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That was 1953. The conflict had been going on since then. In August of that year, the Iranian army, with the help of British and American intelligence, overthrew their Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. He had been elected Prime Minister by the country's legislature two years earlier.
The UK and the US, which are 'fighting' for democracy in Iran today, were the two Western countries that 'killed' Iran's journey towards democracy almost 73 years ago.
History shows that when Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh nationalized the British-owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company operating in his country, it went against British and American interests. Therefore, Mossadegh was removed through a military coup and the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was installed as the absolute ruler of Iran.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as 'Reza Shah' for short, became heavily dependent on the UK and US to remain in power. His Western-style socio-economic reforms made him increasingly unpopular in his own country. The Shah's administration was accused of corruption, mismanagement and unrestrained repression of dissenters.
Public anger against Reza Shah grew so much that he was forced to leave the country forever in an unexpected mass uprising in 1979.
Meanwhile, the British government imposed an embargo on Iranian oil after nationalizing the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Declaring oil a national asset, Iran fell into political and economic crisis. The British withdrew from the Iranian oil market.
The then Prime Minister Mossadegh's failure to find an alternative market for Iran's oil immediately caused a severe economic shock to the country. He failed to handle it. Many people at home and abroad were unhappy with Mossadegh.
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A report on US-Iran relations by the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based US foreign policy and international relations research organization, said that tensions between the United States and Iran, once close allies, have been simmering for four decades since the Islamic Revolution.
It also states that in 1954, the year after he came to power, Reza Shah, under pressure from the UK and the US, signed an agreement on Iranian oil. As a result, oil companies from the UK, US and France gained 40 percent ownership of Iran's state-owned oil industry for 25 years, or until 1979.
Is Iran a chess 'pawn'?
According to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations, Reza Shah came to power with the help of the UK and the US and continued to build relationships with Western countries. As part of that process, Tehran signed a civil nuclear agreement with Washington in 1957.
Under the agreement, the United States provided Iran, one of its key allies in the Middle East, with enriched uranium suitable for reactors and bombs. The two countries' cooperation on nuclear energy existed until the 1979 revolution against the Shah.
In May 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited Iran to strengthen relations between the two countries after the nuclear deal. He sought the Shah's help in protecting US security interests in the Middle East.
Nixon announced the strengthening of Iran because the United States, a Western Hemisphere country, considered Iran's northern neighbor, the then Soviet Union, and its southwestern neighbor, Iraq, a supporter of Iran, a threat to its security.
According to the report, during that visit, the US President assured his ally Iran of all types of military equipment except nuclear weapons. When the price of oil rose to unprecedented levels due to the Arab-Israeli war in 1973 and the Arab countries imposed an oil embargo on the United States, Reza Shah took the opportunity to buy a large number of advanced technology weapons from the United States.
Reports on the political situation in Iran during the reign of Reza Shah state that after coming to power in 1953 with the help of Western countries, dictator Reza Shah Pahlavi began persecuting his country's students and the public, labeling them as 'communists'.
According to the New York-based Encyclopedia Iranica, Reza Shah wanted to make Iran a modern and Western-style country, but he believed that the youth of his country wanted to overthrow the Pahlavi dynasty.
Although he promised to alleviate the economic hardship of his people, in reality, the economic misery of the Iranian working class continued to increase during his rule. As a result, anti-Shah sentiment, as well as socialist ideology, quickly spread among them.
Many analysts say that Iran's military cooperation with the United States led to the persecution of the people who were labeled as 'communists' among the opponents of the Shah at that time. After coming to power, Reza Shah established an intelligence agency called 'Savak' to suppress his political opponents.
Their explanation is that while Reza Shah and his close associates prospered from the money they earned from selling Iran's oil, the common people of the country did not benefit much from it. Furthermore, on the advice of its top ally, the United States, Reza Shah chose to suppress the youth to keep Iran away from the Soviet sphere of influence or socialist ideals.
In such a situation, the torture of the SAVAK forces turned people from all classes against the Shah. This force became so 'notorious' that many believe that the torture of the SAVAK forces hastened the fall of the Shah.
According to them, although Reza Shah talked about building Iran into a modern country, in reality he could not do much for the countrymen. Corruption, mismanagement and oppression were the main features of his rule. There are also allegations that he smuggled Iran's natural resources to Western countries.
The Iranian emperor essentially served as a 'chess pawn' for Western countries, especially the United States and its main ally Israel. Anti-Shah analysts also comment that Reza Shah was used against the Soviet Union and several pro-Soviet Arab countries in the interests of the West.
Iran in the tunnel of crisis
The Iranian people's uprising in 1979 to free themselves from the tyranny and misrule of Reza Shah was later called the 'Islamic Revolution' by political experts. They believe that there was anger from all walks of life against the dictator Reza Pahlavi. In the wake of that anger, the Persian Shah was forced to flee the country on January 16, 1979.
Fifteen days after the Shah fled, on February 1, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the popular religious leader of the Iranian city of Qom who was in exile, returned to the country. He had to spend 14 years in exile in Iraq, Turkey and France for speaking out against the Shah. After that, when he returned home, his followers accepted Khomeini as their 'leader' or guide. He assured the people of the socio-economic development and the use of Iran's natural resources for the benefit of his own citizens. In addition, he declared Iran an Islamic state.
After Khomeini assumed absolute power in Iran, the state established exclusive ownership of the country's mineral resources. In his policy, he mentioned the United States and Israel as Iran's main enemies. In November of that year, when a group of radical students attacked the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage, Iran quickly became a pariah on the world stage, especially in the US. One after another, sanctions began to be imposed.
Ten months after this incident, in September 1980, Iran was militarily attacked by neighboring Iraq. Iraq, whose leftist president Saddam Hussein was considered pro-Soviet, was supported by its Western allies, including regional superpower Saudi Arabia. Such an unexpected and unwelcome attack from Iraq, which was heavily armed by the West, severely damaged Iran's economy.
At that time, according to Iranian state media sources, 10 months after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, in December 1979, the superpower Soviet Union launched a military campaign in neighboring Afghanistan. When Tehran protested that occupation and became disillusioned with Moscow, Iraq launched an invasion. As a result, Iran had to buy weapons from the Soviet Union at a higher price.
On the other hand, millions of refugees from Afghanistan took refuge in neighboring Iran due to the Soviet invasion. At that time, Iran's situation was such that there was war on its western border and refugees on its eastern border.
Nevertheless, at a time when Iran was looking for an opportunity to recover from the losses of its eight-year war with Iraq, the United States tightened financial sanctions on the Gulf country.
In 1992, George Bush Sr. clamped down on Iran's oil trade as part of economic sanctions. Ten years later, in 2002, George Bush Jr. came to power and labeled Iran as part of the "axis of evil." Under his administration, Iran's economy was crippled by a barrage of sanctions.
Then, the UK, US and their allies almost cut Iran off from the global economy due to its nuclear research and ballistic missile tests. Meanwhile, Iran, using the money it secretly sold from oil, became busy building its own 'resistance ring' in the Middle East. Iran was accused of sponsoring armed groups such as Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas.
A recent Al Jazeera opinion piece titled 'Iran, the US and the English Job' details the various strategies of British and American leaders to destroy Iran's economy. It portrays a scenario of Iran's economy collapsing under British and American pressure.
International analysts say that the Iranian government spends a huge amount of money to expand its influence in the Middle East instead of improving the fate of its own people. When its own people protest, it is suppressed with harsh measures. The ongoing anti-government movement in the country began as a protest against economic hardship.
The anti-government commentary—more than 90 percent of the country's people say they are in dire financial straits. And more than 80 percent of the people say—'We want the end of the Khamenei government.' The reality is—the Iranian people want to see their collapsed economy revived through a new regime. With such a demand 47 years ago today, they took to the streets to overthrow the then ruler Reza Shah.
Related topics: Iran United Kingdom United States Protests in Iran
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