Our History With Iran part one

Iran Part One

To understand why Western Governments are covertly carrying out war against Iran and Syria, people need to understand something of the history and geography of the area.

For thousands of years the Persian Empire sat undefeated by the various war mongers of the time. For centuries it could boast the largest, best administered, city in the World in Persepolis.
Iran’s isolation ended in the 18th Century when Britain and Russia began bribing and propping up Shahs to promote business interests in the area. The two external powers were happy for the most part to carve up the country’s goodies; Russia to the North and Britain in the South. For example, Britain had sole rights in 1869 to issue and control Iranian currency.
The Iranian people rose up to try to break away from this at the beginning of the twentieth century when the dividing up of Iran’s oil between the Russians and Brits led to a civil war. Although on paper the revolutionaries won, within a year the Shah was back in control having ample funds to bribe the new Parliament. Persian governors were merely British agents while Russia and Britain actually dictated who would be elected. Just as in the war against terrorism today, ‘democracy’ was a metaphor that really meant imperial control.
In 1914, when it became clear that Iran was extremely wealthy in oil, Britain recognized the strategic importance of the kingdom. The precious oil was crucial to winning the war and had to be guarded at all costs. The Indian regiment, the South Persian Rifles held the area against Turkey for the British.
In 1917, revolution in Russia provided an opportunity for Britain to take over the whole country and with the great imperialist Winston Churchill in power that is exactly what happened. Success was short-lived though as the Russians recovered far faster than anticipated. Russia was back and an error of judgement in 1921 saw the West backing Reza Khan, believing him to be a good little puppet Shah. He was antagonistic towards Islam, therefore unpopular in his country and he was affronted by the Anglo Persian Oil Company which basically decided how rich or poor Iran was each year. He became a brutal despot as years went on and in the approach to WW11 he was a strong sympathiser of the Fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. It was this Shah who insisted that the name of his country was Iran not Persia which was a term familiar in the British controlled, southern Fars area.
In the Second World War, the Shah did not resist German businessmen making moves on Russian and British interests. In fact, due to this neutral position, the first meeting of the war leaders took place in Tehran.
The British administration eventually deposed this Shah and replaced him with his son in 1941. At the same time Mussadeq had risen to a place of great power in the country. He was very popular, anti imperial power, and especially outraged by their monopoly of the oil. By this time Iran had the biggest oil refinery in the World.
When a Russian supported coup by the communist party almost succeeded in deposing the Shah, Britain supported an armed rebellion in the South and Russia was at last removed from the area in 1946. The Shah, however, was sufficiently alarmed, to seek arms support from the US. The Gulf remained a British Lake in a very strategic area of the World at least for the moment.
Europe struggled economically post WW11 and this resulted in lowered dividends from oil sales. The Shah, who was completely dependent on this revenue for any modernisation programs planned for Iran, faced fierce political competition from Mussadeq, who had, by now, become political leader in the country.
He was a bizarre character, meeting World leaders in his bed dressed in what was seen in the West as his pyjamas. He was nevertheless, a character of great charisma and integrity. A true believer in democracy and justice; the last person the British needed for their business interests in the country.
A battle for control of the oil fields had begun by 1951 when Mussadeq declared the nationalization of the oil industry. Although the Labour government was nationalizing at home, it could not afford the loss of revenue involved in allowing this to happen in Persia. to be continued