An Account of M Tehran, Iran As Told in 1980-1981 to John Matthew Rubens San Diego California 92093

The Iranian Revolution of 1978: Islamic Fatherhood Questioned?

Compilation Copyright ‘M’, John Rubens (July 07, 1980; 1981, online 2014; Titles by John Matthew Rubens);

Formerly entitled, The Iranian Revolution: Iran’s Struggle with a New Father, Copyright M, as told to and edited by John Rubens (1980, 1981) Title by M.

We will begin by recalling some of the major political events that took place prior to the insurgent Iranian Revolution of 1978. The popular government of the Iranian People in 1953 was led by a man named Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq. His administration’s policy was directed toward supporting the masses of Iran, commonly referred to as a “Populist“. However, the populist stance of the Iranian leader became increasingly unpopular in the eyes of Mossadeq’s opposition: the huge oil companies of the West. To upbraid the troublesome politician, a coup was organized to topple the Mossadeq government.

The United States supported the coup because a new leader would allow them greater voice in Iranian foreign policy and greater control of their vast oil assets under the jurisdiction of Iran. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, hereinafter referred to as “Shah” or “the Shah” was re-installed as the leader of this “renewal” of relations between Iran and the “West”. The coup d’etat was spear-headed by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, hereinafter referred to as “CIA” or “the CIA” in conjunction with an angry Iranian mob (sound familiar?). The CIA paid commissions to the instigators of a riot in the streets of Tehran who used taunts, degrading the name of Mossadeq, and giving praises to the Shah. The mob was successful in kidnapping Dr. Mossadeq during the demonstration, a pre-requisite to the toppling of his democratically-elected Office and the collapse of his Administration. The ensuing result of the coup was the return of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi from his hiding place in Italy to the Imperial Throne of Iran.

The Problem’s Inception

The Mossadeq government gave people a sense of freedom and liberty that they had been denied for many years under previous leaders of Iran. The Mossadeq Administration was modeled after North American and West European democratized nation-states. Citizens were allowed certain inalienable rights that allowed them to think and act on their own initiative and to speak out for what they believed in. These freedoms were upheld as rights protected the Iranian Constitution in force during his Administration which ended in 1953.

The Communist (Toudeh) Party

The numerous political parties which existed in Iran during Mossadeq’s rule were not interfered with or suppressed by his Administration. This laissez-faire attitude of democratic government created an opportunity for the Communist Party, hereinafter referred to as the Toudeh Party, to gain a powerful foothold as members of the Constitutional Government of Iran. The CIA as one might expect, did not like Mossadeq’s tolerance of Toudeh Party members who distributed pro-Soviet propaganda with bravado aimed primarily against the United States. The literature lambasted American foreign policy and the “imperialistic” motivation of its vital interests not only in the Middle East, but throughout the developing world. The populace was paying attention.

The Toudeh Party continued to gain popularity under Mossadeq until the United States took action to counteract their propaganda drive. The US plan for dissolution of Toudeh was two-fold: 1) to diminish Soviet influence in Iran and 2) once Soviet influence had waned, the United States would be able to regain access to Iranian oilfields without public unrest [the West was shut out of the Iranian oil industry at the time by the Mossadeq Administration].

Many Iranians were very sensitive to oil-interested politics in the early 1950’s. Between 1951 and 1953 for instance, oil production in Iran was at a standstill because the service contracts between Great Britain and Iran to extract and distribute the petroleum were seen by most Iranians as unconscionable. For instance, it was widely publicized that the British only paid royalties of 16% of the profits it made on Iranian Oil and that American interests were driving inflation higher.

In response to Iran’s oil embargo of the early 1950’s, Great Britain gave the Mossadeq Administration an ultimatum: either relent and end the embargo or suffer naval occupation of the Persian Gulf, with implications of a “blockade”. The Iranian populace responded tout suite: oil businessmen and technicians that had been exploiting Iran’s natural petroleum resources since the turn of the 20^th Century were expelled. After the mass expulsion of the Western oil interests, Mossadeq set out to nationalize oil.

Once the oil sector in Iran had stabilized, foreigners could come to work in Iran, but solely for the nationalized program, not for oil companies under British jurisdiction. [ Compare, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ attempts to nationalize oil in his country during the Administration of George W. Bush in the United States 2007-2008]. Subsequently, British worker’s, primarily engineers, did not like working for the Iranian oil company and came disgruntled. Persuaded by the British government, they abandoned their positions in the Iranian petroleum industry and left the country. Iranian engineers and technicians did not have the expertise to run the petroleum industry in their country without outside help and the industry fell into disarray. If that was not enough, no one was buying Iranian oil due to political pressure from Great Britain. Furthermore, England made a spectacle of the breach of their contract with Iran, and took them to the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands. It was perceived by this author that the British relied too much on their outspoken political persuasiveness and economic clout than burgeoning international law courts at The Hague. As it was, the International Court ruled in favor of the Iranian Government. The ruling was based on the fact that Britain began exploiting Iran’s petroleum resources under alleged contracts that were not produced at trial by the British, and the Iranians allegedly did not have copies. The Court went on to point out that Iran was currently a sovereign nation and no longer a colony of the British Empire. As such, a sovereign nation not only has the right of self-determination, but the means to ensure that right. The decision of the Court was that Iran had the sole right to all mineral resources located beneath the ground of its territories. [The language of The World Court’s precepts have certainly evolved since the early 1950’s, as has the Court(s) corporate structure, membership and jurisdiction]. Although the Iranian government asked for restitution, it could not prove theft of its sovereign natural resources over the preceding sixty years. Neither Iran nor Great Britain produced copies or originals of any “agreements” the two sovereigns may have been working under since Iran separated from the British Empire in the late 19^th Century, so the international judicial forum did not retroactively nullify the contracts but did nullify any supposed “agreements” either of the two countries may have thought they were working under going forward.

As Great Britain Recedes from the Iranian Oil Picture in the mid-1950’s, U.S. Oil Companies Step Up Their Efforts to Negotiate With Iran and Win Contracts in Petroleum Interests

[See also: Accounts by Principal for Occidental Petroleum from Wikipedia: Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America. Its headquarters is in Westwood, Los Angeles California^[4][5] but the company has announced it will move to Houston in 2014 or 2015.^{[6] online 2014]}

Achilles Heel

Initially, the U.S. Oil Companies supported the Mossadeq regime. Former President Harry S. Truman was sent as an Ambassador to Iran to discuss possible oil trade with Mossadeq in 1953. Then President Eisenhower knew it was important to send a diplomat of high regard to meet with the Iranian Prime Minister in order to show the enthusiasm the United States had to do business with them.

Mossadeq wanted to aggravate America, but continue to export oil. At the same time, England urged their allies in Europe and the Americas not to buy oil from Iran in order to suffocate their economy. Iran suffered severely from the embargo. They were not receiving income from oil as almost all of their production was barely enough to support their domestic consumption. This inability to produce a surplus of oil production for export was a main reason Iran continued to experience rising inflation and a huge trade deficit.

The Toudeh Party relished the fact that Mossadeq was in a bind, after all, they wanted to rule Iran in his place. On the issue of oil exports, the Toudeh Party actively opposed Mossadeq’s suspension of oil exports to the West and provoked a public outcry. Soon, Mossadeq’s adoring public was demonstrating in the streets of Tehran. Now Mossadeq needed money more that the “West” needed oil (the Korean War was winding down as well). Mossadeq, determined to sell more oil to American oil companies, set about to quell Toudeh inspired rumors and retain his composure, after all, the plurality of Iranians still admired his steadfast political objectivity, his honesty and manner.

The United States and Great Britain had and continue to have radically intertwined economies, and therefore, both countries had and continue to have almost identically vital interests in Iran. Mossadeq “blinked”. He was forced to sell oil to American companies because some of his major domestic political antagonists were impatient with the rising inflation and lack of revenue from oil, Iran’s primary natural resource. If that was not enough, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (hereinafter referred to as USSR) did not approve of the Mossadeq regime. Along with the US and Great Britain, they devised a plan to boycott Iranian oil even if it was offered to them for sale. The three-way solidarity was enough to ensure an economic depression in Iran at the time.

The Toudeh Party stepped up their efforts and began ad hominem misinformation campaigns against Prime Minister Mossadeq, including rumors he was a “puppet of America”. Like bees buzzing around his head, Mossadeq’s adversaries began to overwhelm him. Divisive domestic and “Western” interests allied against him crippling Iran’s economy. Inflation, along with the civil unrest that followed as a response to it, became Mossadeq’s Achilles heel.

At some point about this time while Mossadeq was still in office and the embargo ongoing, an Italian ship loaded with Iranian oil was seized by the British Navy in the Indian Ocean. As political tensions between England and Iran heightened to a crescendo, the United States, for its part, sought new methods of gaining access to Iranian Oil. Allies from the Second World War, the USSR and Great Britain, were still close enough to take a +step together with the United States on Iran: coordinate a coup d’etat.

Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi

Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi sent a declaration to Prime Minister Mossadeq informing him he was deposed of his authority and that General Zahedi would assume the Office of Prime Minister. Mossadeq would have none of it. He had just won at the World Court in The Hague. He had some clout left, at least internationally. He could appeal to the United Nations (hereinafter referred to as UN). He was right. The Shah’s Plan A backfired and he was forced to leave the country, first to Iraq, and later to Italy in fear for his life.

Within three days the Shah and his close associates arranged Plan B: a plot to overthrow the Mossedeq Prime Ministership. The Shah’s flight to Italy provided a diversion for General Zahedi, who was also in hiding, to arrange the coup against the INF, Mossadeq’s political party. Mossadeq continued to maintain if not enjoy a large following in Iran and for this reason, the Shah and his associates were afraid of the people’s reaction to the coup. The main and most vocal opponent of what became known as “General Zahedi’s plot” was the Toudeh Party, which had been growing progressively stronger under Mossadeq’s Administration. All three of the major interested parties in “General Zahedi’s plot”, the United States, Great Britain and the then Soviet Socialist Soviet Republic (hereinafter referred to as USSR) agreed not to interfere with the coup or stage a meddling counter-coup once the takeover of the Iranian government was completed by Zahedi.

Up until 1953, of the major world powers, England had the most influence over Iran and its affairs. As the year passed, American diplomacy and persuasiveness won out as did General Zahedi in the coup. The United States had two basic interests in Iran. The first and foremost concern was the dissolution of the Toudeh Party and its entrenched propaganda machine. Once dissolution was accomplished or nearly certain to be accomplished, the United States wanted simply to get Iranian oil into American oil tankers. To achieve these two objectives quickly, strategically and efficiently, the US decided it would re-introduce the Shah as the dictator of Iran.

THE COUP’ETAT: 1953
    

A rabble of pro-Shah demonstrators, led by twenty-one military officers, staged the coup which was organized by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. Some of the twenty-one officers overseeing and/or carrying out the rebellion were enemies of Mossedeq and in Iranian prison(s) at the time. The coup was successful, Mossadeq was thrown in prison, and the officers that helped orchestrate the coup were freed.

The Toudeh Party told its members and officers that a new government must be formed as soon as possible so that General Zahedi would not have time to consolidate his power in a military dictatorship. As far as the communists were concerned, anarchy and revolution were preferable to having all the authority with Zahedi, or anyone else. The Toudeh Party had a plan of their own and it did not include the Shah, Dr. Mossadeq or General Zahedi. The communists would “fatigue the new government”, then at an opportune moment, stage another uprising. Thus, the Toudeh Party did not cross their compatriots in the USSR at the outset, although they were allied with “the West”. They planned to allow the CIA devised coup to go forward and gain control of the Iranian Government at a later date. The Toudeh Party wanted to install a leader who they could manipulate and use to gain access to enable their own ends in Iranian politics. In 1978, The Ayatollah Khomeini was to become this individual.

Around the same period, a network of communist military officers were discovered accidentally by General Zahedi’s government. A specific officer was apprehended carrying a suitcase with the names of 1200 people that had infiltrated the Iranian military service. Six hundred of the names found were part of a conspiracy of anti-shah military officers ranging from lieutenant to colonel (hereinafter Sr. Officers). The names of the other six hundred soldiers (hereinafter Jr. Officers)were written down in a complicated code. A Major in the Zahedi armed forces, distinguished as an expert code breaker, was called in to decipher the names of the Jr. Officers found in the briefcase. Unknowingly, Zahedi had “hired” a communist infiltrator who took the codes of the 600 Junior Officers and fled the country, never to be found again. Fear and intrigue prevailed in the wake of the disclosures of the Iranian Major who left the service of the country. Since the identities of the 600 Jr. Officers remained unknown, the secret police and informants were looking to reveal their identities. Communist influence seemed to pervade daily life, but such was the case in the United States (1953 and in the USSR as well (compare McCarthyism; Stalin’s Purges).

The Reza Shah Pahlavi’s personal guard was not without its defectors [At an earlier time than 1953, Shah Pahlavi found a derogatory letter one morning at his bedside when he awoke. It shook his confidence immensely and it was apparent to the Iranian public for some time]. Due to the present [1953] circumstances and the prior letter of warning, Pahlavi was suspicious of his allies, even his closest friends. Il etait raison (Fr.). What was not as apparent perhaps, was Zehedi’s transfer of power to the Shah.

The Shah Takes Over the Helm of a Persian Ship

Along with the six hundred Sr. Officers that were arrested by General Zahedi’s forces, the Iranian government arrested several communist politicians. Of these, forty were executed and the others imprisoned. The strong military response of the Shah and Zahedi frightened the Iranian population. The aggression was seen as a totalitarianistic gambit and short term (martial law) strategy, and unlike before, there were no protests over the government consolidative action. It was under these coercive circumstances that the Iranian Oil pact(s) with Western European powers and American oil companies was ratified by the Iranian parliament. It was decided that eight major concessionaires from different countries should undertake the production and sale of Iranian oil. Mossadeq’s government, and his goals for Iran were over. A new regime had begun to greet the populace with different goals and different ideals to focus upon—and it pleased the Shah’s Western benefactors.

Major Petroleum Concessionaires from the United States

The major concessionaires of Iran’s oil resources were based and/or headquartered in the United States and paid taxes to the United States. General Zahedi made a deal with the US oil companies and was awarded a fee of 60-70 million dollars to use as he pleased. In the new Iran-US Oil contract, 51% of the oil profits belonged to Iran, while 49% belonged to the oil companies that owned the concession: that meant they were the principal that was responsible for exploration, feasibility studies, production, sales, distribution including associated storage and transport of the petroleum product(s).

USSR Bears Gift

In the 1950’s, the USSR wanted the ouster of General Zahedi at any cost. In an act of goodwill, the Soviets returned eleven tons of gold it had acquired from Iran during World War II. Although former Prime Minister Mossedeq had demanded return of the gold previously of the Soviets during his administration, the Soviets did not oblige him with the transfer. Now, the circumstances and geo-political climate had changed and the Soviets hoped that the “gift” would help ease relations between the two countries. Iran had enough oil for export to make this initial gold “investment in the future” worthwhile.

Iran was enthusiastic about the gold returned by the Soviets to sovereign soil, however, trade relations between the two countries remained muted. With British and American concessions paying top dollar, the Soviets could not compete and took a “backseat” to their former WWII allies in Iran oil exports. However, the USSR made it clear they would not interfere with the West’s arrangement with Iran only if assurances were promised that first advantage or first look would be given to the USSR in other domains and endeavors in the future, whatever they may be (e.g. wheat from the US, most favored nation status, or future oil contracts). A “divide and conquer” strategy was replaced by one of bargain and compromise—the “cold war”. The understanding was “We’ll let you have your way this time but you better make sure we get ours “next” time or were taking it.”

BARGAINING WITH THE BIG GUYS

Negotiations with the Middle East in the early 1950’s became the precedent for a new type of agreement between the superpowers of the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain with respect to Iran. The USSR conceded to Zahedi’s policy in order to focus its attention in other areas of the world, such as Korea. The USSR felt that the North Korean government, an assured acquisition of theirs, could do their bidding for them against South Korea, without getting their own hands “soiled” in war. Once the Soviet’s found a sympathetic group to do their bidding for them, there was no reason why they should not aid their comrades and overcome their enemies.

In Iran, the situation was not as clear-cut. Those that opposed a communist state outnumbered those who wanted one; at least that was the pluristic sentiment. But like a boat in rough water, Iranians were unsure what other residents favored in public policy or governmental structure(s). What the plurality did agree on was they wanted change. Change was the only “mantra” anyone had any assurance in.

As a result of the foregoing, the Soviets did not interfere with Iranian trade during the early 1950’s or threaten it with coercive tactics that would “rock the boat” now being led by the “West”. No, the USSR was determined to “wait it out” for the appointed time when they could tell the US or the UK, “Our turn
now, move over!”

“Today, the world is witness to how we are engaging with the international community with a voice of reason. #ConstructiveEngagement ” #Tweet received from Hassan Rouhani, Supreme Leader of Iran 04-29-2014. #BacktotheFuture (1985) Starring Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox #UniversalStudios