly in Iran. To support oil nationalization, Mosaddegh formed a coalition of political groups under the name of the National Front (Jebeh-e Melli). The British government complained against oil nationalization on behalf of the AIOC which brought Iranâs case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, and also the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Despite the sanctions imposed on Iran, Mosaddegh remained firm against Britain to defend Iranâs right to nationalize its own oil. In June 1952, Mosaddegh succeeded in obtaining a favorable ruling from the International Court of Justice.
Mosaddegh relied mainly on educated and intellectual Iranians to challenge the British oil monopoly in Iran; however, he was betrayed by a top Islamic cleric at the time, Ayatollah Abul-Qassem Kashani, who had initially allied with Mosaddegh. Kashani mobilized the mobs, mullahs, and royalists against Mosaddegh which provided support for a coup to bring him down.3 The U.S. joined Britain in supporting the coup which overthrew Mosaddegh in August 1953.
From the mid-1960s, Iran tried to build its basic industries and began to expand its regional power. However, due to the emergence of the Islamic clerical leadership in 1979 and the following eight-year war with Iraq, the country became weak and devastated. Meanwhile, its government...
