Foreign Intervention in Iran

There has been a lot of talk about whether President Obama went far enough in voicing his support for the opposition movement in Iran. In particular, Republicans demanded that the President, as leader of the free world, stand up with those fighting for freedom.

While this might seem like a tempting thing to do, a short history of US-Iranian relations will clearly show why Iranians would still be very weary of any American intervention in Iran. As much as I love America and appreciate the freedoms it grants its citizens, it has not always acted in the best interest of democracy or other people around the world. In particular America’s relationship with Iran has had many troubling foreign interventions that truly demonstrate why Obama is so hesitant to take sides right now. Here is just a quick history of outside intervention in Iran:

1925: British led coup and installation of Shah Reza Pahlavi as dictator of Iran

1941: British led coup and overthrow of Shah Reza Pahlavi. Installation of his son Shah Muhammad Reza Phalavi as dictator of Iran.

1941-1945: British, American, and Soviet forces occupy Iran as a strategically important county during World War II.

1953: American led coup and overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadeq. Reinstallation of Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi as dictator of Iran.

1953-1979: 25 years of American support of Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi as dictator of Iran.

1980-1988: American support of dictator Saddam Hussein after he invades Iran and starts bloody Iran-Iraq war. Many Iranians believe that America provided Saddam with chemical weapons technology that he used against Iranians.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meeting Saddam Hussein in 1983

1988: American naval ship shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 in Persian Gulf killing 290 Iranian civilians.

2002: President Bush responds to Iranian willingness to cooperate with the US following the September 11^th attacks by labeling Iran as part of the “Axis of Evil” with Iran’s arch-enemy Saddam Hussein.

It might be convenient to forget the ugly parts of history, but as Eugene O’Neill once put it “The past is the present. It’s the future too. We all try to lie out of that but life won't let us.” President Obama is doing exactly the right thing in the current political crisis in Iran and his restraint should be supported and not criticized.