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Territory in southwest Asia, ruled since 1979 by the Jomhuri ye Eslāmi ye Irān

Iran (Persian: ایران‎ Irān), also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران‎ Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Western Asia. With over 81 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 18th-most-populous country. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km², it is the second-largest country in the Middle East and the 17th-largest in the world. Iran is bordered to the northwest by Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, to the north by the Caspian Sea, to the northeast by Turkmenistan, to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. The country's central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, give it geostrategic importance. Tehran is the country's capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center.

Geographical type: Territory

Latitude: 32° N — Longitude: 53° E

Area: 1,648,195 km²

ISO 3166-2 code: IR

Measures of Freedom

Human Freedom Index [PDF], The Human Freedom Index 2021
2019: 4.53, Rank: 160, Personal Freedom: 4.14, Economic Freedom: 5.06
Iran | Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022
2016: Status: Not Free, Aggregate Score: 17, Political Rights: 6, Civil Liberties: 6
In July 2015, Iran reached an agreement with the United States and other world powers to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, raising hopes that the pact would ultimately strengthen President Hassan Rouhani and allow him to fulfill promises to decrease state intervention in Iranians' lives.
Level of Economic Freedom, Economic Freedom of the World
2014: 5.27, Rank: 150

Articles

America Must Reject Netanyahu's War Cry on Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 4 Mar 2015
Counters Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the U.S. Congress about Iran's nuclear weapons intentions, discussing reasons behind his push for war
Iran has not sought a nuclear weapon, and the country's leader declares such weapons contrary to Islam ... Iran nevertheless wants to reassure the world so that crushing economic sanctions will be lifted. Hence, the current negotiations. (Iran made similar overtures before.) Iran's government is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), subjecting it to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which can account for every atom of uranium ... In fact, Israel and the United States have been waging war—economic, covert, proxy, and cyber—against Iran for decades.
Related Topics: Israel, Middle East, War
An Anti-Democracy Foreign Policy: Iran, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 31 Jan 2005
Discusses the history of Operation Ajax, the CIA-led 1953 coup d'état in Iran that removed the democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh, and which eventually led to the 1979 Iran hostage crisis
That was the year the CIA secretly and surreptitiously ousted the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, a man named Mohammad Mossadegh, from power, followed by the U.S. government's ardent support of the shah of Iran's dictatorship for the next 25 years ... At that time, Mossadegh was one of the most famous figures in the world ... There were two major problems with Mossadegh, however, as far as both the British and American governments were concerned. First, as an ardent nationalist he was a driving force behind an Iranian attempt to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company ...
The Ayatollahs' Overlooked Anti-WMD Fatwas, by Sheldon Richman, 16 Apr 2014
Additional comments on Gareth Porter's Manufactured Crisis, focusing on the Ayatollahs' position on the use of chemical and nuclear weapons, prompted by the Obama administration visa denial to the Iran ambassador to the United Nations
After the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, a group of Iranians held 52 Americans hostage in the former U.S. embassy for more than a year ... One can condemn the hostage-taking and still recognize that the American government did terrible things to the Iranian people from 1953 to 1979. And it has kept on doing them ... did you know that Iran's two supreme leaders since the revolution, Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, each in his time issued fatwas against weapons of mass destruction? Khomeini specifically addressed chemical weapons, while Khamenei's declaration was aimed at nuclear weapons.
Related Topics: Iraq, Barack Obama
Bill Clinton and the Bogus Iranian Threat, by Sheldon Richman, 8 May 2014
Another chapter in the Iran "manufactured crisis" saga (based on Gareth Porter's book): how the Clinton administration was influenced by Israelis in framing U.S. policy towards Iran
Was there a case against Iran to justify the policy? The [Clinton] administration charged Iran with abetting international terrorism, beefing up its armed forces, and seeking nuclear weapons. But was there evidence? Porter's book is a heavily documented brief showing that Iran never had a policy or took steps to acquire nuclear weapons. It sought a uranium-enrichment capability in order to produce fuel for its civilian nuclear program, but it did not seek weapons ... As for Iran's military, the government sought to acquire medium-range missiles, but this was entirely consistent with its defense needs ...
Related Topics: Bill Clinton, Israel, Terrorism
Brian Williams Helped Pave the Way to War, by Sheldon Richman, 10 Feb 2015
Comments on the mainstream broadcast and cable TV network "journalists" who unquestioningly supported and support government military actions around the world
For quite a while these same media stars have been hawking the claim that Iran has been relentlessly working toward building nuclear weapons. Yet athough the U.S. and Israeli governments have repeatedly threatened Iran over the years—claiming "all options are on the table" ...—and have engaged in covert and proxy war and terrorism against the Islamic Republic—Iran has not started down the road to acquiring a nuclear arsenal ... Gareth Porter shows that there is no evidence Iran has intended to do anything but obtain a civilian nuclear-power and nuclear-medicine capability.
Related Topics: Iraq War, Television Shows, War
Bush Is About To Attack Iran, by Paul Craig Roberts, 27 Jan 2007
Expresses dismay at the American lack of awareness of the Bush administration's intent of starting a war with Iran on the pretext that Iran, rather than al-Qaeda, is responsible for the Iraqi insurgency
The entire world ... is discussing Bush's planned attack on Iran ... postings on the Internet demonstrate world wide awareness that Iran is in the Bush Regime's cross hairs. ... Two aircraft carrier attack forces are deployed to the Persian Gulf, US attack aircraft have been moved to Turkey and other countries on Iran's borders, Patriot anti-missile defense systems are being moved ... to protect oil facilities and US bases from retaliation from Iranian missiles, and growing reams of disinformation alleging Iran's responsibility for the insurgency in Iraq are being fed to the gullible US Media.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Middle East
Can Iran Trust the United States?, by Sheldon Richman, 2 Oct 2013
Turns around the question of whether the United States can trust Iran, by examining the "covert and proxy war" led by former against the latter
Since 1979 the U.S. government has prosecuted a covert and proxy war against Iran ... This war began after the popular overthrow of ... Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ... When Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army invaded Iran in 1980, the Reagan administration supplied ... ingredients for chemical weapons ... the U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian civilian airplane over Iranian airspace, killing 290 ... the economic sanctions ... are said to "cripple the Iranian economy," but an economy consists of people ... As one can see, the Iranians are the aggrieved party in the conflict with the United States.
Clichés, by Charley Reese, 24 Oct 2007
Discusses how politicians' clichés are usually the opposite of what they say, in particular with the current situation in Iran
Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent and successful visit to Iran seems to have so rattled Mr. Bush that he is prattling on about World War III. If he would read the joint statement issued at the end of the meeting, he would see that the meeting was mostly about doing business. ... Putin, who also doesn't want Iran to develop nuclear weapons, said making threats is counterproductive.
The Coming War With Iran, by Justin Raimondo, 26 Mar 2007
Discusses the 23 March 2007 incident when 15 Royal Navy sailors were detained by Iranian boats claiming the British were in Iran's territorial waters and speculates on further developments on a potential conflict with Iran
It happened on the eve of a vote in the UN Security Council to impose stricter sanctions on Iran and in the wake of escalating rhetoric from U.S. government officials blaming Iran for anti-occupation activity in Iraq. On top of that, recent events include the kidnapping of Iranian consular officials in Irbil, Kurdistan, by U.S. forces, reports of covert U.S. support for terrorist attacks inside Iran, the "disappearance" of a major Iranian military figure in the elite Revolutionary Guards unit, and suspicions that the Mossad may have had a hand in killing a renowned Iranian nuclear scientist.
Congress Must Not Cede Its War Power to Israel, by Sheldon Richman, 26 Dec 2013
Examines the reasons behind the U.S. Senate bill proposed as the "Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013"
Against all evidence, Netanyahu insists the purpose of Iran's nuclear program is to build a weapon ... to attack Israel. Iran says its facilities, which are routinely inspected, are for peaceful civilian purposes: the generation of electricity and the production of medical isotopes ... Iran's foreign minister [said] if Congress imposes new sanctions, even if ... delayed ... "The entire deal is dead. We do not like to negotiate under duress." Clearly, the bill is designed to destroy the talks with Iran, which is bending over backward to demonstrate that its nuclear program has no military aims.
Related Topics: Israel, War
Does Obama Have the Courage to Pursue Peace with Iran?, by Sheldon Richman, 23 Oct 2013
Examines how the warmongers in the U.S. Congress as well Netanyahu's government put pressure on Barack Obama not to reach a peaceful agreement with Iran on the nuclear issue
[Iran] is an old and large country that inevitably will play an influential role in the region. Any sign that President Hassan Rouhani would accept demands perceived to subordinate Iran to the United States and Israel would only strengthen the hardest of Iranian hardliners ... All this comes against an incongruous background: U.S. and Israeli intelligence says Iran has no plans to build nuclear weapons. (Its leadership has issued a fatwa against weapons of mass destruction.) Moreover, even if it did build one, Iran would be deterred from offensive action by America's and Israel's overwhelming nuclear arsenals.
Related Topics: Israel, Barack Obama
Does Obama Want an Agreement with Iran or Not?, by Sheldon Richman, 18 Dec 2013
Ponders the sincerity of Obama and his administration's actions after negotiating an interim agreement with Iran regarding sanctions
Do Obama and Kerry want peace with Iran or not? If so, they have a funny way of showing it. The danger of Obama's policy should be obvious. If Iranian officials come to believe that no matter what they do, U.S.-led economic warfare against the Iranian people ... will continue, the hope of a thaw in the absurd cold war will be dashed, and war could follow. Iran has not been making — and has no intention of making — a nuclear bomb. U.S. and Israeli intelligence say so repeatedly. Just the same, Iran is bending over backwards to demonstrate this ... to the point that it has agreed to permit daily inspections of its facilities ...
Related Topic: Barack Obama
GOP, R.I.P?, by Sheldon Richman, 11 Feb 2008
Reviews conservatives' criticisms of John McCain and his positions in his 2008 presidential campaign as well as what the criticism may mean for the Republican Party
In my mind, one incident with McCain is enough to rule out supporting him, regardless of who his opponent is. When he stood in front of an audience and laughingly sang the old Beach Boys hit as "Bomb, bomb bomb/bomb, bomb Iran," McCain should have been regarded as disqualified from holding any office in the land. If the United States attacks Iran, many innocent men, women, and children will be killed or maimed, just as they were in Iraq. Is that a laughing matter, Mr. McCain? But the conservatives who otherwise can't stand McCain must have loved that moment.
Hell-Bent on War, by Justin Raimondo, 14 Feb 2007
Discusses propaganda and other efforts by the George W. Bush administration and neoconservatives to launch military action against Iran, and relevant commentary from a professor of international relations as well as Russian President Putin
[W]e are being subjected to an intense propaganda campaign based on phony "intelligence"–with, once again, the main "evidence" provided by a dubious exile group, in this case the kooky-cult known as the National Council of Resistance. The NCR is a front for an Iranian Marxist group led by Maryam Rajavi, the Mujahideen-e-Khalq ... In what is either a fit of megalomania or justified optimism fueled by U.S. support, Rajavi has already proclaimed herself president of Iran. No doubt "President" Rajavi expects to be installed in office by U.S. force of arms.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Imperialism, War
Improve the CIA? Better to abolish it, by Chalmers Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 Feb 2004
Lists countries where the CIA conducted subversive operations and recommends abolishing the agency.
From our first covert overthrow of a foreign government, the ouster of the prime minister of Iran in 1953 in order to install the young shah Reza Pahlavi, the path to fame and success within the agency was in secret operations, not in writing intelligence estimates. That is certainly the pecking order I observed when I served as an outside consultant to the Office of National Estimates of the CIA from 1967 to 1973.
Iran: It's Not about Nuclear Weapons, by Sheldon Richman, 26 Nov 2013
Examines the 2013 Joint Plan of Action agreement between Iran P5+1 countries and the rationales of the deal's main opponents: the governments of Saudi Arabia and Israel
In return for agreeing to stop doing what it had no intention of doing, Iran will get the slightest relief from the economic sanctions that inflict so much suffering on the people ... Iran was a U.S. client-state until 1979, when the Islamic Revolution overthrew the repressive shah, whom the U.S. government had restored to power after ousting a democratic regime in 1953 ... the Iranians, who have made repeated peace overtures, are portrayed as an "existential threat," which is absurd ... The Iranian people, which includes a large, educated middle class, would welcome friendship with America.
Related Topics: Israel, Barack Obama, Saudi Arabia
The Iranian Threat That Never Was, by Sheldon Richman, 26 Mar 2014
Introductory review of Gareth Porter's Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare (2014), covering the period from the 1950's to the 1979 revolution and early interference from the Reagan administration
Recall that before the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran was ruled by an autocratic monarch, the shah. The shah's power had been eclipsed in the early 1950s by a democratically elected parliament. Then, in 1953, America's Eisenhower administration sent the CIA in to foment civil discord in order to drive the elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, from office and restore the shah's power. During his reign, the shah, a close ally of the United States and Israel, started building a nuclear-power industry — with America's blessing. Iran's Bushehr reactor was 80 percent complete when the shah was overthrown.
Related Topics: Electric Power, Ronald Reagan
Is the Foreign-Policy Elite Clueless?, by Sheldon Richman, 17 Sep 2014
Examines the policies of the Bush and Obama administrations in Iraq and Syria that led to the rise of the Islamic State
[The] majority Shi’ites were especially oppressed under his dictatorship. With Saddam gone, the Shi'ites have dominated, and the emerging successor regime predictably moved close to Iran, the large Persian Shi'ite country next door. (Saddam, assisted by the U.S. government, launched a devastating eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s.) ... Bush ... created a Shi'ite ally for Iran. Yet since 1979 (when the Islamic revolution overthrew the dictatorial monarchy of long-time U.S. client Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) Iran has been demonized (falsely) by U.S. administrations as one of America’s mortal enemies.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Syria
Lebanon, Again, by Justin Raimondo, 9 Feb 2007
Discusses the possible aftermath of the 7 Feb 2007 border incident between Lebanon and Israel and the likelyhood of the 2007 Iraq War "surge" leading to a confrontation between the United States and Iran
Those who fear war with Iran had best look to Lebanon, where the first shots are being fired. It is, so far, a proxy war, with the Israelis as our stand-ins and Hezbollah allied with the Iranians. It is only a matter of time, however, before the proxies are dispensed with, and the Americans meet the Iranians on the battlefield ... Washington knows full well that, in answer to U.S. airstrikes, Tehran will target U.S. troops caught in the middle of Iraq's civil war ... Crippled by their unwillingness to criticize Israel, antiwar Democrats will be sucked into supporting the opening shots of the coming U.S. attack on Iran.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Lebanon
Mr. Bush, Meet Walter Jones, by Patrick J. Buchanan, 16 Jan 2007
Discusses the Iraq War, the announcement of a potential strikes against Iran, and the Joint Resolution introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R, NC) to prevent such action
The day after Bush's threat to Iran, Jones introduced a Joint Resolution, 'Concerning the Use of Military Force by the United States Against Iran.' Under HJR 14, 'Absent a national emergency created by attack by Iran, or a demonstrably imminent attack by Iran, upon the United States, its territories, possessions, or its armed forces, the president shall consult with Congress, and receive specific authorization pursuant to law from Congress, prior to initiating any use of force on Iran.'
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Iraq War
The Neoconservative Obsession with Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 14 May 2014
Discusses how Bush, Cheney and their advisors exacerbated the U.S.-Iran crisis, as documented in Gareth Porter's Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare
The [Islamic] regime came to power after Iran's U.S.-backed autocratic ruler was overthrown in 1979, a quarter-century after the CIA overthrew a democratic government and restored him to power ... as a signer of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is subject to inspections and is permitted to acquire equipment and materials for generating nuclear power and medical isotopes ... attempts by the Shi'ite government to cooperate with the U.S. government were repeatedly rebuffed, even when rapprochement would have been in an administration's interest, for example, in the battle against a common enemy, al-Qaeda.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Middle East
Obama and Kerry Jeopardize Peace with Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 30 Jan 2014
Examines pronouncements by U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama that put in doubt their stated intentions of reaching a peace agreement with Iran
Iran is a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is routinely inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has certified that no uranium has been diverted to weapons production ... Iran will take additional measures to reassure the world, including converting its enriched uranium to a form unsuitable for weapons but appropriate for power generation and medical purposes ... Kerry repeatedly says the agreement obligates Iran to "dismantle" nuclear equipment, such as centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani protests that this is incorrect.
Related Topics: Middle East, Barack Obama, War
The Ominous Republican Hold on Congress, by Sheldon Richman, 7 Jan 2015
Comments on what may be expected with respect to war and foreign intervention from the Republican-controlled Senate in 2015, considering also the inconsistent policy stances of Barack Obama
Obama has pursued negotiations with Iran over its never-was and still-is-not nuclear-weapons program. The Iranian regime would like to [free] itself from harsh U.S.-led sanctions, so it is bending over backward to assure the world that it wants no nuclear weapons. (The Supreme Leader years ago issued a fatwa against them.) ... If Obama blows this chance to normalize relations with Iran, which includes a large educated middle class friendly to America, it will be a tragedy of immense proportions. There is no way to justify the cruel consequences that U.S. sanctions have inflicted on the Iranian people.
Preventing War with Iran Is Top Priority, by Sheldon Richman, 13 Nov 2013
After a brief look at Iraq, Libya, Syria and North Korea, examines the 2013 situation between the Obama administration and Israel on one side and Iran on the other
Iran is not building a bomb. U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies have said so repeatedly. The Islamic Republic ... is a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is thus subject to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency ... Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, is trying to reassure the West and Israel about its civilian nuclear program ... His foreign minister is meeting with ... the UN Security Council and Germany (the P5+1) in order to strike an agreement that would include lifting the economic sanctions ... which deprive innocent Iranians of food and medicine.
Related Topics: Israel, War
The Real 'Existential Threat', by Justin Raimondo, 30 Mar 2007
Comments on media coverage of the Iranian seizure of British Royal Navy personnel in the Persian Gulf and subsequent political maneuvering
The British incursion into a highly problematic area is but the latest in a series of provocations, including Western-sponsored terrorist attacks inside Iran. U.S. aid to pro-al Qaeda elements operating inside Lebanon, as a counterbalance to Hezbollah's growing influence, is inexplicable except as part of a new strategy to neutralize Iranian assets in the region ... Iranian behavior in this matter seems predicated on the assumption that the decision to attack them has already been made. Why else would they parade the 15 captives in front of the cameras, and release two letters of one of them ...
Related Topics: Democratic Party, Israel, War
The Roots of Iran's Nuclear Secrecy, by Sheldon Richman, 2 Apr 2014
Further commentary based on Gareth Porter's Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, discussing why the Iranian government wanted secrecy for its civilian nuclear program
The thrust ... has been that ... Iran secretly enriched uranium in order to make a bomb ... Porter writes, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in 2003 that during those 18 years, Iran had enriched uranium only briefly in 1999 and 2002 ... Iran did not always keep the IAEA fully informed. Is this proof that Iran was preparing to make nuclear warheads? Porter provides overwhelming evidence that the answer is no ... [Why was] Iran ... working in secrecy? Simply put, from the 1980s onward the U.S. government was determined to thwart Iran's efforts to build even modest a civilian nuclear program.
Related Topic: Israel
Sanctions: The Cruel and Brutal War against the Iraqi People, Part 1, by Jacob G. Hornberger, Freedom Daily, Jan 2004
Tells the history of the U.S. government sanctions against Iraq imposed by the United Nations before military action in the 1990 Gulf War, exacerbated by military targeting during the war and kept in place after the war
Even worse, as ... reported in ... “Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq Despite Use of Gas," by Patrick E. Tyler,
A covert American program ... provided Iraq with ... assistance ... when American intelligence agencies knew that Iraqi commanders would employ chemical weapons in waging the decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war ...
... the reason that the U.S. government was helping Saddam while he was employing his U.S.-provided WMDs against the Iranian people was that [they] were still chafing over the Iranian people's ouster of the shah of Iran ... who had tortured and killed his own people ... with the support of the U.S. government.
Related Topics: James Bovard, Children, Iraq
The Secret State, by Carl Oglesby, 19 Dec 1991
Details various events from the dismantling of the Office of Strategic Services after World War II to the 1991 death of Danny Casolaro, which Oglesby said are reason to be worried about "a secret and invisible state within the public state"
1953: Operation Ajax
The CIA overthrew Premier Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran, complaining of his neutralism in the Cold War, and installed in his place General Fazlollah Zahedi, a wartime Nazi collaborator. Zahedi showed his gratitude by giving 25-year leases on forty percent of Iran's oil to three American arms. One of these firms, Gulf Oil, was fortunate enough a few years later to hire as a vice president the CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, who had run Operation Ajax. Did this coup set the clock ticking on the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-80?
The State: Judge in its Own Cause, by Kevin Carson, 22 Aug 2013
Explores, with several historical examples, the United States government's role in judging itself or disregarding its laws
In 1953 the CIA helped overthrow Iran's elected government—an act which eventually led to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and thirty subsequent years of war and tension in the Gulf. It led indirectly to a bloody war between Iran and Iraq in which millions died, creating a regional political climate that at times threatened superpower war. It was only in the past month—sixty years after the fact—the CIA officially admitted it had written a check to be cashed with the a**es of the American people.
Stop Demonizing Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 9 Oct 2013
Examines Iranian government efforts to resolve differences with the U.S. government, as evidenced by 2013 proposals, and recalling previous efforts to cooperate with the Bush administration, as reported in 2006 by Gareth Porter
Over a decade ago, Iran's leaders made credible offers of cooperation with the United States that included peace with Israel ... after the 9/11 attacks, the Iranian government tried to cooperate with the Bush administration on a number of fronts ... Let's remember that the Islamic Republic of Iran arose only after a U.S.-backed despotism was overthrown in 1979 ... moderate Iranian officials continued to hope for détente ... To meet the U.S. concern about an Iranian nuclear weapons program, the document offered to accept much tighter controls by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ...
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Middle East
U.S. Hypocrisy on Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 14 Feb 2007
Discusses the hypocrisy of Bush administration pronouncements and actions about Iran "meddling in Iraq", considering the U.S. intervention in Iran in 1953 and the U.S. invasion and continued occupation of Iraq
In 1953 the CIA executed the ultimate interference in Iranian affairs ... Operation Ajax, in which the CIA's Kermit Roosevelt Jr., grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, and Norman Schwarzkopf Sr., father of the 1991 Gulf War general, conspired in 1953, along with British intelligence, to overthrow the democratically elected, though socialist, government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and restore the despotic shah to his Peacock Throne ... the shah had left Tehran for a long "vacation" on the Caspian Sea and then in Baghdad. But he did not leave until he knew that a U.S. operation was under way to save him.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Iraq
We Started the Fire, by Jim Babka, WorldNetDaily, 26 Sep 2003
In 1951, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, angered Britain by nationalizing the oil industry. Mossadegh argued that Iran deserved a better share of the profits from its vast oil reserves. ... In 1953, ... the British turned to their old friend and asked him to initiate a coup. Eisenhower ordered the CIA to undertake one of its first covert operations against another government.
Whoa, Walter!, by Charley Reese, 4 Sep 2006
Criticizes Walter Williams for his column "Will the West defend itself?" (23 Aug 2006), in which he defended going to the extreme of using nuclear weapons on "our Middle East enemies" just as "when we firebombed cities in Germany and Japan"
It is relevant to note that Iran has never threatened Israel with physical destruction, American misreporting notwithstanding. It has said repeatedly that it is not a threat to any country in the region, including Israel. It has said repeatedly that it does not desire to build a nuclear weapon. Before you dismiss that statement, be honest enough to recognize that for 12 years Iraq said truthfully that it had no weapons of mass destruction, and the same crowd now clamoring to go to war with Iran claimed that it did. Do you want to let the same crowd con you twice?
Why the U.S. Blew a Chance to Reconcile with Iran, by Sheldon Richman, 1 May 2014
Another story from Gareth Porter's Manufactured Crisis (2014): how the George H. W. Bush administration bungled the opportunity to improve the U.S. relationship with Iran
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died [in 1989] and was succeeded by the president, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Then Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaker of the parliament, was elected president. His "victory brought to power a pragmatic conservative who was openly committed to integrating Iran into the global economic system," Porter writes. Meanwhile ... George H.W. Bush had become president ... The Bush administration took steps toward normalization, and Iran went to work on freeing the hostages. On Dec. 4, 1991, the last American was freed ... Then suddenly, in April 1992, the administration changed course.
Related Topic: Cold War
Why They Hate Us, by Sheldon Richman, Freedom Daily, Feb 2008
Examines the myth that the United States is hated because Americans "are free and represent democracy", suggesting Americans ought to "get curious" about what their government has done to foreigners over the last century
The paradigm is the 1953 intervention in Iran, when the CIA helped drive an elected, secular prime minister from office so the autocratic shah could be restored to power. His brutal U.S.-sponsored repression of the Iranian people finally provoked an Islamic revolution in 1979, creating an anti-American theocracy ... To this day we routinely hear references to the Iranian takeover of the U.S. embassy and the 444 days the American hostages were held. Rarely do those references mention that [it] followed a quarter century of cruel dictatorship, in which torture was a state policy — all sponsored by U.S. administrations.

Interviews

The Antiwar Republican, by Ron Paul, Scott Horton, 4 Apr 2007
Transcript and MP3 audio recording; topics include foreign policy principles, isolationism, the Bush Doctrine, the "war on terror", the British sailors captured by Iran, presidential authority over state National Guard units and Guantanamo Bay detainees
Horton: ... The Iranians have captured 15 British sailors and marines, and apparently the United States is interfering in their negotiations with the Iranians to get these sailors back ...
Paul: ... The Iranians, at least I think, would be a lot more reasonable in their dealings with the British, but hardly anybody is talking about the five hostages that we hold–the diplomats from Iran that we picked up. There are some who believe that this is nothing more than retaliation for us holding their diplomats, and that's compounding the problem with the British.

Videos


Pirates and Emperors - Schoolhouse Rock, 17 Sep 2006
Related Topics: Imperialism, Iraq, Nicaragua

The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Iran" as of 20 Sep 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.