U.S.-Iran Relations
Prior to the fall of the Shah in the late 1970's, Iran was an American ally. The source of contention between the U.S. and Iran is the product of a series of historical events. According to Ken Pollack of The Brookings Institution:
"remove all of the baggage-all of the ideology, the history, whatever else-and look in purely geostrategic terms... it's hard to figure out why the U.S. and Iran would necessarily be in conflict. In fact during the Shah's era, before 1979- recognizing that there were all kinds of other problems-the U.S. and Iran worked together splendidly at the strategic level."[i]
The history between the U.S. and Iran is a continuous source of conflict with the potential to explode into a more severe conflict with global consequences.
- Early U.S.-Iran Relations
- The Revolution
- Iranian Hostage Crisis
- Beyond the Hostage Crisis
- Thawing Relations?
- Axis of Evil
- Implications of U.S.-Iran Relations
RESOURCES
[i]The Brookings Institution, Interview with Kenneth M. Pollack (January 24, 2005). Online. Available: http://www.brookings.edu/interviews/2005/0124iran_pollack.aspx. Accessed: December 4, 2007.
[ii] Dan De Luce, "The Spectre of Operation Ajax," The Guardian (August 20, 2003). Online. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1021997,00.html. Accessed: December 4, 2007.
[iii]Larry Everest, "The U.S. & Iran: A History of Imperialist Domination, Intrigue and Intervention" Revolution, no. 90 (May 27, 2007). Online. Available at: http://rwor.org/a/090/iran-pt2-en.html. Accessed: December 4, 2007.
[iv]Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America (New York: Random House, 2004), p 155.
[v]Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America (New York: Random House, 2004), p 155.
[vi] Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America (New York: Random House, 2004), p 310.
[vii] Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America (New York: Random House, 2004), p 315.
[viii]Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America (New York: Random House, 2004), p 321.
[ix] Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America (New York: Random House, 2004), p 352.
[x] DemocracyNow.org, The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Online. Available: http://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/25/the_secret_dealings_of_israel_iran. Accessed: December 4, 2007.
This page last modified in August 2008