LEARNING LESSONS FROM OUR PAST IN IRAN

Remembering our history with Iran as we wage war on the country in the present.

Over the last month, American citizens have watched the Trump administration take bold and violent action upon the nation of Iran. As they rained bombs and destruction, they offered justifications for the climate of war they were bringing to the Middle East. Proponents celebrated their decisive military activity. They welcomed direct confrontation with a nation they label an international sponsor of terrorism with persistent nuclear ambitions and capabilities. Opponents of the Iran war compiled many concerns: the threat of a prolonged confrontation, increased instability of the entire region, loss of American life and treasure, and possible retaliation upon America and its allies. However, zooming out from this relatively myopic focus, we should look to America’s unseemly history with Iran itself to draw out some other areas of concern for Gadfly Americans to consider.

How did we get here? Where did this current class of Iranian leadership rise out of and why does it engender so much animosity, mistrust, and warmongering among American political elites? It is not new. In fact, it really has not stopped since they came to power in Iran.

That occurred in 1979 when Iranians from all over rose to revolt against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He had ruled the country for decades. Many in Iran did not like how he did that. Pahlavi ushered in an era of secularism and other pro-Western changes to the country not long after taking power. These developments occurred simultaneously with massive increases of inequality, fraud, and repression. Adding insult to injury, the Shah enforced his new policies and old laws with swift and severe autocratic punishment.

Also, the Shah’s rise to power in Iran was itself mired in infamy. Backed by the American CIA, he led a successful coup to depose Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. America was eager to protect its oil interests in the region, prevent Soviet interests from spreading, and create a foothold in the area for influence. Upset with the Shah’s leadership style and resentful of his puppet status vis-à-vis the United States, it became too much for Iranians over time as all these things stewed together in their hearts and minds. Eventually, a new leader emerged to capitalize off of this frustration and decline. His name was little known before 1979 but not soon forgotten after that year: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The sight of Khomeini’s ascendance to power was most viscerally seen in the storming of the American embassy and resulting hostage crisis. The situation held the breath of every American from sea to shining sea, and not in a good way. Dissatisfied with how he was handling the controversy, Americans kicked Jimmy Carter out of office after he had a little over a year to resolve the matter and could not. However, many in the US continued looking on in horror at how the Ayatollah and his successors maintained power.

First, he eliminated his political opposition through massacre and imprisonment. Next, he changed the country to a monarchy with total legal authority consolidated in one person. At the same time as these events, Khomeini reversed nearly all cultural and educational changes as well as other Western-style progress while implementing Sharia law and absolutely strict Islamic standards (including the veiling of women).

Against the world, Iran severed relations with America and much of the West. Additionally, they began sponsoring and leading efforts of terrorism across the globe. The country today still organizes, trains, and funds militias of madness and war such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and its own Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They work with other rogue nations to develop and distribute nuclear weapons. Since the twentieth century gave way to the twenty-first, warfare has further evolved from the province of state actors to include terrorist organizations. Iran represents the largest terrorist menace on this stage. Now, we must confront this threat of – at least partially - our own making.

Needless to say, things did not go as expected in Iran for us the first time around. We might remember our last foray into the region as we return now. Our actions can have inverse consequences, no matter how focused and noble. Accidents happen in war and they may dramatically incite resentment and retaliation. Consider the incidental bombing of an Iranian school just weeks ago. If one of the young victims was your son or daughter, friend or acquaintance, would any American justification conquer your anger? Would not our continued presence alone provoke hostility within you?

As we roam around the world playing freedom’s champion, we might consider the lessons of our past mistakes and the outcomes they created. We might also consider how we would welcome others coming into our world and creating conflict in the name of peace. Once lit, the fires of war may grow beyond our control or spread in directions we did not predict and do not appreciate. They have before and they have in fact. Let us hope the winds of warfare do not turn and head our way now.