Iran Primer - History in a Series of Nutshells
When President Jimmy Carter took office in January 1977, he inherited a unique relationship with Iran and its imperious and ambitious ruler Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. That relationship was the product of interaction dating back to World War II and included a U.S.-British covert operation in 1953 to remove Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and return the shah to the throne.
Most importantly, during the eight years before Carter’s election, President Richard Nixon and his foreign policy adviser, Henry Kissinger, had created a unique and unprecedented relationship with the Iranian ruler. As part of what was dubbed the Twin Pillar policy, the shah was identified as the primary guardian of U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf. (Saudi Arabia was the other pillar.) In return, the shah was permitted to purchase whatever non-nuclear U.S. military technology he wished.
The explosion of oil prices in the preceding four years had given the shah a windfall of revenues, and he used this money to fund a massive economic and military buildup. Tens of thousands of U.S. technicians were provided to install and maintain an enormous arsenal and to train Iranians to use it. But when oil prices declined, Iran was hugely over-extended. Disaffection with the shah’s rule, which had been simmering for years, burst into the open.
Thus begins this article, which seems to be the first in a large series of “Iran Primer” articles, which seem to primarily cover the period of 1979 through the present.
Iran & the Reagan administration.
Iran & the George H W Bush Administration
Iran & The Clinton Administration
Iran and the George W Bush administration.
Iran and the Obama administration.
Timeline of Military and Security Events
Timeline of Iran’s Nuclear Activities
US Sanctions for Human Rights Abuse
Timeline of UN Security Council Resolutions
Timeline of Iran’s Foreign Relations
