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NO.2355 - US-Iran War
Author: Dreamless
Drafting: Guo Guo / Proofreading: Gu Hanying / Editor: Moth
As one of the most watched matches in the group stage of this World Cup, the head-to-head collision between Iran and the United States has really attracted a lot of attention. Due to a previous 0-0 draw between England and the United States, the winner between the United States and Iran will have a high probability of finishing second in the group.
The road is narrow, what kind of showdown will be staged?
(Photo: Shutterstock & OneImage)
Therefore, even from a football standpoint alone, this is destined to be a fierce confrontation between Mars and the earth, and if you consider the vicissitudes of the green field, then the situation is even more intriguing. After all, everyone knows that the United States and Iran regard each other as enemies at the diplomatic level and want to wipe each other off the face of the earth in the next second.
Especially Iran, which has been suppressed and bullied by the United States for many years
It's really holding a breath of evil (Photo: Shutterstock) ▼
However, in fact, until the end of the 70s, Iran was the most important ally of the United States in the Middle East, and it was not until the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution led by Khomeini that relations between the two countries quickly cooled and became so close to each other.
What is even more outrageous is that throughout the Islamic Revolution, the United States can be called the behind-the-scenes operator of this big drama, and it was under the "fierce operation of the US government" at that time that Iran became the number one henchman in the Middle East of the United States today...
Iran, where the United States is located▼
A hundred years of shame, the land of four wars
Like many Third World countries, Iran's recent history as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal state is a shame. When the European countries, led by Britain and France, strode into the era of the Industrial Revolution with steam engines, Iran was under the rule of the Qajar dynasty.
The Qajar rulers originated from the Qajar branch of the Turkic people
In the early 19th century, Tsarist Russia invaded Iran twice, both with great victories. Relying on victory in the two Russo-Iranian wars, the Russians ceded almost the entire Caucasus region (now Dagestan, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan), pushing the border between the two countries to the Aras River.
The Caucasus in the broad sense does not have clear borders
Its interior is bounded by the Greater Caucasus Mountains and is divided into the North and South Caucasus
The North Caucasus was once home to many small kingdoms and is now part of Russia▼
Seeing that he was no match for the Russians, the ruler of the Qajar dynasty, Nasser Eddin, tried to bring in British power to fight Tsarist Russia and try to play a balance between the two empires, but this thirst-quenching trick did not work, but accelerated the process of partitioning Iran between the two major imperialist countries of Britain and Russia.
In 1907, the British and Russians, who were fighting for the first place in Central Asia, signed the Anglo-Russian Treaty. In the treaty, the two sides divided all of Iran in two, with the northern part controlled by the Russians and the southern part including the Persian Gulf reduced to British territory.
This is the land where ancient civilizations were born
At this moment, he was trampled under the feet of the great powers, unable to move
After the outbreak of World War I, the Iranian government declared neutrality for the first time, but the weak Persians could not decide their own fate at all, and could only watch Germany and Ottoman on the side of the Allies and Britain and Russia on the side of the Entente fight on their own territory. According to statistics, more than 2 million Iranian civilians were killed in the nearly four years between December 1914 and October 1918.
During World War I, the great powers caused death, famine, and tears in Iran
(Photo: wiki & nam.ac.uk)▼
After the end of World War I, the nascent Soviet regime, in order to escape its diplomatic isolation, announced that it would give up all the privileges of Tsarist Russia in Iran in exchange for friendship between the two countries, and the British immediately followed, filling the void of power after the withdrawal of the Russians almost seamlessly.
In just a few years, Britain not only forced Iran to sign the Anglo-Iranian Agreement, seized control of Iran's army, roads, railways, tariffs and even the government, but also supported Reza Khan, who represented the interests of the large landlord class, to the throne, and established the last feudal dynasty in Iranian history, the Pahlavi dynasty.
Previously, Reza held important positions in Qajar's army
Until he staged a military coup, the yellow robe was added (Photo: wiki)▼
It should be said that Reza Khan was a very successful monarch, and after he came to power, he introduced a series of reforms. Externally, he abolished consular jurisdiction, dismissed a large number of foreign employees in the government, refused to pay unreasonable foreign debts, and recovered the right to issue currency and many concessions from Britain.
At the same time, Reza paid great attention to making friends with the great powers in the region
For example, Turkey, which was undergoing secular reforms at this time
(Reza and Mustafa Kemal, Photo: wiki) ▼
Internally, he protected national commerce and industry, vigorously limited the power of the clergy class, promoted secular education, and adopted a number of policies that effectively improved the status of women, such as decrees that women must wear the veil.
Reza established education and built railroads, seemingly enlightened
But his measures were not widely available in Iran
Despite regaining many national interests at the hands of the colonizers, Reza Khan understood that he could not expel the British from Iran on his own. So, Reza Khan once again remembered the "driving away tigers and devouring wolves" used by his predecessors. This time, he approached Germany, which was actively expanding its armaments and war.
Returning the favor, the honeymoon of the United States and Iran
From any point of view, cooperation between Germany and Iran seemed logical – both were Aryan ethnic groups, both were enemies of Britain, Germany had industrial technology, and Iran had oil. Reza Khan quickly tied up with Germany, and by the outbreak of World War II, cooperation between the two countries was very close.
At this time, it is very dangerous to hook up with Germany
(Photo: Wikimedia)
Reza Khan's calculations were good, but with the outbreak of the Soviet-German War and the victory of the German army, the two important routes for the Allies to transport supplies to the Soviet Union, the North Sea-Barents Sea, and the "Mediterranean-Black Sea", were cut off, and the only way left was to ship from the Persian Gulf and then transfer trains to the Caucasus after reaching Iran.
It is for this reason that the Allies have been on high alert for relations between Germany and Iran.
If this supply line fell into the hands of the Germans, it would be unimaginable
(For illustration only, landscape screen)▼
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the Allies repeatedly asked Reza Khan to expel the Germans in their territory, but the latter refused on the grounds of his "strict neutrality".
In order to ensure the safety of their own supply lines, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran from the north and south on August 25, 1941, and soon occupied all of Iran, and Reza Khan had to step down because of his support for Hitler and passed the throne to his son Pahlavi Jr.
The Anglo-Soviet expulsion of the Germans in Iran stabilized the line
Since then, military supplies have been sent to the Soviet Union from here
(Photo: Wikimedia)
After the end of World War II, the Allies withdrew from Iran one after another, but the Soviets did not leave, and also supported two separatist regimes called "Azerbaijan People's Government" and "Mahabad Republic", intending to separate from Iran, which greatly aroused the dissatisfaction of the Iranian people.
Subsequently, under pressure from Britain and the United States, the Soviet Union had to withdraw its troops from Iran, and Pahlavi Jr. firmly fell to the side of Britain and the United States. Although Iran was nominally independent at this time, the vital lifeblood of the oil industry was still in British hands.
Pahlavi (first from right) shows a pro-Anglo-American stance in all respects
In 1949, Pahlavi visited the United States with the Trumen (Photo: wiki) ▼
In 1959, Pahlavi visited England with Elizabeth II
(Photo: OneImage) ▼
Disgruntled Iranians elected the national fighter Mohammad Mosaddegh as prime minister, whose most important move during his tenure was the dissolution of the Anglo-Iranian oil company and the nationalization of Iran's oil industry. To this end, he did not hesitate to dissolve the Senate and Supreme Court, which were held by royalists, and put under house arrest King Pahlavi, who opposed the nationalization of oil.
The nationalization of the oil industry is supported by many Iranians
Only by grasping the lifeblood of energy will it not be subject to others
(Anglo-Iranian oil refinery in the 50s of the 20th century) ▼
The attitude of the mossadegh made Britain very unhappy, and the United States, fearing that Iran would fall to the Soviet Union after the nationalization policy, was very panicked. Soon after, the CIA and MI6 joined forces to orchestrate a counter-Motorcycle operation called "Ajax", which overthrew the Mossaddegh regime and released King Pahlavi.
The latter reciprocated by reopening Iran's oil industry to foreign capital. In addition, because the United States contributed a lot to this operation, Pahlavi deliberately limited the shareholding of British capital so that the nine oil majors from the United States could eat the lion's share of the dividend.
Looking at the distribution of oil and gas in the Middle East, Iran accounts for how much
Just know how profitable the deal between Britain and the United States and Pahlavi is
In this way, under the fear and disgust of the Soviet Union and the gratitude of the United States, Pahlavi quickly became the closest partner of the Americans in the Middle East, purchasing a large number of American-style weapons while following the lead of the United States in diplomatic situations.
For example, during the protracted Vietnam War, Pahlavi's Iran was one of the few Third World countries that remained firmly on the side of the United States.
During the Vietnam War, Pahlavi welcomed Nixon's visit to Iraq with high profile
(Photo: NixonFoundation)
Fake drama is really done, and the opposite becomes a hatred
It stands to reason that with the relationship with the United States, Pahlavi can keep the country safe even if it is worse, but in the 70s of the last century, Nixon, who had a very strong relationship with Pahlavi, was impeached because of Watergate, and Jimmy Carter, known as the "good president", was elected to power.
The president, who genuinely cares about human rights in all countries (rather than using it as an excuse to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries), took office and slashed the knife called human rights at his old allies, including Iran's Pahlavi.
During Pahlavi's visit to the United States in 1977
He gave Carter a hand-sewn tapestry of portraits of Washington
(Photo: OneImage) ▼
Because Pahlavi feared that others would overthrow his regime, he continued to exercise repressive rule in the country, including but not limited to arresting a large number of political prisoners, and establishing a secret police organization Savak with the help of the United States to suppress opponents.
In Carter's eyes, Pahlavi's actions are undoubtedly contrary to human rights, and Pahlavi, who has always only seen the face of the United States, immediately began to lift the ban on domestic speech and release some political prisoners, and Iranians, who had been held back for decades, began to immediately carry out anti-Shah propaganda as soon as they got the opportunity to speak out.
At that time, Pahlavi, who had always been pro-American, did not know
Carter, who clinks glasses with him, will bring him
(Photo: Wikimedia)
In January 1978, small protests took place in Qom, Iran's seventh-largest city, as the Iranian government denigrated religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini in newspapers, and seminary students clashed with military police, resulting in multiple deaths.
According to Shiite custom, a memorial service is held on the 40th day after a person's death, and this time the memorial crowd clashed with the government. As a result, under Khomeini's guidance, in a 40-day cycle, memorials and protests erupted across the country, snowballing bigger and bigger.
The chain reaction caused by this series of events is very large
It will have a profound impact on the situation in Iran and the Middle East later
(Photo: Wikimedia)
In the face of the increasingly powerful protesters, Pahlavi panicked and immediately asked the Americans for help, but Carter believed that the suppression of protesters was also "undemocratic" and "anti-human rights", so he not only refused to sell tear gas and rubber bullets to Iran, but also demanded that Pahlavi severely punish the military and police who suppressed the protests, and the indecisive Pahlavi had to do so.
At the White House, Brzezinski, then National Security Adviser, and Sullivan, the U.S. ambassador to Iran, were divided, with the former demanding that Carter suppress the Islamic Revolution with an iron fist, while the latter argued that the crackdown was contrary to the Carter administration's principles of "human rights diplomacy," would lead to a setback on the image of the United States, and Carter was likely to lose the next election.
Brzezinski reports to Carter (first from left) on the situation in Iran
However, Carter did not take his advice (Photo: Flickr).
In the quarrel of his bureaucrats, Carter has always been undecided, and Pahlavi, who has been preparing to listen to the "holy will" of the United States, is even more at a loss.
At this critical juncture, the CIA made a serious strategic miscalculation. In an August 1978 report, the CIA concluded that "Iran was not a country on the eve of the revolution" (only four months before Pahlavi fled Iran), which led the Carter administration to underestimate the possibility of the collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty.
The truth is that Iran's contradictions have intensified
(Iranians toppling statue of the Shah, Photo: wiki) ▼
Finally, there was also a lot of contact between the United States and Khomeini, with officials such as Secretary of State Vance and Ambassador Sullivan insisting that Khomeini would return home with a "truly democratic" state, and that he himself would act as a Gandhian spiritual leader, and that the United States could also cooperate with the nascent republic without having to "continue to support the backward monarchy."
As a result, under the combined effect of many factors, the United States almost watched the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime without taking any action. On January 6, 1979, Pahlavi fled Iran by plane, and the victorious Khomeini returned home to establish what is now the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Carter's mishandling has brought about a big turn in US-Iran relations
(Photo: Wikimedia)
Even at this time, the relationship between the United States and Iran was not too bad, and there was still the possibility of continued cooperation, but the Carter administration's subsequent permission to allow the cancer-stricken Pahlavi to go to the United States for treatment really angered the Iranians.
On November 4, 1979, with the support of Khomeini, more than 500 students occupied the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took 52 Americans hostage inside the embassy, an event that later became known as the "Iran Hostage Crisis."
Negotiations and rescue operations failed
This crisis has caused even greater disgrace for the Carter administration
After the hostage crisis, the relationship between the United States and Iran finally deteriorated to an unsustainable level, and since then the US sanctions against Iran have never stopped, and Iran has stopped on the road of developing nuclear weapons, until it has become the "invisible nuclear state" it is today.
Resources:
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qajar_Iran
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Shah
3.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh
4.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_Iran
5. "General History of Middle Eastern Countries: Iran Volume", Wang Xinzhong, Ji Kaiyun
6.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi
*The content of this article is provided by the author and does not represent the position of the Earth Knowledge Bureau
Cover: OneImage.com
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