American and other Western elites complain ad nauseam, decrying the Iranians’ intransigent, devious, aggressive, and unreliable behavior. They claim Iran will not make or keep an agreement. Never forget, however, that Iran is more than five millennia old with a long history of diplomacy. The Iranians may be difficult, but one of the barriers to an agreement could be the Iranians’ wariness of the United States’ long pattern of broken agreements.
In 1945 the U.S. signed the United Nations charter declaring the importance of protecting the sovereignty of states. Iran was also a signatory of that charter.
But eight years later, in 1953, the CIA and British Intelligence organized Operation Ajax, which overthrew the constitutionally elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and empowered Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the son of the first Pahlavi shah who was deposed in 1941 by the British and Soviets. The CIA’s actions were in complete violation of Article 2 of the UN Charter. U.S. agencies also armed and trained the Iranian secret police, the Savak, to suppress any opposition, often using the tired old excuse that dissenters were Soviet-inspired or -supported.
American and other Western elites complain ad nauseam, decrying the Iranians’ intransigent, devious, aggressive, and unreliable behavior. They claim Iran will not make or keep an agreement. Never forget, however, that Iran is more than five millennia old with a long history of diplomacy. The Iranians may be difficult, but one of the barriers to an agreement could be the Iranians’ wariness of the United States’ long pattern of broken agreements.
In 1945 the U.S. signed the United Nations charter declaring the importance of protecting the sovereignty of states. Iran was also a signatory of that charter.
But eight years later, in 1953, the CIA and British Intelligence organized Operation Ajax, which overthrew the constitutionally elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and empowered Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the son of the first Pahlavi shah who was deposed in 1941 by the British and Soviets. The CIA’s actions were in complete violation of Article 2 of the UN Charter. U.S. agencies also armed and trained the Iranian secret police, the Savak, to suppress any opposition, often using the tired old excuse that dissenters were Soviet-inspired or -supported.
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