The Fall of Reza Pahlavi and the Rise of Ayatollah Khomeini - Essay Example

The Fall of Reza Pahlavi and the Rise of Ayatollah Khomeini The period of 1900 Ad to 2000 Ad has been very turbulent for Iran. It has seen many revolutions and dynasties and a change of name. Reza Pahlavi and Ayatollah Khomeini have written their name down in the history of Iran as very prominent people. And they will be remembered in good words and bad for a very long time. The United States and Britain has been greatly involved in the revolutions and coups carried out in Iran. Oil is a treasure and Iran has it. For at least 25 years the west took advantage of the oil resource of Iran because it had supported the Shah to take over Iran. Iran has been manipulated by the forces of the west but the people there despise the west and have an ideology which supports the radical Islam. Khomeini won the hearts of people by being a man who said what they wanted to hear. He did not like the west and wanted strict Islamic rules to be applied. His people believed in him and he led them through the Islamic revolution and left the torch in their hand later to carry it forward. Table of Contents Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 “On the Edge; For Bani-Sadr, Hostage Crisis Diverts From Islamic Goals Getting Back to the Revolution An Academic Infighter” By John Kifner, The New York Times, 17 February, 1980 5 Introduction The Islamic Republic of Iran was known as Persia before 1935.1 Iran has seen political turbulence in its history. It has seen many empires and dynasties and many rulers have ruled it. Even in the 1900’s Iran has seen many revolutions. It has seen the constitutional revolution in 1906, the Pahlavi Dynasty in 1925 and the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1978. Iran was declared an Islamic Republic on 1st April 1989.2 Today Iran is growing in all aspects and has proved itself as a very strong and determined country. The Fall of Reza Pahlavi and the Rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: Reza Shah laid the foundation of modern Iran by overthrowing the Qajar Dynasty. Ahmed Shah the last Qajar King left Iran for Europe and as his absence was for an indefinite period of time the parliament over threw him and made Ahmed Shah the Shahanshan of Iran. At this time Iran was a very poor country. Reza Shah had western views and he tried his best to develop Iran according to these views. He built roads, organized all systems of his country and built a very good trans-Iranian Railway.3 He made great changes to the country but he was seen as the people as a westernized man. In World War II, Iran was a neutral state, But Russia wanted to use its mature railways to help it in war. Reza Shah failed to go forward with this plan, the Russian and British army attacked Iran and Reza Shah left the throne in favor of his son Muhammad Reza Shah and spent rest of his life in exile in South Africa. As Muhammad Reza Shah succeeded the throne, he faced many problems with pro-Soviet and pro-British parties. In 1946 after the war over the soviets overstayed in Iran and this created more confusion. Iran had a lot of oil and it was not giving concessions to the Soviet but was giving it to the British.4 The National Front Party wanted a neutral stance on this issue and wanted to take away concession from the British. In 1953 clash between the Shah and Prime Minister Mossaddaq became very evident. The pro Soviet party was very strong and forced the Shah to leave the country. The Shah returned only from 3 days of exile and with the help of MI6 and CIA overthrew Mossaddaq.5 This idea was of the British, and was supported by the Americans because Mossaddaq wanted Iran to profit from its own oil and did not want to give unnecessary concessions to anybody. The support that was being given to the Shah was going to be of great value if he took care of the oil issue. American companies were benefited after this operation named “Operation Ajax”.6 The Shah did many things for his country but he was not popular in his country as his people, mainly the conservative Muslims thought of him as a man who was helped by America and Britain to take over Iran. He also formed western alliances by the Baghdad Pact. In 1961 the Iran parliament was dissolved and he ruled by decree. He tried to economically develop his country as he expanded all means of transportation and made dams and canals. He also initiated educational and health projects. He was always in conflict with the religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who rose in 1960.Khomeini was against the diplomatic immunity given to people to the US embassy. He had conflicts with the Shah and thought his ideas were westernized and corrupt. The Shah was not seen as a religious person7. Because he was helped by the west and has always kept ties with it, he was looked at as their man. This was increasing day by day and even resulted in a vast number of killings. In 1963 Reza sent Khomeini to prison, when he was released Khomeini, still choose to oppose the Shah and in 1964 was made to leave Iran.8 He went to Iraq and then to France. He spent 14 years in exile. He wrote books and gave lectures. He taped cassettes against the Shah and these were available in Iran. These cassettes helped in making him a very popular man in Iran and made people think that the Shah was actually an American puppet. He became a spiritual leader and even after being so far from Iran acted as the catalyst to the revolution. After Khomeini’s exile the Shah tried to economically stabilize and modernize Iran but this didn’t make his people happy. His army was also the most capable in the third world.9In 1970 the opposition continued to grow. The USA stops supporting Reza as much as they were because in 1977 Jimmy Carter became the liberal president and wanted him to have moderate control and tolerate opposition. In fact the support was actually being taken away from the Shah and given to Ayatollah Khomeini. The coup against the Shah was also a master plan by British and American Intelligence. The Shahs Government has refused to renew the pact of 25 year old oil extraction with the British and negotiation had failed so the Shah now was not a man of use for the west. As a reaction the British refused to buy Iranian oil and the Iranian Economy came under pressure.10 The Americans and British also began to term the Shahs act and behavior as violence of Human Rights. They created good propaganda against the man they had themselves helped to come to power. British media was helping in building this propaganda and Ayatollah Khomeini was given platform for increasing his popularity on this media. In 1979 Reza left for an official holiday to Egypt but it was evident he would not be allowed to return.11 Khomeini even after having so much support did not want to return to Iran in the presence of the Shah. Khomeini returned the next month of the Shahs departure and took control of Iran. A strict Islamic Regime was then introduced in Iran.12 The British and American Influence: The US had in mind their own advantage when they helped the Shah to the throne in 1953.They had two main reasons Oil and the cold war with the Soviet Union.US thought that Iran was very much under the Soviet Influence and wanted to get some influence over Iran itself. They also helped the Shah because they did not want to accept the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company which was the agreement between British and the Iranian civil governments. In 1901 the Shah of Iran granted the permission to Britain to search for Oil on its land for 60 years, when oil was found Iran could only benefit from 16% of the profit. Iran was strategically very important in World War, Britain bought good shares in this oil company. This helped the Royal Navy to get fuel easily. Iran was not happy with the 16% profit terms; this share was also leading in political interference by the British. It was the British who got Reza Pahlavi to the throne in 1921 who became the “Shah of Iran”, in 1925. Germany wanted petroleum access from Iran in 1930’s. The Shah terminated the Anglo-Persian Oil Company concession but in a years time it was given again when it was agreed that more profits will be given to Iran. APOC was then known as APIC. Iran was substituted for Persia. When in 1941 Britain thought that Reza Pahlavi was becoming pro- Nazi they forced him to leave and crowned Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran. The AOIC refused to allow audits of whether or not royalties were properly paid and they interfered greatly in politics so the nationalist leaders despised the British. The nationalist Leaders wanted an equal share of petroleum revenue. AOIC did not want to accept this and renewed its deals with the Iranian Government in 1949. The nationalists wanted the AOIC to be nationalizes. The parliament in 1950’s nationalized the oil industry by forming National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Dr.Mohammed Mossaddaq was a member of the parliament and guided the whole procedure as the leader of the nationalist movement and in later he became the Prime Minister. He did not negotiate and rejected their offers because he was skeptical of British intentions. This made Britain to plot a plan against him. American diplomats also went to Iran to negotiate AIOC compromise but Mossaddaq had a lot of support fr4om the public and there was a lot of pressure on the NIOC was having low productivity because the technical British had left them and they did not have enough expertise. Still as all the profits were coming to Iran it was seeing greater revenues. Britain started to Boycott Iranian products and did not export their products to Iran; they even froze Iranian currency in their bank. The British then went to the US and convinced that the nationalists were Pro- Soviet and made them partners in plotting a coup against Mossaddaq. America in that time was in a great cold with the Soviet Union and could do anything to break down their influence. Soviet Union had great influence over millions of Muslims and the nationalist party was also pro soviet. America did not want Iran to come under complete Soviet influence. The Soviets were widening their influence in 1952.They could not see all the oil got to Britain after the coup so they five American companies were to also take oil from Iran’s petroleum after the Coup. The CIA got tribal leaders in south Iran to help them in the Coup and it was carried out P.M. Mossadaq was overthrown. Britain and America benefited from the Oil and Iranian economy was also benefited after this. Iran not controlling its national oil but the Shah replaced the AOIC with a consortium of British Petroleum and eight European and American oil companies, all this to increase revenue. When after 25 years the Shah became spectacle of the British and Americans and refused to renew the pact of oil extraction he was of no use to the British and Americans so he was also disposed and his opponents were helped by them. Conclusion Both the men Reza Pahlavi and Ayatollah Khomeini had support of the United States and British at times, but Pahlavi became too dependent on it and could not protect himself from the schemes of United States. For his country it may be thought that Pahlavi tried to do good things, he wanted to stabilize his economy and make better infrastructures. What made if difficult for him was that his people did not like the west and he always was seen by them as an agent of the west. His people were supportive of rigid Islam and he wanted to modernize his country. A leader should always make sure that he is trusted and loved by his people if the people lose faith in him he can no longer stay the leader. Khomeini on the other hand was loved by the people because they shared the same ideology with him. People listened to him when he spoke. He was inclined to rigid Islam and people supported him. But despite everything else the west took advantage of the whole situation. They enjoyed 25 years of oil pact with Reza Pahlavi and disposed of him at their convenience. The support they rendered to Ayatollah Khomeini did not bear their desired fruit but it was a small loss compared to the 25 years of oil price concession that they had in the time of the Shah. References By Dr. Lewis Ware, Air Chronicles, Air University “Shah Mat—The Rise and Fall of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi” By Walter Z. Laqueur, Commentary Magazine, March 1979 “Why the Shah Fell” New York Times Special Report, 16 Apr. 2000 “The Iranian Coup of 1953” By Richard Nelson Frye, 1960 “Iran” By Elton L. Daniel, 2001 “The history of Iran” By Amir Rustom Beglie, The Iranian, April 24, 2001 “The Iranian Napoleon” By William Engdahl “A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Political and the New World Order” By Molavi, Afshin, Wilson Quarterly “The Disenchantment” By John Kifner, The New York Times, 17 February, 1980 “On the Edge; For Bani-Sadr, Hostage Crisis Diverts From Islamic Goals Getting Back to the Revolution An Academic Infighter” By Gary Sick, Journal of International Affairs; Summer 95 “Iran's Islamic Revolution: popular liberation, or religious dictatorship?” By Bakhash, Shaul. American Historical Review, Dec91 “Iran” A documentary on the Islamic Revolution of Iran. “Darakhshan-e-Inqilaab” A documentary, By The History Channel, 20 Jan 1981 “Iran Hostage Crisis Ends” Zahrani, Mostafa T., World Policy Journal, Summer2002 “The Coup That Changed the Middle East, Mossadeq V. The CIA, in Retrospect” “Ayatollah Khomeini’s Decree Ordering The Execution Of Prisoners 1988” By Hiro, D. Nation, 16 October 1989 “The Ayatollahs and the Bear” Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences “Iran: Evolution of Islamic Rule" (collection of essays) Read More